A Monk, His Dog, & All the World: 2,300 Miles, 108 Days, 1 Great Vow | Bhante Paññākāra Q&A

Welcome. So, we had the pleasure to just
spend the last two hours uh speaking
with venerable Bonte Pakara of the Walk
for Peace Renown, and he's a very
profound monk, and it was a really
enjoyable experience for both of us. Um,
and because it was a two-hour interview,
we're going to break it up into two
different parts. And so what this is is
the first part of that two-part session.
So, hope you enjoy. Bante, thanks so
much for joining us.
>> Su,
>> so I'll read a short biography of Bonte
before we jump into more questions. But
>> Bante Pyakara is a terra Buddhist monk
and former IT engineer who transitioned
from a corporate career to a life of
mindfulness and service. Born in Vietnam
and educated at the University of Texas
at Arlington, Bonte Pakara immigrated to
the US in 1997 and took full ordination
in 2010. So same year as me and I think
same birth year as well. Um well you're
81 and I'm 82 but
>> I see
>> very similar. Um so took full ordination
in 2010 in the lineage of the most
venerable Ratsaguna the last direct
disciple of his holiness the venerable
Vanga Rakita founder and first sa Raja
of the Vietnamese Terraata Buddhist
Sana. In 2020 he launched the Damachetia
project to preserve the Titikica in a
monumental marble stupa complex. a
vision further by his 112day
2100 mile aesthetic tudong pilgrimage
across India and Nepal. That journey
chronicled in his memoir the footsteps
of Buddhist monk laid the foundation for
his most recent undertaking leading the
only very recently completed 2300 mile
108day walk for peace from Texas to
Washington DC which most people watching
I think will know you from. He is
currently serving at the Hunga Vipasa
Center in Fort Worth, Texas. So Bonte,
there's so much there and uh a
fascinating life, an adventuresome life,
so many things that we can go into. How
is Aloka?
>> Yeah. Uh Aloka is actually here. Um
Aloka is very um active. He's very
active and he wouldn't want to stay at
one place.
He have to roam around and then walk and
things like that. And so um uh his um
surgery his surgery the doctor just came
from uh South Carolina uh two days ago
to check up on him. So he has such
merit.
I mean people love him so much and um he
just got been taken care of well by
doctors and everyone really I I I can't
imagine his merits at all because um as
from a stray dog and now that he's world
famous uh ambassador
so he he has his own uh merits that we
cannot um not
some um you know uh Bonte your uh act of
going on the walk for peace um rippled
out to us very strongly too. We go for
alms every morning at Pike Place Market
or most mornings and ever since after
you began walking and people began
learning um people would jog by me and
just make an people who never would have
before and we also had a friend
recommend that we get a dog so we have
our own Aloa but
But but Bonte, one thing I wanted to
ask, I really um this conversation for
me is a chance to kind of as monastics
for us to get to really speak about um
the heart and core threads of our lives
in a way that you know most interviews
might not get to to touch. And I
wondered if you could start with just
talking about the moments of faith um
the key moments of faith that brought
you into robes to ordain.
>> Yes. Um
for my um journey to become a monk
is quite uh different uh as uh we
already talk about my bio a brief bio
saying that I was an engineer and things
like that. So, up until now, I'm not
sure why I graduated.
Very, uh, uh,
I'm really bad at math. Okay.
And so, uh, after I graduated and then I
went to work for, uh, two and almost
three years.
And, uh, during that time of work, I
feel like
is this really what I really what I
want? Is this a path that I want to
continue on or is it something else?
Because seeing friends and co-workers
and everybody just like it's really not
real. It's fake. Is because um when we
talk about friendship,
it's just purely friendship.
That's what I always thought and expect
it to be but obviously it's not is
because of benefits
when benefits involved then everything
just seem like it's change
and I question myself is this really
and is it going to be everywhere
everyone or it just me and So days after
days of working and then I see
friendship and co-workers and everything
like that, you know, people willing to
step on us to climb higher
and then go home every day work and then
come home seeing my parents and my
brother and sister. I don't talk by that
time. I I really I don't talk at all.
Just go in my room and then that's it.
That's all day and then all night and
seeing my brothers and sister also
suffer suffer with family's problem
issues and by that time my family just a
lot of things happening at the same time
my father um got into like a really bad
car accident by the 18-wheeler
and then uh uh but luckily they they all
okay and then uh I rented a car for for
them, for my father and my mother.
And then we hit that car as well in the
same week. And then we got a different
car parked right in front of us and got
stole same week. Everything just come to
me just like okay, is this really uh
what I want in my life or I want a
different path. that is uh the the time
where my feeling is get you know
stronger and stronger that I want to
seek for something else.
And one day um during the noon time a
peak noon and Texas weather we already
know is really weird. It's changing
rapidly, right? recall uh weird weather
in Texas and the people here also weird.
And so being weird, I took off from
work. I drove myself to the Hunga
Temple, which is the temple right now.
Back then I um I was a leader in the
youth at the different temple in Irving
nearby to my workplace and my house. But
when I um
when I took off work, I drove up here.
It's like 30 minutes away from where I
work.
And then came uh come up here and I saw
my teachers uh Mano Ratanaguna. He um
walk around under the the the hot sun
and then I follow him just walk behind
him and then certainly he stopped and
turned around and asked me uh are you
okay? what can I help you? And I just
answer him and I didn't expect it. I
said, "Can I ordain to become a monk
temporary?"
And he smiled and he said, "Yes, when?"
I said, "Two weeks. Let me arrange my
work and things like that." And then
after two weeks and
I enter to the the the monastery and
then start to ordain to become a
temporary um no not a novice just stay
there you know as a before or to become
a novice stay there for a couple months
and then I went home again to go to work
and then when I go to work I feel like
this definitely not what I want.
I need to go back to the monastery. And
I asked my teachers, can I go come back
to the monastery and then go to work
during the day and then uh at night I
stay at the temple to study and
practice. And he said yes. And I keep
doing that for a while. Keep doing that
for a while. And then one day
when I uh swept the floor, swept the the
the yard, the yard when people cut the
grass, mowing the grass and I I sweep it
and I saw all those grass that been cut
and I imagine of my hairs
and I thought these grass is just like
my hair. If I'm not saving it, I feel
itchy and very difficult for me with
that feeling.
But then I cannot um just like
Gillesa, right? Defilement.
So, but I cannot um eliminate it all
yet. I cannot take it remove them all
yet. So I will put you here together and
I will pick you up together and I will
remove them all together later on. I
just talk to myself that way. And then
when I turn around and I saw one of the
leaf, a very young leaf on the big tree
by the gazebo.
This gazebo is um the first thing that
uh my master built when he just first
came to the temple. So this is a a
sacred place for us.
And so the the leaf the young leaf just
dropped down in front of me just like
this slowly slowly in front of my eyes
and I look at that leaf and I see that
leaf I imagine of myself this is
impermanent.
So the young leaf also drop due to so
many conditions right weather and
everything. How about my life?
I will one day I will also die
regardless of how old am I am at that
time. So I will be the same then what is
real that I asked myself that way and I
throw the uh the broom right there and
then run run in and I saw my teachers
walking back and forth by the parking
lot again in front of the the monk's
residence
and I told him the whole story. He say
you know if you have that knowledge now
you're great. Okay. Back then when the
Buddha still alive um ex uh the Buddha
told people with just one sentence one
quote and they became enlightenment
right away or the lady after listening
to the Buddha thought and then she go
took a shower and then she poured the
water from top of her head and down to
her feet and she became enlightenment.
He realized everything and became
enlightenment. Now you see the leaves
falling and you can you can realize that
way you're great. Then I was so happy
when he say that right. I say then may I
ordain to become a monk? He say no. He
said no.
And u after that I went home and talked
with my my parents and they also say no.
So three times like that, three times
like that, I asked my teachers and my my
parents and they both they both say no
until one last time and um he accepted
it during the night time.
before that he told me for a student
if you um you cannot go to bed before
your teacher
>> and you cannot stay in bed
uh after your teacher's already awake.
>> That's what he told me.
>> So at 12 midnight he didn't go to sleep
and he just walked back and forth in the
the monk's residence. So I I dare to go
to sleep, right? I just sat there and
and watched him walking back and forth.
And I asked him, "Master, can I ordain
to become a monk?" That's the last time.
And I asked him, he said, "Um, he's very
difficult." He say a lot of things. He I
am very difficult. Can you uh can you
handle that? Can you bear with that? And
I say, I need uh teachers like you. I
needed teachers like you.
And then uh after a chitchat for a while
and he said I already pick out the date
for you full moon of April for you to
ordain. And so uh tomorrow go home and
talk to your parents and then I was so
happy and then tomorrow comes and I went
home and talk with my parents and they
cry so much. I kneel down in front of
them and they pay respect to them and
they they cries and I asked them one
last time that allow me to ordain to
become a monk and they they all agree
they all agree there my journey begins
from there just like that but I never
expected about ordained to become a monk
I never have that thought before
>> yeah thank you Bonte that's a
fascinating story um And yeah, it seems
like your life is somewhat until the
present day, you know, even somewhat
similar to these um seeming lines that I
see in the history of the the religious
history of Vietnam. So like Thailand,
Burma, Sri Lanka, they're all very much
Terravvada Buddhist like 99.9%.
Whereas Vietnam, you take a teacher like
Tiknadhan, you know, one of the probably
the second most well-known monk in the
world. Um, you know, he was a Mahayana
monk, but he would translate Terravada
texts and, uh, your life you ordained
into the lineage of Funksarakita, who is
the founder of the Vietnamese Terravada
SA. Um, and your life is very much
Terraata. you made that choice but also
you're you know a lot of people have in
their minds this idea that terraat is
very selfish you're going off to live in
the forest and practice for your own
arant enlightenment whereas Mahayana is
very much thinking about others and very
public uh focused and I think your
pilgrimage recently is a interesting you
know combination of both of those but
I'm curious if if it was intentional
that you chose uh terravada were you
raised in Vietnamese Terravada or how
did you decide to go that direction
rather than Mahayana?
>> Um in Vietnam
I didn't even know that we are
Buddhists.
Most of the Vietnamese family we claim
that we are Buddhists,
right? Most of the Vietnamese family.
But we are not really Buddhist because
we don't know we don't know anything
about Buddhism.
Right? We just knowing that we go to the
temple and then paying respect to the
Buddha and then with the incense and
then asking for you know good health,
prosperity and everything like that. But
we don't even know what's the Buddha
taught about or how to practice
meditation or anything like that. So we
claim that we are Buddhists but we are
not uh to be honest. Okay. So back then
in Vietnam I didn't my family is the
same with every other families that we
worship ancestors.
We only worship ancestors and that's all
we know. I didn't even know that uh uh
who is a Buddha and how he look like or
what is the temple and what the temple
look like. I didn't even know
until I came to United States.
This is when my Buddhist begins
is because um it start out with fun.
Okay. My friends school you know when we
go to school and they they join the
Buddhist youth every Sunday and that is
when they ask me oh go ahead go to the
temple and you know join the Buddhist
youth because it's fun. We have camping
and we learn Morse code and simore and
everything like that. And so it's it's
going to be fun you know. And then by
that time I say okay then I'm I want to
join because um uh staying at a home
with without knowing anybody or going
anywhere is also boring. So I joined the
Buddhist youth and then
learned sim for Mos code and then join
with some uh camping summer camping and
things like that and learn and then I
got promoted to be one of the leader and
so Buddhist
started out for me is directly to terra
right because in Vietnam mostly Mahayana
in Vietnam mostly everywhere
But uh somehow where I live where where
I raise up
this not temple or
because my family is also have to work
to raise the whole family because my
family is a a large family. I have 10
brother and sisters. I'm the youngest
one. Okay. So I I really didn't know how
my parents can raise all 10 brother and
sister like that. their kids, they can
raise them all. And so because of a busy
life, that's why we didn't go to the
temple or anything. Or maybe it's the
temple is far.
And so we move around from uh Daklak is
where I born. We are Hu central. Okay.
Uh we from central of uh Vietnam which
is H city. And then when they came to uh
they went to uh Daklak is one of uh the
the city the state and then I was born
there
and then moved to uh
moved to Baronga and then from there
from there this is what I still remember
when I was still young. My parents and
brothers um went to work and then I stay
home alone
in front of the highway. Uh we live by
the side of the highway.
There's one monk
uh terra monk wear wearing red rope just
like my teacher. He go for arm round.
Okay. and he goes, "Well, I'm" and he
stopped in front of my house. And then
when he stopped there and I didn't even
know who he is and what he's doing
and the kid and I just think that, okay,
then uh I need to offer him something.
So, I went inside and scoop one scoop of
rice. Uh okay. Uh not not the um the the
raw one rice.
And I run out and then he opened his
bowl for me to offer it. And I pour the
whole cup of rice, raw rice into his
bowl. And then I will run in to uh uh
put away the the the can.
And I rush to run out again. And I
didn't see him anymore. That is only
only one way. It's a highway. Okay. He
walked that way uh straight. But when I
run out Russ to run out again, I didn't
see him anymore.
And then uh later I asked my brothers
who lived there for a long time, my
brother and sister, they say that
there's no Terraada temple there
uh in uh around us. There there there
wasn't one Terra traditions
and I really don't know and didn't know
who he is and where he's from. But that
image of offering to the ter to the
terra monk, it stuck with me for a long
time until I came to the United States.
And then the day when I met my teacher,
he wear the same rope.
Everything the same. Okay, that remind
me reminds me of that uh incident when I
offer to the monk in Vietnam back then
when I was really young.
And um I think that is the sign to uh
brought me to Terravada
and just purely straight to the
terravada. Uh I didn't learn anything
about Buddhist at all before that.
>> Thank you Ve.
I'm um curious you know speaking about
this uh kind of
contact between um Mahayana and
Terravada and you being drawn your story
of inspire being inspired to ordain
reminds me of the story of Pachura and I
think this is the one you're referencing
where she uh pours that foot washing
water and she sees part of the water
goes a little bit and then sinks into
the ground and then part of it goes
farther and she thinks you know beings
can eye when they're young or when
they're middle age Asia when they're old
and then goes into her hut and turns off
a candle and or extinguishes a candle
and becomes enlightened. So that lesson
coming from the tree and the leaf is
just uh quite profound.
And
one thing I'm curious about is, you
know, speaking about this intersection
of of Mahayana and Terravada,
your path, you know, obviously you're in
Terravada robes, but your life has also
been framed in so many ways in robes as
a gift. Um, and I think one of the first
indications I saw of that on your
website, at least or on the Demachetia
website, is the value made. Um, and it
it's it's a quite uh it's phrased in
quite profound and powerful language uh
of lifetimes. So would you talk about
what inspired you to make your vow and
why you made uh or what it what it is?
>> Yes. This again. Um
this is where it start with back then
when I just uh ordained recent uh newly
ordained and then um I study I try to
learn more about Buddhism.
Um I went online I went online on
YouTube and then start to search about
Dharma talk and things like that. Try to
listen to learn more to get more
knowledge about it.
and keep thinking and thinking and I
learn about Tibetaka
and I start to read more about it and I
found out that you know all those things
that taught online and then you know um
it's taught by many teachers and many
monks and they always always claim that
um this is a Buddha teaching this is the
Buddha teachings but obviously it wasn't
right if they want people to understand
if they want people to follow then they
claim those to be the Buddha teachings
and so those are misleading and a lot of
people
uh follow and believe in that right and
I told my I asked myself this generation
my generations
we still have knowledge to understand
what is right what is wrong
but come to the Buddha teachings all his
teachings
We are completely blind like this. And
what about the future?
My students and my students students
what about them?
What are they going to base on to study
to practice?
because later on it will be much more
misleading teachings, right? And so I
was worried so much about the future
generation because of all these thing
that I read and listen online
and I told myself I need to do
something.
I need to do something to preserve
the true dharma for the future
generations.
But by that time I didn't know what to
do. I just have that kind of mindset
that thought. And then uh I got I get to
go to India once with my teachers and
the lady bouties here. When I enter into
the Bgaya area by far away outside and I
be able to see the body tree and the the
top of the stupa
and I cry. I break down and cry a lot
about standing outside looking in I cry
and uh I didn't know why and then I went
inside and pay homage to the Buddha and
body tree and then I sat there under the
body tree to meditate for a while
and then I
in my mind I would just wish what can I
do what should I do to protect the
Buddha Dharma to preserve it and to to
um uh spread it widely and then continue
meditating. After a while, I see some of
the um the top of the jetty top of the
jetty.
So when I see keep seeing all those uh
uh spear of the shitty in my in my mind
and I was thinking okay then uh I should
do something
I should do something about building the
stupa sites
to preserve all the Buddha teachings
>> right and so when I seen all those fears
of the uh the ji in my head and I think
that okay I should uh build a site
uh to preserve all the Buddha teachings
but uh to build a site you have to have
a large land and a decent amount number
of the cherry the stupa in order to uh
inscript all those uh sutas on it and I
wanted to do it in stone
because this is the way to preserve it
longer in this world. And so
by that time I made a vow under the
bodhic tree from here on I made a vow
that I will build if I have a chance I
will build the stupa sites to preserve
the Buddha Dharma and that will last for
thousand years for all the future
generation to get to learn the true
dharma.
But uh I didn't know that you know how
many languages uh I should put in there
or how many country that actually have
the tipaka in Pali. So I just make that
wish that vow under the body tree just
one vow under the bodhi tree and then I
went to um uh see sightsee in for many
other sh places of the Buddha and I
continue making that vows but when I
make that vows under the body tree I
feel like when I close my eye I feel
like the the my body is moving it's just
like everything is moving
and So that is the the the the feeling
the sensation that I would never forget.
Right. And then after that vow in both
uh both under the tree of the bkaya
it took seven years
for me to continue with that vow
silently.
So everything I do, any wholesome deeds
and wholesome things that I cultivate or
I do, I just continue to making that
vows wishing that one day my vow will be
uh will come true that I be able to do
it. Yes. Seven years of do of doing
that.
>> That is where it started.
I you're um Bonte that's so um
meaningful to hear and you're right we
consider you know we see these teachings
online and it seems like they're so um
you know sustainable but really if a you
know in terms of the long-term longevity
or if a data center goes out or
something like where are they then? And
um you're the third person I've spoken
to who's had that sense of the earth
shaking under them at Bogaya
specifically. I've never heard it
anywhere else. So
>> there's a power to that also.
>> Um and is that Aloca uh whining in the
background?
>> Yes.
>> Any chance we can get him on screen
really quickly to say hello or is far
away?
>> Alo. Aloca, come
where? Right here.
Okay.
All right. Hey
>> shy.
>> Say hi to that woman. Say hi. Okay.
Okay.
>> And so much meta.
>> Sit down.
>> We're gonna have to ask about your story
with him as well.
>> Sit down. Okay. Sit.
He's very uh active.
>> Yeah.
And he want to go out. That's why.
>> Sit down. Sit. Sit down.
>> Okay. Good boy.
>> Yeah. Thank you, Monte. Um,
yeah. Curious. I mean, you're the vows
that you're talking about now and I and
some of the other clear mountaineers
have all been to Bodga Gaya and made
similar. We made our own vows which kind
of have made sense to us. And the vows
that you're talking about, the vows to
make these monuments, the Trapidica um
scriptural monuments and uh vows to walk
to Washington DC, they're very big. Um
but it seems like you also have other
more day-to-day vows. Like I think one
of the things I've had family members
who are not Buddhists at all but just
saw you on social media and you know
they're one of the first things they say
is how come your robes aren't so cool.
You know just uh you do have very cool
robes and I do at times have some patch
envy. Um but
>> one
I got some too but um could could you
talk about that? Um just the vows. What
is what is tudong and what does your
robe not only represent but how long
have you had it and what is this
practice of of tudong and keeping a punk
sakula or rag robe?
>> Um yes uh this robe right here I showed
it in India in the walk of 112 days
where I met Aloca
>> in 2022.
And so by that time I still remember
that um the uh the the um
the assistant of the leader of that walk
in India he also wear this robe. He he
showed it himself. He collected f uh
fabrics from the the um cremation place
and along the road and he showed it and
he wear those robes for about 12 to 13
years already and just one set of rope
and he just uh he keep doing that and so
this is something that I have um I
wanted to do for a long time but I never
have a chance because staying here in
the United States we wear the same robe
as my teacher which is the red one. And
uh when I had a chance in 2022
after my uh my vow uh about the damached
uh uh got announced publicly,
then I get a chance to to go on the
Tudong. That is the first Tudong trip
that I I get to got to join.
And when I go there and I also thinking
that I will collect fabrics and then I
make a rope like this myself
and I did get all the uh fabrics from uh
uh trash place and from the brother
monks who uh you know their ropes are
old and they don't use it anymore. So I
asked for those and then collect here
and there. I still remember one of the
uh piece one piece of the uh fabric is
by the um Langi real uh Gangi River. Me
and uh my brother M. He um we both saw
one of the white fabric and we both rush
down and then pick it up. He hold one
one side and I hold one side and I look
at him and he look at me and smile and I
let him have it.
But then those fabric cannot be used.
Nowaday they the fabric is very thin and
like silk. It's not like this type of
fabric. So it can cannot be used. And so
collect it and then uh everywhere we go
when there's a like a a tailor shop and
I go there and ask for the machine to
you know put it show it together with
all these stitches.
It take a long time to do this.
It takes so much long because these are
so many layers here. With this is like
two three layers. So without showing
this line right here, it cannot stay
together. It's always like this. So it's
very difficult to wear. That's why you
can see many lines, many stitches to uh
to uh uh stick them together.
since 2022
up until now when I come back to the
temple and I put it put it away because
I made a vow that I only wear this uh
when I go or go on a walk on the tudong
other than that uh normal day then I
just use my regular rope
and uh this is where it came from and I
got my whole set three pieces
fixing and uh putting together.
Unfortunately,
uh these cannot be dyed. I try to dye it
in one color,
>> but these are different type of fabric.
>> Right. Right.
>> So when we we both try to cook a really
big pot of color and dye in color and we
try to dye it to because we have to have
one color, right? It cannot be so many
colors like this. But it didn't work
out. So it time is rushing. So we have
to wear like this. But uh luckily it's
not too obvious with this color. These
colors are still matching with you know
all our allow rope right colors.
>> It's not too obvious but uh I definitely
will get some uh some other fabrics that
you know be able to dye and replace
this. Right.
And wearing these I feel like because
they are thick enough
the sati is about five layers. It's
super heavy.
I remember in India when we walk and we
caught in a in a rain it's soaking wet
and then it's way heavier than normal
right and then we walk every day like 30
miles per days and so it's wears out a
lot already plus the rope and the backs
and the bow so it's way way heavy. Yeah,
>> it's like some some monks putting rocks
in my my bowl or something.
>> Well, I was really I was happy for you.
So, the Sati is the one that goes over
your shoulder where
>> in America has all of the pins from the
different sheriffs and towns and I was
very happy that it looks so thick. I
mean, ours probably weigh like a tenth
or at least at least a quarter of what
yours weigh. Uh but I was happy because
you're sleeping outside and that's it's
basically a blanket. A full blanket.
>> It is. Uh I'm grateful that we we have
this rope and the sati is thick enough
for us because it's super cold.
>> Sometime you you saw us wearing like uh
the beanie is it
>> and wearing socks and things like that
because it's freezing. So we have to
adapt to the weather otherwise when we
walk we cannot cover that sati like
normal you know when we stay in one
place so we have to adapt to the weather
try to keep a shift to continue move
moving on and that sati when added those
pins on it's like it's like double it's
very heavy
>> yeah and I try to to keep this rope uh
where still still wearing this ro
because uh I'll be going to Sri Lanka
soon. We will have a short waffle piece
in Sri Lanka for about uh five or six
days um before receiving the Buddha
relics trying to to cultivate some
merits uh to uh to handle the the the
relics back uh to United States. Monte
um speaking of your trip to India um
would you mind telling us about how you
met Aloka and how he came back with you?
>> Mhm.
Day six of uh that journey from Kolkata,
India.
Um there was so many dogs that follow us
right but uh like couple hours and one
or two day they they all quit. Aloa
follow us on day six. Um but he he was
same as the other straight dog around in
India a lot of straight dog is almost
everywhere
and so he saw us walk and then he just
follow at the at the beginning he also
hesitate to get closer to the monks too
but then when we feed him with uh
cookies and things like that and snacks
and he keep continue following
day after days and then he get used to
us already and we build trust in each
other and he follow me. He followed the
monks and uh I took care of him really
well every day. When he see mud, when he
see like dirty water, he just sunk him
down him him himself down there. So his
body is always dirty every single day.
>> And he encountered a lot of fight too,
you know, stray dogs. He being a stray
dog, I believe that um he have to
protect himself.
That is why when there's dogs around and
he always attack and try to to protect
himself and the monks. So he encountered
a lot of fight and also um got into a
car accident once. The car hit him
really bad like
10 m away. Flew 10 mters away.
And so um but he still survived and he
got into like a really bad uh condition,
illness, vomiting, diarrhea, coughing
and uh his nose always stuck with mucus
and things like that. So he cannot
breathe.
By that time I thought he's going to die
because no vet, no medicine at all.
Right. Sometime when I try myself to
look for a vet, but you know the vet the
doctor when trying to give him
injection,
use the needle and poke into his leg and
then the needle is like straight like it
bent like this. The vet took out and
then straightened it out and poked it in
again. I was like really is this
something?
This isn't unnormal abnormal at all. So
keep doing that for
five different vets
and he's still you know unreover
and then finally by the border of India
and Nepal he was really in a bad
condition
his body starts to smell
and very cold so I believe that he's
dying
and I carry carry him in my arm and walk
around by the uh the village by the the
markets and asking for vet. When I talk
in English, they respond in Hindi. So, I
didn't know what they saying.
>> Luckily, I found one of the uh company
and they speak English and they um they
helped to locate the vet and we found
one of the vet. I took him there. The
vet give him injection and medic
medication and things like that. But
before that, before we met with the uh
the vet, you know, I took off because
he's was in that building. So, I think
he's safe. So, I went to uh get some
stuff. And then when I returned, he
wasn't there. He wasn't there. And then
I asked the owner and they say no, they
didn't see him. They didn't realize that
he's left. He left. And so, we look
around and look around, but we couldn't
find him. So I thought where could he go
because he's he cannot walk that far,
right? And I was thinking he might go
back to the uh the im immigrants
office
because that is where we started out to
go look for a vet, right? That is when I
pick him up and carry him in my arm and
walk around
and I walk back to that immigration
office and he was lying there waiting
for me.
And I call Aloa and he start to stand up
and then happy and and I'd come to pick
him up and go see the bed. That is when
I remember is the most stood out to me
because he's very smart. He thought that
I left him or something, right?
And so uh we be able to uh uh to shift
him and after a long journey I think
that uh almost come to the an end and I
think that um he deserve better.
If I leave him there at the both guy
then he will go back to his old day
which is be being a stray dog again and
I don't want that
and uh I keep on checking and asking how
can I bring him to America and animal in
India coming to uh United States is is
red flag it's not allowed
so after a long time consultant and then
working with uh uh different companies
and we finally got him all kind of
vaccines and everything prepare himself
and $14,000 for him to uh fly from India
to here after all the documents and
everything in a cargo airplane
uh air cargo uh compartment and um
he flew on a different air airplane
and I go on a different one. And when he
got to uh JFK, New York, he got there
and quarantine for 28 days.
28 days there. And then after that, we
went there to pick him up to bring him
uh by road to uh our monastery. a long
journey of driving
and he became unit uh US citizen just
like that and that $14,000 is actually
supported by our our volunteers our um
uh people here when they heard that I
want to bring Aloca to United States
they just cook you know ve vegetarian
food and they cook and sell it to fund
raise for Aloa and they got that amount
of money to pay for a loca to to to come
to the United States. So he came to the
United States and then he messed up my
crout.
>> Yeah, I love guys like that.
>> Wow. Yeah, talk about a lot of merit.
That's impressive. Um
Bonte, your your walks for peace um in
general are are so interesting. Um, you
know, the term walk for peace has
different different meanings and the way
that you do it kind of combines
multiple meanings there. So, before I
ordained, just growing up in America had
um people who I looked up to just on the
level of politics or social justice like
Martin Luther King Jr. and the uh
Birmingham bus boycott or Gandhi doing
the salt marches or even Ticknot Han
starting to get into Buddhism, they
would do these long walks with many many
people for social justice. And then I
remember reading the biography of Ajan
Man, kind of the grandfather of the
forest tradition in Thailand. And he
would do a different type of peace walk
where he's just going alone, walking in
the forest and sleeping like you, a very
hard life, but very much alone, looking
for seclusion versus what Gandhi and
Tiknadhan and Martin Luther King Jr. and
others are kind of looking not for
personal seclusion, but for it's kind of
building social power and coherence. And
your walks kind of combine both of
those. I mean, you are sleeping rough
and living rough and walking barefoot
and sleeping in the cold and you don't
know where you're going to sleep maybe
uh or what you'll have to eat the next
day. Uh but you're also building up a
lot of social movement. I mean, people
who had no idea about Buddhism learn
about you and there there comes this
kind of momentum and the volume of of
people and of news um attention just
gets more and more and I'm curious um
how you balance those like did you start
your first walk for peace? Were you
looking for personal seclusion or has it
always been looking to bring attention
and to create community or has it always
been a mix of of both?
Uh yesan um it's a mix of both. So when
we walk uh we want to uh practice
ourself like I said uh in my my walk
most of the time we stay at the temple
and we have a lot of opportunity to
practice meditation in sitting posture
right and we can just go into my kouti
and then lock myself down for a couple
of days or months if I want if I want
but uh by doing so there you a piece a
big piece that is missing out that I
couldn't couldn't couldn't find it find
it and uh I see so many sufferers
around
you know our society and around me and
everywhere I go I just see sufferings
people and not knowing how and where to
start to get out from all those
sufferings so I keep asking myself what
can I do as a Buddhist monk? What can I
do to help? If I just stay here at the
temple and I can serve the small
community, whoever comes to the temple
and I can support, I can help. Or if I
want to be secluded myself, I I just,
you know, go into the kouti and then
lock lock myself in that for months. by
one. My teachers uh uh stay in the kouti
for one year straight to meditate
without seeing anybody already. He have
done that in 2017
before he uh um before I went to Myanmar
to practice.
And so um in this walk
I talk with my team that we need to uh
um practice mindfulness when we walk
trying to find out what's the difference
between sitting and walking
you know as Buddhist monk and all
practicing we always sitting in uh to
practice right most most of the time but
walking for a long distance for every
day to practicees way different. It's
very difficult to and walking like 20 to
30 miles per day that wears us out a lot
too. Tired, exhausted, right? Then how
can we balance it and how can we
cultivate on our breathing and how how
can it be mindful?
So that is the biggest challenge for for
us too in in this work for myself. Um I
put the concentration but the the the
nostril the breathing continue breathing
while I walk and at the beginning
because not so many people knows about
this walk at the beginning right and we
just walk walk and we get to practice a
lot at the beginning
not like back then uh you know the more
we walk and the more people come out and
that is the time where we have to greet
people a lot. So it is kind of like uh
thanks thanksful to the um the the uh
the beginning where not many people
coming out not many many people notice
us that we get to prepare ourself. We
get to prepare oursel for the bigger one
right and we did we we practice hard at
the beginning we sleep outside and
anywhere like Jan just mentioned we not
sure that what we going to eat and then
not sure where we going to sleep.
Someday they kick us out, sometime we
sleep near you by the side of the
highway. And those night I could not
sleep because you know worried for the
whole team. If one car crash down or
fall asleep when drive driving the whole
team could die right because uh on the
highway 70 90 miles per hour especially
at night time they drive very fast
>> right so the whole most of the time I
couldn't sleep is need to watch out for
the team
and so I get to practice myself a lot
during those days for over a month
and going through the cold, the freeze
and moisturers and everything. We all
wet every night and so that is the time
where I
see myself as you know okay here I'm
practicing myself even though we walking
in in the team in a team but each and
every single one of us we have our own
space because nobody knows how we you
know that person practice how that
person practice things like that so it's
kind of secluded for myself and my the
other mom who walk with me all the time
wearing
And uh we uh sleep um outside like that.
We get to experience more uh different
things, right? When we sleep outside and
throughout the night under the rain and
things like that, we experience a lot.
So that also support us in the
practicing.
And then when we get bigger and bigger,
when the crowd get getting larger,
that is the time where I have to put
myself into
the stage where I have to deal with so
many different uh views, different
people, right? Government, official,
police, no protest, protesters
and the people who come out to support.
That is the time when my mind is
constantly thinking you know uh what to
do how to do this and how to handle
this. It's just like and not just me but
because I have to to support the whole
team have to watch out the whole team
even the volunteers I have to watch out
for everybody. So as a leader of waffle
pieces I learn a lot through that and um
practice myself and these are the time
where I use all those time when I
practice at the temple right now that
things happen how I deal with it how I
react with it
so in my talk I said it doesn't matter
how long we practice it in the forest or
in the mountain or in the cave it
doesn't matter really
The matter is when we go down, when we
get out of of that comfort zone,
when things happen, how we handle in it,
how we react to it, that tells us
how much we practice, how much we gain
from all that those practice,
right? So I appreciate the first uh uh
over a month uh the first um those days
to uh get oursel prepared for the the
larger crowd
and once the crowd get larger and larers
and that is the time where I have to be
with the communities
more than myself because walking every
day you imagine that um 12 miles of
walking that is 12 miles of people,
hundreds of thousand of people along the
road to the the lunch and the night
locations. So, walk into the lunch, take
a quick lunch, and then go talk after
talk, get ready to walk, walk to the
night location, not even have time to
rest, go out and talk again until like
10 p.m. and 11 p.m. some every day like
that. So those day at the uh last uh the
middle and the last segment I I put
myself in the communities. So I did both
uh both of those
>> if you need to take Aloca out. We can
wait.
>> Okay. He just he just want to
>> No worries. Please.
>> Okay. Let me let me some some uh treats.
>> All right.
What's going on?
>> We uh we were late to your Tudong story.
Um the first time we kind of got close
to each other was walking uh Tudong in
California and I remember um
specifically camping in a grove of
poison oak with Ajin Kovilo and that's
where we really bonded. But his sadi was
way thicker than mine and I was cold
every night and you were not. We had a
wool wool sati was great. So, that was
the end of our first of two-part
interview with Fenol Bonte Pa.
Uh, people can find a link to the next
video in the description and hopefully
we'll have it popping up somewhere on
the on the screen. Um, and yeah, you'll
hope you'll enjoy that when it comes out
as well.