Keep the Wheel Turning: Journals & Letters on a Bowing Pilgrimage (Volume 6)

American Buddhist monks Heng Sure and Heng Chao undertook the ancient ascetic practice of bowing once every three steps on a two and a half year pilgrimage up the coast of California. They took with them only their faith and a wish for world peace as the inched their way along at about a mile and a half a day. Who gave them food? Where did they sleep? How did they diffuse the anger of drunks and overcome the hostility of law enforcement? What lessons did they learn in compassion and humility? And most important, what can we learn from their journey? Journals and Letters on a Bowing Pilgrimage is an eight volume series of the monks daily activities and reflections. Keep the Wheel Turning is volume 6 in the series. It covers the period from July 27 to Sept. 30, 1978. It ends in Moss Landing in Monterey County.

Rev. Heng Sure was ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1976. For the sake of world peace, he undertook an over six hundred mile pilgrimage from South Pasadena to Ukiah, repeatedly taking three steps and one bow to cover the entire journey. In the entire two years taken to make the pilgrimage, he observed a practice of total silence. Rev. Heng Sure has an M.A. in Oriental Languages from UC Berkeley and a Ph.D. from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He serves as the Managing Director of the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery and teaches on the staff at the Institute for World Religions. He is actively involved in interfaith dialogue and in the ongoing conversation between spirituality and technology.

Dr. Martin Verhoeven, when training under Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, also undertook the bowing pilgrimage dedicated to world peace with Reverend Heng Sure. Marty graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His areas of interest are the historical teachings of Buddhism and the process of religious acculturation. Marty has studied and lectured extensively throughout Asia, Europe, the United States, and Canada. Currently, he is a professor at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) and Dharma Realm Buddhist University (DRBU). He also teaches a weekly meditation series at Berkeley Buddhist Monastery.