Venerable Sahris Mahasakko, a 45-year-old meditation teacher from Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai, completed a more than 700-kilometre pilgrimage from Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University in Ayutthaya to Chiang Mai to mark the 730th anniversary of the city’s founding. The journey began soon after his formal appointment as a meditation teacher on 10 December 2025 and concluded when he reached Chiang Mai on 2 January 2026.
Chiang Mai monk pilgrimage and daily practice
The pilgrimage was intended to restore and strengthen faith in Buddhism and the monastic community through disciplined practice. Venerable Sahris said his guiding idea was “one bowl and a devoted heart”, reflecting a simple but deliberate regimen aimed at making religious practice visible and tangible to the public.
He set out with three principal objectives: to celebrate his appointment as a meditation teacher, to honour the faith and support of lay donors who had contributed scholarships for meditation studies, and to raise funds for the construction of a Lanna-style meditation hall and practice pavilion in Chiang Mai, the first of its kind in the province.
Throughout the journey he maintained strict ascetic rules. He observed the traditional monastic disciplines by going on alms-rounds, eating only from his bowl, spending nights at burial grounds when required, and walking roughly 30 kilometres a day without wearing footwear. Each day’s routine ran from about 05:30 until 17:30, with walking and short rest periods totalling roughly 12 hours.
Sahris described the physical toll of the pilgrimage in direct terms. He said pain moved from the soles of his feet up through his calves, knees, hips and lower back, and into his shoulders and arms. Managing pain and fatigue, he added, depended on the strength of the mind. He kept rest breaks brief to avoid falling into passivity, and relied on mental discipline to keep progressing toward the daily target.
Beyond physical hardship, he said the journey offered profound opportunities for meditation practice. Walking barefoot and attending to sensations of heat, cold, hardness and softness became a continuous exercise in vipassana, or insight meditation. Travelling the country lanes and highways, he observed human vulnerability: roadside accidents, animal carcasses and discarded waste prompted reflections on impermanence and the consequences of heedlessness.
Those reflections, he said, are essential for monks seeking to curtail greed, anger and delusion. He described repeatedly witnessing the frailty of the human body and the unpleasant realities of bodily waste as stark reminders that the physical form is transient and prone to suffering. Such sights became material for meditation, reinforcing the teachings he has passed on to students and supporters.
The pilgrimage attracted attention from local communities along the route, and supporters contributed both moral encouragement and funds. The fundraising element aims to secure resources for scholarships in vipassana studies and to build the Lanna meditation pavilion in Chiang Mai, which organisers hope will become a regional centre for practice.
Venerable Sahris’s walk combined public devotion with disciplined practice and practical fundraising. As Chiang Mai marks its 730th year, the pilgrimage served both as a personal act of training and as a public appeal for renewed confidence in Buddhist practice and in the monastic role within Thai society.
Key Takeaways:
- Venerable Sahris, a 45-year-old meditation teacher, walked over 700 km from Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University to Chiang Mai in late 2025–early 2026.
- The Chiang Mai monk pilgrimage aimed to renew public faith, celebrate his appointment as a meditation teacher, and raise funds for scholarships and a Lanna meditation hall.
- He maintained strict ascetic practices: walking barefoot, alms-rounds, single-bowl meals and 30 km per day with around 12 hours of walking.
- The journey offered reflections on impermanence and human frailty while highlighting community support for Buddhist practice.
