Prayer beads

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Prayer beads are traditionally used to keep count of the repetitions of prayers, chants or devotions by adherents of religion.

There are three widely accepted uses for prayer beads:

Repetition of the same devotion a set (usually large) number of times. This is the earliest form of prayer beads (the Japa Mala) and the earliest Christian form (the prayer rope). This is also the type of use in the Bahá'í Faith
Repetition of several different prayers in some pattern, possibly interspersed with meditations.
Meditation on a series of spiritual themes, e.g. Islam.

1 Bahá'í
2 Buddhism
3 Christianity
4 Hinduism
5 Islam
6 Sikhism
7 Non-denominational
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] Bahá'í

Bahá'ís recite the phrase "Alláh-u-Abhá", a form of the Greatest Name, 95 times per day, sometimes using prayer beads.

[edit] Buddhism

For main article, see Buddhist prayer beads

Prayer beads, or Japa Malas, are also used in many forms of Mahayana Buddhism, often with a lesser number of beads (usually a divisor of 108). In Pure Land Buddhism, for instance, 27 beads rosaries are common. In China such rosaries are named "Shu-Zhu" ("Counting Beads"); in Japan, "Juzu". These shorter rosaries are sometimes called 'prostration rosaries', because they are easier to hold when enumerating repeated prostrations. In Tibetan Buddhism, often larger malas are used of for example 111 beads: when counting, they calculate one mala as 100 mantras, and the 11 additional beads are taken as extra to compensate for errors.

[edit] Christianity

The Desert Fathers (third to fifth century) used knotted ropes to count prayers, typically the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner"). The invention is attributed to St Anthony or his associate St Pachomius in the fourth century.

Catholic Christians use the Rosary as prayer beads. The Rosary (its name comes from the Latin "rosarium," meaning "rose garden"), is an important and traditional devotion of the Roman Catholic Church, combining prayer and meditation in sequences of ten "Hail Marys," each sequence being called a decade. A complete Rosary involves the completion of fifteen (now twenty) decades.

Catholic Christians also use prayer beads to pray chaplets.

Eastern Christians use strings of beads, called "chotki," to pray, although among the Orthodox their use is mainly restricted to monks and bishops, not being common among laity or secular clergy. Many Eastern Christians instead use a prayer rope made of leather, called lestovka; its use is much more prevalent, and it is typically associated with the Jesus Prayer. This type of prayer beads is not used now by the Russian Orthodox Church, although it is used by the Old Believers. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "The rosary is conferred upon the Greek [Orthodox] monk as a part of his investiture with the mandyas or full monastic habit, as the second step in the monastic life, and is called his 'spiritual sword'."

In the mid-1980s Anglican prayer beads or "Christian prayer beads" were developed in the Episcopal Church. They have since been adopted by some Protestants. The set consists of 33 beads (representing the 33 years of the life of Christ) arranged in four groupings of symbolic significance. Many Anglo-Catholics use the Catholic rosary in addition to or instead of Anglican prayer beads.

Pearls of Life

The contemporary Pearls of Life, invented by Martin Lönnebo, Bishop Emeritus of the Linköping Diocese of the Swedish Lutheran Church, is a set of 18 beads, some round and some elongated, arranged in an irregular pattern. Each one has its own significance as a stimulus and reminder for meditation, although they can also be used for repetitive prayer.

[edit] Hinduism

The earliest use of prayer beads can be traced to Hinduism, where they are called Japa Mala and has 108 beads. Japa is the repeating of the name of God or a mantra, while Mala itself is a Sanskrit term meaning 'garland' or 'necklace'. The most common materials used for making the beads is Rudraksha seeds (used by Shaivites) and Tulsi stem (used by Vaishnavites). They are used for repetition of a mantra, other forms of Sadhana (spiritual exercise) and as an aid to meditation.

[edit] Islam

Muslim prayer beads, called tasbih or dhikr beads, are used to recite 33 times subhan'Allah (glory be to God), 33 times alhamdou'LillAh (praise God), and 33 times Allahou Akbar (God is the Greatest) after each prayer and at any other time of day one chooses.

These and various other forms of worship are meant to strengthen the bond between Muslims and Allah, in addition to purifying the heart. The beads also correspond to the 99 names of Allah and are used in related meditations.

Use of the tasbih is an evolution of Prophet Muhammad's (saws) practice of counting the above prayers (dhikrs, rememberances) on his fingers. Some of his (saws) companions (sahabah) use to count small pebbles while they recited the above small rememberances. Its not clear of how the pebbles evolved into a string of beads, but the practice of counting the rememberances themselves, in Islam is as old as Islam itself. It's the recitation of those small dhikrs that helps us get closer to God as God says in the Holy Quran:

"Therefore, remember Me; I will remember you. Give thanks to Me and reject Me not." [Holy Quran, Al-Baqarah 2:152]

[edit] Sikhism

Sikhs use a prayer string made of wool with 99 knots rather than beads.

[edit] Non-denominational

In his book, Simply Pray, Erik Walker Wikstrom offers a modern prayer practice that can be customized to meet individual spiritual needs. Using a set of 28 beads as a frame of reference, the practice includes centering and enterring-in prayers, breath prayers and prayers of Naming, Knowing, Listening and Loving.