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The History of Prayer Beads

From A String & A Prayer by Eleanor Wiley, Maggie Oman Shannon

Making, using, and wearing prayer beads create a tactile communication, linking our senses to universal prayer energy. The first beads were grooved pebbles, bones, and teeth - made over forty thousand years ago - and had talismanic and symbolic connotations from the beginning. For instance, wearing an animal bone or tooth affirmed success in the hunt for food. Beads at this time also served as status symbols. Later in the evolution of human civilization, beads were used as currency. A fossilized shell and bone necklace that is thirty thousand years old, on display at a museum in the Czech Republic, demonstrates that earliest humankind used beads for some of the same reasons people still use them today - for personal adornment, which distinguished oneself from others through unique ornamentation.

Spiritual associations began with the ancient Egyptians, whose use of beads goes back to 3200B.C. Calling beads sha sha strongly implies the beads' talismanic significance, since "sha" is the Egyptian word for luck. Beads officially sanctioned as instruments of prayer have been an important fixture of most spiritual traditions for centuries. And most of the world's inhabitants - nearly two-thirds of the planet's population - pray with beads. Some scholars have theorized that counting prayers naturally evolved from the abacus, the Chinese counting instrument that also uses beads. Others have noted that records of the third-century Desert Mothers and Fathers indicate that they carried in their pockets a specified number of pebbles, which they dropped one by one on the ground as they said each of their prayers.

The Religious Use of Beads

Traditionally, prayer beads have consisted of strings of similarly sized beads, seeds, knots, or even rose petals and beads made from crushed roses, from which we get the word "rosary". The Sanskrit term japa mala means "muttering chaplet," which refers to prayer beads' function as a means of recording the number of prayers muttered. Since counting prayers was initially so important, each religion embracing the use of prayer beads developed its own symbolic structure to follow.

In addition to helping keep one's place in structured prayers, prayer beads also symbolize the commitment to spiritual life. With their circular form, a string represents the interconnectedness of all who pray. Each bead counted is an individual prayer or mantra, and the rote repetition of prayers and mantras is meant to facilitate a sole focus on the prayer or mantra itself.

Other Prayers for Contemplation with Your Prayer Beads

Hasidic song

Wherever I go - only Thou!
Wherever I stand - only Thou!
Just Thou, again Thou! Always Thou!
Thou, Thou, Thou!
When things are good, Thou!
When things are bad, Thou!
Thou, Thou, Thou!

Shaker hymn

'Tis the gift to be simple,
'Tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down
Where we ought to be -
And when we find ourselves
In the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley
Of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend
We shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn, will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning
We come round right.

Buddhist prayer

May I be happy
May I be peaceful
May I be free

May my friends be happy
May my friends be peaceful
May my friends be free

May my enemies be happy
May my enemies be peaceful
May my enemies be free

May all things be happy
May all things be peaceful
May all things be free.

Rumi

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu,
Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen. Not any religion

Or cultural system. I am not from the East
or the West, not out of the ocean or up

From the ground, not natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all. I do not exist,

am not an entity in this world or the next,
did not descend from Adam and Eve or any

origin story. My place is placeless, a trace
of the traceless. Neither body or soul.

I belong to the beloved, have seen the two
worlds as one and that one call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner, only that
breath breathing human being.

Eastern Orthodox prayer

O Lord, grant me to greet
The coming day in peace.
Help me in all things
To rely upon thy holy will.
In every hour of the day
Reveal thy will to me.
Bless my dealings
With all who surround me.
Teach me to treat all that comes to me
Throughout the day with peace of soul,
And with firm conviction that
Thy will governs all.
In all my deeds and words
Guide my thoughts and feelings.
In unforeseen events
Let me not forget that all are sent by thee.
Teach me to act firmly and wisely.
Without embittering and embarrassing others.
Give me strength to bear the fatigue
Of the coming day with all that it shall bring.
Direct my will, tech me to pray,
Pray thou thyself in me. Amen.

Kenyan prayer

From the cowardice that dare not face new truth
From the laziness that is contented with half truth
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
Good Lord, deliver me.

St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
Seek to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

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For more information or to order, please contact Charlotte Ranz at info@redelephantyoga.com.

How to use Prayer Beads