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Prayer beads
Many religions in the world
have adopted prayer beads as a symbolic way to count the number of repetitions
of prayers, chants, and meditations.
Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, and Islam all use prayer beads designed
according to their religions prayers.
World's religions prayer beads:
Buddhism
For the Buddhists, prayer
beads are known as "Japa Mala", which are widely used in Mahayana
Buddhism and with fewer beads consisting all in all of 108 beads. The prayer beads of Pure :Land Buddhism is
made of 27 beads. The Chinese call their
prayer beads "Shu-Zhu" which means, "counting beads" while
it is "Juzu" in
There are shorter rosaries
used in Buddhism as well, called "prostration rosaries", which are
handy when reciting prostrations repetitions.
For those who've seen a statue of Buddha, you might notice Him wearing
prayer beads on his neck. Buddha stayed
in
Christianity
In the 4th century, the
Desert Fathers made use of rope knots to count prayers whereby the Jesus Prayer
was most often recited. The invention of
the "prayer rope" can be credited to St. Anthony or his associate
priest St. Pachomius. For Catholics,
prayer beads mean the "Rosary" that marks the five mysteries each
having ten beads called a "decade".
A complete rosary consists of
twenty decades (as per instruction of the late Pope John Paul II). The loop of one rosary is divided by a
hanging cross which signifies an end of the 150 prayers.
Hinduism
The Hindus were among the
first religions to use prayer beads, which are likewise called "Japa
Mala", consisting of 108 beads. The
mala, a Sanskrit word that means "garland of flowers", helps them
count 32-108 prayers. Hindu malas come
from seeds of the tree Rudraskha.
Rudraskha when translated means "Shiva's Eye" and also holds
the meaning "Pleasing to the eye of Shiva". The Hindus believe that Shiva sat in
meditation with eyes open for 1,000 years.
The first time he blinked after that, the first tear that fell from his
eyes became Rudraskha seeds.
The divisors of a mala may be
charms like bells or metal thunderbolt.
The Hindu tradition in
Islam
Islamic prayer beads are
called "tasbih" or "dhikr" made from clay and consists of
99 beads and one marker colored differently to specify the beginning and end of
each cycle. Each cycle has 33 prayers
for reciting subhan'Allah (meaning Glory be to God), alhamdou'LillAh (praise
God), and Allahou akbar (God is Great).
The 99 beads likewise symbolize the 99 different names of Allah. Praying serves as a unifying means between
the Muslims and their God, Allah.
The use of prayer beads in
Islam are said to be as old as the religion itself, when companions of the
Islam Prophet Muhammad used pebbles to count the prayers. The history of attaching beads onto strings
is not clear though.
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