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 Japan.
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 Tibet until his death and the Tibetan Buddhists use an imitation of Buddha’s prayer beads, which consists of 108 beads divided into three segments. Original Buddhist beads materials come from the wood of the Bodhi, a holy tree that stands to where Buddha was enlightened.
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 India is to rarely use the left hand in holding the mala. Another Indian Hindu custom is never to cross over the Guru Bead, the top bead, instead go backward and forward.
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.
