The Encyclopedia of World Religions

348 S prayer

Prayer may be a simple verbal act, but it also may involve the person’s body. Muslims perform ablutions before the daily prayer known as SALAT . As they pray, they assume a series of postures, such as standing, bowing, and prostration. Hasidic Jews seem to bob back and forth as they pray; their movements actually are continual acts of bowing in the presence of God. Hindus may pray to a god with their hands in pranjali. They hold their palms together at their chests; their fingers and thumbs point upward. Christians adopted this gesture for prayer; they also use several others. Some mark out a cross on their foreheads, chest, and shoul ders; some kneel. Some religions teach people to cover their heads when they pray. Religious people have also invented exter nal objects to help them pray. Many religions use rosaries—strings of beads used to count prayers repeated over and over again. Hindus who wor ship S IVA use rosaries made of large seeds known as rudrakshas. Tibetans use other devices: prayer flags and prayer wheels. The flags and wheels have prayers printed on them. Each time they blow in the wind or rotate, Tibetans say the prayer has been offered. Thinkers of different religions have classified prayers in terms of their purposes, such as suppli cation, adoration, thanksgiving, and confession. In reality, people have used prayers for every purpose that requires them to address religious beings. One especially common form of prayer is a request. Most requests would seem to leave the response up to the beings addressed. But some particularly interesting prayers actually fulfill their own requests. The eucharistic prayers that Catho lic and Orthodox priests and some Protestant min isters recite do this. They ask the Holy Spirit to descend upon the bread and wine. But the very act of asking is said to consecrate these elements. Some religions have particularly sacred prayers. For Jews, the most sacred prayer is the Shema. Observant Jews recite it two times a day. It begins with verses from Deuteronomy 4: “Hear [shema], o Israel; The Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” That part of the service is followed by “Eigh teen Benedictions.” Another very important prayer

directed to beings such as gods or ancestors, these are wishes or spells. Prayer is communication addressed to a god or some other religious being. It is one of the most important forms of communi cation found in religions. Prayers vary widely. Some prayers are extem poraneous. They arise from the needs and thoughts of the moment. Others are planned or written ahead of time. Some Protestants prefer extemporaneous prayers. They feel that people should address G OD directly in their own words, just as they would in a conversation. Other forms of C HRISTIANITY often use formal, written prayers, such as the prayers of the Mass in R OMAN C ATHOLICISM or the Divine L ITURGY in the Orthodox churches. Individuals pray; so do groups. Any means by which human beings communicate can and has been used in prayer. Prayers can be spoken out loud. In the most sacred part of the Divine Liturgy in the Orthodox churches, the holiest prayers are muttered softly. Prayers can be danced. They can be acted out. Some prayers are silent. That may mean people recite words in their minds. It may also mean that they sit in silence, open their hearts, and wait for illumination. Spoken prayers take a variety of forms. Some prayers are poems. For Jews and Christians, the supreme examples are the P SALMS in the Hebrew B IBLE . Prayers spoken by groups may be lita nies: A leader recites various requests known as petitions; the rest of the group responds with a fixed formula. Some prayers involve the rep etition of the same word over and over again, much like a MANTRA . One example is the J ESUS prayer that some Orthodox Christians use; they repeat the name of Jesus. A similar example is the nembutsu that Japanese Pure Land Buddhists repeat: Namu Amida butsu, “Praise to the Bud dha A MIDA ” ( see P URE L AND B UDDHISM ). Still other prayers recite lists. On the D AY OF A TONEMENT Jews ask God collectively to forgive SINS . One prayer lists representative sins that begin with every letter of the Hebrew alphabet in succes sion. Hindus honor gods with prayers in which they praise their sahasra-namas, their “thousand [and eight] names.”