A Boy and His Prayer Beads

"I thought that I had no time for faith nor time to pray, then I saw an armless man saying his Rosary with his feet." -John Locke

I have always had a big interest and love for religion, though there is much of it that I disagree with. There is a lot I do agree with and even more that I just love for what it is. One of the things I love the most are Prayer Beads. You would be surprised how many religions use prayer beads and why they use them, what they symbolize, and the names for them. I personally find that so interesting that I started collecting them. Until the last couple of years, I wore a set of Buddhist prayer beads religiously around my neck even though I wasn't Buddhist. The reason why I did is because for a long time I was agnostic and I believed (as I still do) that all paths lead back to our Heavenly Father. I was so proud of them and treated them as the sacred symbol they where intended to be. They where especially my best friend in times of great duress and anxiety. I've had plenty of times where I had some of my worst panic attacks and I used them to help concentrate on my prayers to God asking him not to let me die.

Now if you don't know what religions use prayer beads, let me give you just a taste of the information you can find when you research this subject; I also chose to cover just the more common religions that are known to use them. For the record Sikhism and Hinduism also use them and The Hindu's are more then likely the original religion to use prayer beads. Also Judaism has never been documented as having used prayer beads but instead use knots as part of their Prayer Shaw which is quite a beautiful garment.


In Buddhism prayer beads are called Malas which is Sanskrit for "Garland". Though they come in all sorts of different lengths and styles, the ones you'll find the most are the 108 beaded Mala made out of different woods or metals to signify different things. In traditional Buddhist thought, people are said to have 108 afflictions. This comes to be because there are six senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and consciousness). They multiply this by three reactions (positive, negative, or indifference) making 18 "feelings." Each of these feelings can be either "attached to pleasure or detached from pleasure" making 36 "passions", each of which may be manifested in the past, present, or future. The beads also help to keep track of the amount of times a prayer has been recited to obtain a certain amount depending on the school of Buddhism being practiced.


In Islam they name their beads after a devotional act called the Dhikr meaning "Remembrance" or "Invocation". This is a prayer where you would typically recite the names of God silently, and verses of the Koran and Hadith making up 99 or 100 statements. The prayer beads are used to keep track of where you are at in the process of reciting all of that without losing concentration on the spirit of the prayer. Though some schools of Islam forbid the user of these beads, there is nothing scholarly evident to support this use being banned.  There is also another prayer the beads are used for and this prayer is used as another name for the beads; this prayer is called the Tasbih. This is a  form of prayer that was offered as a gift by the Prophet Muhammad to his daughter Fatima. In this prayer you recite each of these 33 times  equaling out to 66: "Subhan Allah" (Glory be to God),  then "Al-hamdu lilah" (Praise be to God). Then you recite 34 times: "Allahu Akbar" (God is the greatest). It is highly recommended to recite this prayer after the daily 5 ritual prayers.

In Early Christianity the "Desert Fathers" where a group of  Christian hermits that lived primarily in the Egyptian desert between the 3rd to 5th century that used knotted ropes to count prayers. Normally they would recite the "Jesus Prayer" which is a short prayer stating: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner." This prayer is still in use by the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches. The Eastern Orthodox Church has also kept the tradition of using knotted ropes for prayer and also use 100 bead strands called "Komboskini" though both are normally used by Monks or Bishops exclusively.

Now Catholics and some Anglicans call their prayer beads the Holy Rosary. These have 54 beads plus and extra 5 beads for possible corrections. The name comes from the Latin "rosarium", meaning "rose garden". The beads are important and symbolize devotion of the Roman Catholic Church. Using the Rosary is a combination of both prayer and meditation in recitings called "decades" starting with "Our Father", followed by ten "Hail Marys", and lastly "Glory Be to the Father" and can include other prayers such as the "Apostle's Creed" and "Hail Holy Queen". The prayers are accompanied by meditation of the life, mysteries, and ministry of Jesus Christ.

There have been other Christian religions that have tried to adopt their own versions of prayer beads, but this seems to have never really taken off and are very interesting in their right.


The reason why I stopped wearing my prayer beads is because when I became LDS. I started confusing people both at church and on the streets and thought that it would be easier to put them  up to look at and admire. I still wear them on special occasions such as the Holi Festival of Colors. Honestly since I became Mormon, my love of prayer beads and what they mean in each religion has grown, because to me they are a testimony that every religion God inspired and the Light that is Christ is in every last one of them.

One of the places I keep my beads these days

2011 Holi Festival of colors in Utah

2011 Holi Festival of colors in Utah With Aubrey Titus