PLEASE ADD YOUR CONTENT BELOW!
'Wu Wei', meaning...without action.
'Wabi sabi'...the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.
Jewish Prayer
The following is a Prayer for Peace that is traditionally included in the Shabbat (Saturday) service. It is chanted together and a lovely prayer, drawn as most prayers in Judaism, from Biblical sources. May these words come true:
May we see the day when war and bloodshed cease when a great peace will embrace the whole world
Then nation shall not threaten nation and humankind will not again know war.
For all who live on earth shall realize we have not come into being to hate or destroy
We have come into being to praise, to labour and to love.
Compassionate God, bless all the leaders of all nations with the power of compassion.
Fulfill the promise conveyed in Scripture:
"I will bring peace to the land, and you shall lie down and no one shall terrify you. I will rid the land of vicious beasts and it shall not be ravaged by war."
Let love and justice flow like a mighty stream.
Let peace fill the earth as the waters fill the sea.
And let us say: Amen
(Contributed by Professor David Blades, University of Alberta)
Christian Prayer
The following verse from the Holy Bible (Revised Standard Version, published in 1953 by Thomas Nelson & Sons, Toronto) is considered as a guiding principle for Christians (Isaiah I 2:4).
He shall judge between nations, and shall decide for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
(Contributed by Professor Jim Robertson, University of Alberta)
Muslim Prayer
Allahumma ya mowlana antas-salaam, wa minkas-salaam, wa ilaika yarjaus-salaam, haiyyina rabbana bis-salaam, wa adkhilna daras-salaam, tabarakta rabbana wa-ta'laita, ya zal jalali wal ikram
O God! O our Master! You are eternal life and everlasting peace by Your essence and attributes. The everlasting peace is from You and it returns to You. O our Sustainer! Grant us the life of true peace and usher us into the abode of peace. O Glorious and Bounteous One! You are blessed and sublime.
(Contributed by Professor Noorallah Juma, University of Alberta and
Professor Abdul S. Hassam, Stratford International University)
A Hindu Prayer
May the winds, the oceans, the herbs, the nights and days, the mother earth, the father heaven, all vegetation, the sun, be all sweet to us.
Let us follow the path of goodness for all times, like the sun and the moon moving eternally in the sky.
Let us be charitable to one another.
Let us not kill or be violent with one another.
Let us know and appreciate the points of view of others. And let us unite.
May the God who is friendly, benevolent, all-encompassing, measurer of everything, the sovereign, the lord of speech, may He shower His blessings on us. . .
Oh Lord, remove my indiscretion and arrogance; control my mind. Put an end to the snare of endless desires. Broaden the sphere of compassion and help me to cross the ocean of existence.
Buddhist Prayer for Peace
May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind
quickly be freed from their illnesses.
May those frightened cease to be afraid,
and may those bound be free.
May the powerless find power,
and may people think of befriending one another.
May those who find themselves in trackless, fearful wildernesses -
the children, the aged, the unprotected - be guarded by beneficent celestials,
and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood.
The Terma Collective
May my feet rest firmly on the ground
May my head touch the sky
May I see clearly
May I have the capacity to listen
May I be free to touch
May my words be true
May my heart and mind be open
May my hands be empty to fill the need
May my arms be open to others
May my gifts be revealed to me
So that I may return that which has been given
Completing the great circle.
from Life Prayers from Around the World
edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon
May I become at all times, both now and forever
A protector for those without protection
A guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those who lack shelter
And a servant to all in need.
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama
SURRENDER
"What is the highest act a person can perform?"
"Sitting in meditation."
"Wouldn't that lead to inaction?"
"It IS inaction."
"Is action, then, inferior?"
"Inaction gives life to actions. Without it they are dead."
- � � � � � � � � � - -Anthony de Mello, SJ
Words - without action - are dead.
- � � � � � � � � � � � � ---anon
Love
Should come out of your
Silence, awareness, meditativeness.
It is soft, it is unbinding
Because how can Love create fetters
For the one it loves?
- � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � -- -Osho
- Action rightly renounced brings freedom.
- Action rightly performed brings freedom.
- Either is better ...
- Than mere shunning of Action.
- -BhagavadGita-
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.
- -- - ST FRANCIS of ASSISI
O God, give me I pray Thee,
light on my right hand
and light on my left hand
and light above me,
and light beneath me,
O Lord increase light within me
and give me light
and illuminate me.
+ - + -- - ASCRIBED TO MUHAMMAD
Like a golden beacon signalling on a moonless night,
Tao guides our passage through this transitory realm.
In moments of darkness and pain remember all is cyclical.
Sit quietly behind your wooden door:
Spring will come again.
- � � � � � � � � � -- - LOY CHING YUEN
Meditation, then, is bringing the mind home.
- � � � � � � � � � � � -- -SOGYAL RINPOCHE
O Hidden Life vibrant in every atom;
O Hidden Light! shining in every creature;
O Hidden Love! embracing all in Oneness;
May each who feels himself as one with Thee,
Know he is also one with every other.
- � � � � � � � � + � � -- - ANNIE BESANT
NAVAJO PRAYER
With your feet i walk
I walk with your limbs
I carry forth your body
For me your mind
Your voice speaks for me
Beauty is before me
And beauty is behind me
Above and below me hovers the beautiful
I am surrounded by it
I am immersed in it
In my youth I am aware of it
And in old age I shall walk quietly
The beautiful trail.
At a certain point you say to the woods, to thesea, to the mountains, the world. Now I am ready.
Now I will stop and be wholly attentive. You empty
yourself and wait, listening. After a time you hear it:
there is nothing there. There is nothing but those
things only, those created objects, discrete, growing
or holding, or swaying, being rained on or raining,
held, flooding or ebbing, standing, or spread. You feel
the world's word as a tension, a hum, a single
chorused note everywhere the same. This is it: this
hum is the silence.
The silence is all there is. It is the alpha and the
omega. It is God's brooding over the face of the
waters; it is the blended note of the ten thousand
things, the whine of wings. You take a step in the
right direction to pray to this silence, and even to
address the prayer to "World". Distinctions blur.
Quit your tents. Pray without ceasing.
- � � � � � � � � � � � � � � - -- - Annie Dillard - -
ABOUT PRAYER:
When I am liberated by silence, when I
am no longer involved in the measurement of life,
but in the living of it, I can discover a form of
prayer in which there is effectively no
distraction. My whole life becomes a prayer.
My whole silence is full of prayer. the world of
silence in which I am immersed contributes to
my prayer. � � � � � � � � � � � � - THOMAS MERTON
O Thou who art at home
Deep in my heart
Enable me to join you
Deep in my heart.
- � � � -- ---THE TALMUD
NATIVE VALUES
- � � � -By Dr. Walter Soboleff
-1. Be obedient; the wise never test a rule.
-2. Respect elders, parents, property and the world of nature. Also,
-respect yourself so that others might respect you.
-3. Be considerate and patient.
-4. Be careful of how you speak, for words can be either pleasing or
like a club. Traditionally, when you speak, those listening can
imagine seeing your clan family line.
-5. Your food comes from the land and the sea. To abuse either may
diminish its generosity.
-6. Pride in family, clan and traditions is found in love, loyalty and
-generosity.
-7. Share burdens and support each other. This is caring.
-8. Trespass not onto other's rights, or offer royalty and/or restitution.
-9. Parents and relatives are responsible for the family education of
children; men teaching the boys and women teaching the girls.
-10. Care and good health is important for success of the person or
clan.
-11. Take not the property of others; an error reflects on the family and clan.
-12. In peace, living is better.
-13. Through famine, ice age, sickness, war and other obstacles, unity
and self-determination are essential to survival.
-14. Good conduct is encouraged to please the spirit we believe is near.
-15. Humor.
- -Adopted by Healthy Nations Program
-Central Council of Tlinget and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
-1998
-Dalai Lama with Hopi Elders
"Native American Ten Commandments"
....Sacred Instructions Given By The Creator To Native People
At The Time Of Creation....
-Treat the Earth and all that dwell thereon with respect.
-Remain close to the Great Spirit.
-Show great respect for your fellow beings.
-Work together for the benefit of all Mankind.
-Give assistance and kindness wherever needed.
-Do what you know to be right.
-Look after the well being of mind and body.
-Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater good.
-Be truthful and honest at all times.
-Take full responsibility for your actions.
- - - -From the Lakotah: - -"akita mani yo" - -(see all things as you walk) -
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
"Acceptance"
When the spent sun throws up its rays on cloud,
And goes down burning into the gulf below,
No voice in nature is heard to cry aloud
At what has happened. Birds, at least, must know.
It is the change of darkness in the sky.
Murmuring something quiet in her breast,
One bird begins to close a faded eye;
Or overtaken too far from its nest,
Hurrying low above the grove, some waif
Swoops just in time to his remembered tree.
At most he thinks or twitters softly, "Safe!"
Now let the night be dark for all of me.
Let the night be too dark for me to see
Into the future. Let what will be, be.
- � � � � -- ROBERT FROST --
METAPHYSICAL PRAYER
May the Power of the One Life
pour through the group of all true servers.
May the Love of the One Soul characterize
the lives of all who seek to aid the Great Ones.
May we fulfill our part in the One Work through
self-forgetfulness, harmlessness, and right speech.
- � � � � � � � � � � � � � � - -World Servers Mantram
Clouds come from time to time ---
and bring a chance to rest
from looking at the moon.
- � � � � � � � � -- ----BASHO
I pray not for wealth, I
pray not for honours, I pray
not for pleasures, or even the
joys of poetry. I only pray
that during all my life I may
have love: that I may have
pure love to love Thee.
- � � � � � � � � � -- ---CHAITANYA
O love, O pure deep love, be here, be now,
Be all; worlds dissolve into your
stainless, endless radiance,
Frail living leaves burn with you
brighter than cold stars:
Make me your servant, your breath, your core.
- � � � � � � � � � � � -- ---JELALUDDIN RUMI
'God's Grandeur'
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared,smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudges and shares
man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And through the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning at the brown brink eastward, springs ---
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and
with ah! bright wings.
- -- --- GERALD MANLY HOPKINS
- � � � � � � --
SIR SPIRIT
Sir spirit, forgive me my sins,
Sir spirit give me your blessing
again,
Sir Spirit forgive my phantom
body's demands,
Sir Spirit thanks for your kindness
past...
- � � � � � � � � -- ALLEN GINSBURG
- � � � � � � � � -- "Elegy for Neal Cassady"
@]>->-->---@]>->-->---@]>->-->---@]>->-->---@]>->-->---
We rose before dawn
to praise you,
bringing our song to your Lotus
Feet ---
hear what we ask!
Please listen,
you who were born among us
into this cowherding clan ---
What choice do you have
but to take us into your service,
your heartfelt servants, your kin?
We didn't come to receive the outer
drum,
the drum of a day, O Govinda ---
We are yours for life.
Make all desires be for you,
it is you alone that we want. Hear
our song!
- � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � -----ANTAL
---<--<-<{@---<--<-<{@---<--<-<{@---<--<-<{@---<--<-<{@
Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
� When you wake in the morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
(Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there, I did not die!)
- � � � � � � � � � -Text by Mary Frye (1932)
I want to be saved... and I want to save,
- � Amen.
I want to be set free...and I want to free,
- � Amen.
I want to be born...and I want to give birth,
- Amen.
I want to hear... and I want to be heard,
- Amen.
Sweetness dances. I want to pipe; all of you
- dance. Amen.
I want to run away...and I want to stay.
- Amen.
I want to make you beautiful...and I want to
- be beautiful. Amen.
I want to join with you...and I want to be
- joined. Amen.
I have no house...and I have houses. Amen.
I have no ground... and I have ground. Amen.
I have no temple...and I have temples. Amen.
If you look at me... I will be a lamp. Amen.
If you see me... I will be a mirror. Amen.
If you knock on me... I will be a door. Amen.
If you are a traveller... I will be a road. Amen.
This is my dance... Answer me with dancing.
- � � � � � � � � � � � � --- THE ACTS OF JOHN
The 23rd PSALM
~Psalms 23:1-6~
The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
yea - even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies for Thy name's sake.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Amen.
A Jain Prayer for Peace
Lead me from Death to Life,
from falsehood to truth.
Lead me from despair to hope,
From fear to trust.
Lead me from hate to love,
from war to peace.
Let peace fill our heart, our world,
Our universe.
Knowing
We Are All Essentially Divine
We All Are One
Our Embodiment and Demonstration of The Principle of Goodwill
Our Conscious Distribution of Goodwill Energies
To all Endeavors Cooperating with
The Healing of The Nations
Will Lead to the Peace
We All Desire
So Be It
PRAYER FOR COMPASSION
Spirit of Life, I give thanks for the opportunities to love
that present themselves in the turmoil of life.
When the light catches the tears in another’s eyes,
where hands are held and there are moments without words,
let us be present then, and alive to the possibility of changing.
Let us seek to make another’s well being the object of our concern.
Let us seek to be present to another’s pain, to bathe another’s wounds,
hear another’s sadness, celebrate another’s success,
and allow the other’s story to change our own.
Let us stand in the morning on damp grass, hear the syllables of bird song,
and fill up on sweet air that rolls over oceans and continents.
Let us look up at the stars and the planets that fill the night sky with majesty.
Let us witness the first fresh buds of spring amid the brown sticks of winter.
And for all this, let us be grateful.
Let us not defend ourselves against the discomfort of unruly emotion,
nor seek to close down our hearts for fear a new love will come to
shake our foundations.
Let us instead be open to discovering a new way of seeing an old problem,
or appreciating the perfection of a seashell, or the possibility of friendship.
For in giving ourselves to what we do not understand, we receive life’s blessings,
and in taking care of another, we are cared for.
~ amen
check:
http://www.peaceprayer.org/iraq2.html
Return to Main Page ... Visit PeaceSongs