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(4-19-2001)
(posted at zen-forum.com)
One reader writes:
I have very recently begun to practice Zen. I have also started to attend a Zendo and while there I noticed that my teacher was wearing the mala beads. It got me to thinking, "What are mala beads for?" I looked them up and all I could find was that they are "counted during prayer" types of information but nothing about where they came from or how to use them. So my question to anyone who will answer is, "What are they and what are they for?"
A second reader replies:
I do not know the history of these beads, but I use them. Having been raised a Catholic, I used a rosary. Mala beads are similar in their function. In Tibetan Buddhism a mala is used to have a tactile awareness of prayer. Also many of the mantras are said in blocks of 108, which is the number of beads on a traditional mala. I find them useful when I have to stand in line or am in some way 'waiting'. So at those times I recite mantra or pray. But this is an activity which can easily occur without a mala or a rosary. It is just easier sometimes to stay focused when passing beads between one's fingers.
Sitaram replies:
Then english word "bead" is related to the root of the word "bid" (as in "I bid thee adieu", or "making a bid on a house"), as well as to the ancient English clerical position of Bede. The primitive meaning is to ask or request or call or summon.
The original function of beads was not cosmetic for decoration but was indeed to count prayers.
The Russian prayer rope, or rosary or mala, is called the "chotke", which is related to the Slavonic word for counting "chetatch". It is a rope with elaborately woven knots.
The Greek prayer rope is called "kombvoskeene" (which means, knotted rope).
The eastern orthodox Christian notion was that solid beads would make a noise during use, and thus distract from prayer and concentration.
The modern Greek "worry beads", which are not used for prayer, but are "played" with while people are sitting idle, to releave tension, or pass the time.
As centuries passed, beads and malas came more to be a form of decoration, or a toy, than a tool for prayer.
In the Epistles, St. Paul said "I would rather say FIVE WORDS, with understanding....". Early Cristians came to believe that those "five words" referred to the "Jesus Prayer", which in Greek is "Iesous Xristos Uyay Theou Elayeson" (Jesus Christ God's Son, Mercy! or Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me, if one does not feel the need to be a stickler about FIVE words). In Greek, the first letter of each of the five words happen to spell "ICHTHYS" or fish, which is one reason why the simply drawing of a fish was an early Christian symbol.
When David went to meet and slay the giant, Goliath, Saul offered David his own armour, but David refused it saying "I have not tried this armor, so I will not use it in battle." Instead, David took a SLING and FIVE stones. Early Christians saw these FIVE stones as mystically representing the five words of the Jesus prayer, and Paul's "five words with understanding". Of course, a sling resembles a prayer rope, and when long prayer rope is held in the hand, hanging to the floor, it resembles a SWORD. When David met Goliath on the "field of battle", he said to Goliath, "You come against me with a sword and a shield, but I DEFEAT YOU WITH THE NAME OF GOD."
A Greek monastic prayer rope has 300 knots (symbolic of the Trinity), and a typical prayer rule is to say 33 such prayer ropes (for the 33 years of Christ's life), which typically takes a monk about two to three hours to complete.
Hare Krishna devotees use a mala of 108 tulsi wood beads (tulsi is sacred to Lord Vishnu). A good devotee will say 16 "rounds" of the Hare Krishna mantra per day. Saying these prayers also takes about 2 to three hours per day.
The origins of the Jesus Prayer can be seen in the Gospels in several places where afflicted people cry out to Jesus, as He is passing by, saying "Son of David have mercy".
One of the functions of the Jesus prayer is to attract God's mercy, grace or forgiveness. The eastern notion of mantric repetition is quite different. The Hare Krishna devotee believes that the "sound of the Divine Names" (Sabdha Brahman) is actually an Avataric manifestation or Incarnation of God's presence. There is a story about young Lord Krishna dancing on the many heads of the poisonous serpent, Kaliya. This serpent began spewing venom everywhere, and Lord Krishna asked him why he was doing it. Kaliya answered, "Lord, I am only a serpent! Where shall I find sweet nectar or honey to offer You. All I have is venom, so this is my offering." But in the Gita, we read that God accepts ALL worship and offerings, even from those ignorant of His nature. The devotee imagines his tongue as the serpent Kaliya, and the sounds of the mantra as Lord Krishna manifesting and dancing upon the tongue.
There is a verse in the Gita (I think in Chapter 7), where Lord Krishna says "The ENTIRE UNIVERSE is strung upon me like pearls on a thread". (Of course, in Sanskrit, the word for thread is SUTRA). So we may see here also the imagery of God and Prayer and Beads and Thread and Sutra "intertwined" (if you will pardon the pun).
Sutras became commentaries or "threads" on other scriptures. How ironic that today, in the internet, message boards like this ALSO have "threads", strings of related messages.
It is most interesting to note that even in Islam, there is the notion that the "sacred Qur'an" when properly recited or chanted, is ITSELF, non-different from Allah (similar to the notion of Sabdha Brahman, or Brahman God as SOUND).
Also, in the Gita, Lord Krishna in one long passages, cites the many things that He (God) is. One is of course the sacred syllable "AUM". Another is "japa", or mantra chanting with a mala. Another is "Ram" the archer/warrior. Lord Krishna also says of the offering at the sacrificial fire, "I am the offerer, and the ghee butter which is offered, and also the fire into which it is poured." Of course, we get our modern word "ignition" from the ancient Sanskrit word "Agni" for God as fire. The Greek word for "holy" is "Agios" or "Hagios". I have often wondered whether that word is related to the Sanskrit "Agni".
How similar, the passage in the Epistle of James (I think), "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from Thee, the Father of Lights", which is said at every Liturgy, together with the words "Thine own, of Thine own, we offer unto Thee, on behalf of all, and for all". There is some resemblance in these words to the notion of Krishna as the offerer, and the offering poured into the fire, and the fire. Ancient theolgians asked the question "Why the seeming redundancy of every GOOD gift and every PERFECT gift". Their answer to this puzzle, is that every GOOD gift is our daily necessities of air, food, and water, but that the PERFECT gifts are the Sacraments or Mysteries of Eucharist, Baptism, etc.
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