As you read the following prayers, keep in mind that they were all written by different people, living in different times, in different lands and cultures, and in different languages. These prayers are all prayers for peace and offer an interesting perspective into the minds of humans. Despite the words we hang on our beliefs, all humans want essentially the same thing – peace. In fact, peace of mind is probably a better way to put that.


Even those bent on doing violence move in the direction of setting things in order according to their own beliefs. Some people may actually seek peace of mind at the cost of the lives of others. Peace, however, is the common denominator and seems to indicate that all is in its proper place in the universe of our mind. A nation, for instance, probably doesn’t find comfort in the slaying of innocent humans; but if the act was in retaliation for some affront perpetrated against that nation, they may very well find peace of mind in the act of righting a wrong, or vengeance, as some may call it.


We use apparent differences to create and justify such rifts between ourselves – even when no real differences exist. But we can not erase the underlying truth of whom and what we are. When one comes to the realization that “It is only skin…,” this curtain we hang between ourselves and the rest of humankind, then it becomes easier to see the Light within and realize that we truly are one.


When you consider that these prayers were indeed written by so many different cultures, cultures that continuously war against one another, you may find it difficult to reconcile the similarities between the inner thoughts of people that appear to be so outwardly different. Look carefully at the references to celestial and beneficent beings, to light and love, and to the similarities in references to war, separation, suffering, and seeking higher states of awareness to cure these ills of humanity.



Now, compare these concepts and principles to those of your own religious or spiritual belief systems. I believe most people will find more similarities than differences. I have labeled each prayer as to its origin; but try to read these prayers with no consideration given to where they came from and you may see how difficult it is to label truth or beauty with nationalism or discrimination. Try relaxing to achieve the ideal prayer state before reading these prayers; and try to imagine what the people who wrote these words were feeling when they wrote them.



“We’re all speaking the same different language.”
– Alice Hurley


World Peace Prayers:

Prayer of St. Francis
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.
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,
It is in dying…that we are born to eternal life.



Shinto Peace Prayer
Although the people living
across the ocean
surrounding us, I believe,
are all our brothers and sisters,
why are there constant troubles in
this world?
Why do winds and waves rise in the
ocean surrounding us?
I only earnestly wish that the wind will
soon puff away all the clouds which are
hanging over the tops of the mountains.



Hindu Peace Prayer
Oh, God, lead us from the
Unreal to the Real.
Oh, God, lead us from darkness to light.
Oh, God, lead us from death to immortality.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.
Oh, Lord God almighty, may there be peace in
celestial regions.
May there be peace on earth.
May the waters be appeasing.
May herbs be wholesome, and may trees and
plants bring peace to all. May all beneficent
beings bring peace to us.
May the Vedic Law propagate peace all
through the world.
May all things be a source of peace to us.
And may thy peace itself, bestow peace on all,
and may that peace come to me also.



Buddhist Peace Prayer
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.



Zoroastrian Peace Prayer
We pray to God to eradicate all the
misery in the world:
that understanding triumph
over ignorance,
that generosity triumph over indifference,
that trust triumph over contempt, and
that truth triumph over falsehood.



Jewish Peace Prayer
Come, let us go up to the mountain of
the Lord, that we may walk the
paths of the Most High.
And we shall beat our swords into ploughshares,
and our spears into pruning hooks.
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation –
neither shall they learn war any more.
And none shall be afraid, for the mouth of the
Lord of Hosts has spoken.



Sikh Peace Prayer
God adjudges us according
to our deeds,
not the coat that we wear:
that Truth is above everything,
but higher still is truthful living.
Know that we attaineth God when we loveth,
and only that victory
endures in consequences of which no
one is defeated.



Native African Peace Prayer
Almighty God, the Great
Thumb we cannot evade to
tie any knot;
the Roaring Thunder that splits
mighty trees:
the all-seeing Lord up on high who sees
even the footprints of an antelope on
a rock mass here on Earth.
You are the one who does
not hesitate to respond to our call.
You are the cornerstone of peace.

Jainist Peace Prayer
Peace and Universal Love is the essence
of the Gospel preached by all the
Enlightened Ones.
The Lord has preached that equanimity
is the Dharma.
Forgive do I creatures all,
and let all creatures forgive me.
Unto all have I amity, and unto none enmity.
Know that violence is the root cause of
all miseries in the world.
Violence, in fact, is the knot of bondage.
“Do not injure any living being.”
This is the eternal, perennial, and unalterable
way of spiritual life.
A weapon, howsoever powerful it may be,
can always be superseded by a superior one;
but no weapon can, however,
be superior to nonviolence and love.



Native American Peace Prayer
O Great Spirit of our
Ancestors, I raise
my pipe to you.
To your messengers the four winds, and
to Mother Earth who provides
for your children.
Give us the wisdom to teach our children
to love, to respect, and to be kind
to each other so that they may grow
with peace in mind.
Let us learn to share all good things that
you provide for us on the Earth.


Muslim Peace Prayer
In the name of Allah,
the beneficent, the merciful.
Praise be to the Lord of the
Universe who has created us and
made us into tribes and nations.
That we may know each other, not that
we may despise each other.
If the enemy incline towards peace, do
thou also incline towards peace, and
trust God, for the Lord is the one that
heareth and knoweth all things.
And the servants of God,
Most gracious are those who walk on
the Earth in humility, and when we
address them, we say, “PEACE.”



Baha’i Peace Prayer
Be generous in prosperity,
and thankful in adversity.
Be fair in thy judgment,
and guarded in thy speech.
Be a lamp unto those who walk
in darkness, and a home
to the stranger.
Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light
unto the feet of the erring.
Be a breath of life to the body of
humankind, a dew to the soil of
the human heart,
and a fruit upon the tree of humility.

Peace is the only way to peace – in your mind, and in the world.

Namasté