James Twyman often says that the foundation of his work is found in the peace prayers from the twelve major religions of the world. On October 28, 1986, the leaders of these religions came to Assisi, Italy, the home of St. Francis, to offer the prayers of peace from their traditions. In 1994 James took those prayers and in less than two hours arranged them to music. He has performed the prayers around the world to tens of thousands of people.

"It was as if the music was already there," James said, "floating in space waiting for someone to catch them. I began reading the Hindu Prayer of Peace and heard the music, at first thinking it was coming from the next room. I picked up my guitar and began playing along. None of the prayers took more than ten minutes to arrange, and I realized I had been given an amazing gift that I would share with the world."

James has performed the “Peace Concert” around the world in countries like Iraq, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Croatia, South Africa, Mexico and Serbia. Though his ministry has led to a wide variety of other adventures and peace projects, he still feels that the peace prayers offer a unique opportunity.

"They show us one of the ways we're the same, helping us look past all the ways we seem different and alone."

The Revised Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, I AM an instrument of Thy peace.

Where there is Hatred,
I AM Love
Where there is Injury,
I AM Healing
Where there is Doubt,
I AM Faithful
Where there is Darkness,
I AM Light

Creator, through Unconditional Love,
I choose to be Compassionate,
I choose to be Understanding,
I choose Love,
I choose to See You in all Others and Myself,
I choose to Give, Trusting in my Replenishment,
I choose to Allow, Knowing that all is in Divine Order,
And I choose to Surrender,
Knowing that this truly is the path of Freedom.

Prayer before the Cross of San Damiano

Most high and Glorious God,
Bring light to the darkness of my heart.
Grant me right faith, certain hope and perfect charity.
Lord, grant me insight and wisdom,
So I might always discern
Your holy and true Will.

Short Version of the Peace Prayers

Hindu 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.

Buddhist Prayer

May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind quickly be freed from their illnesses.
May all beings swiftly attain Buddhahood.

Zoroastrian Prayer

We pray to God that understanding will triumph over ignorance, that generosity will triumph over indifference,
that trust will triumph over contempt,
and that truth will triumph over falsehood.

Jainist Prayer

Peace and universal love is the essence of all the Gospels.
Forgive do I creatures all,
and let all creatures forgive me.

Jewish Prayer

Oh come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
that we may walk the paths of the Most High.
And we will beat our swords into ploughshares
and our spears into pruning hooks.

Shinto Prayer

We earnestly wish that the wind will soon puff away
all the clouds hanging over the tops of the mountains.

Native African Prayer

For you are one who does not hesitate to respond to our call, you are the cornerstone of peace.

Native American Prayer

Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love,
to respect and to be kind to one another,
so that we may grow with peace in mind.

Muslim 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 despise each other.

Baha'i Prayer

Be a breath of life unto the body of humankind,
a dew upon the soil of the human heart,
and a fruit upon the tree of humility.

Sikh Prayer

Know that we attain God when we love,
and only that victory endures in consequence of which
no one is defeated.

Christian Prayer

Love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you,
pray for those who abuse you.
Blessed be the Peacemakers,
for they are called the Children of God.

Long Version of the Peace Prayers

The Hindu Prayer of Peace

(From the Upanishads)

May God protect us. May God nourish us. May we work together with energy. May our studies be fruitful. May we love each other and live in peace.

Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.

Be united. Speak in harmony. Let our minds apprehend alike. Common be our resolution. Common be our deliberations. Alike be our feelings toward our fellow beings. United be our hearts. Common be our intentions. Perfect be our unity in peace.

Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.

May we hear with our ears what is auspicious. May we see with our eyes what is auspicious. May we sing the glory of God and enjoy a long and healthy life.

Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.

Oh God, lead us from the unreal to the real.
Oh God, lead us from darkness into light.
Oh God, lead us from death to immortality.

Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.

(From the Vedas)

Let there be peace in the heavens.
Let there be peace in the sky and on the earth.
Peace in the waters.
Peace in herbs and plants.
Peace unto all beings.

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 thy Vedic Law propagate peace all through the world. May all things be a source of peace to us. May thy peace itself bestow peace on all, and may that peace come to me also.

Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.

The Buddhist Prayer of Peace

Through the virtue of this effort to enter into the ways leading to enlightenment, may all living beings come to engage in these conducts:

May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind, obtain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits.

For as longs as they remain in cyclic existence, may their happiness never decline, and may all of them uninterruptedly receive waves of joy from all Bodhisattvas.

May those feeble with cold find warmth, and may those oppressed with heat be cooled by the boundless waters that pour forth from the great clouds of the Bodhisattvas.

May all animals be free from fear. May the blind see forms, may the deaf hear sounds. May pregnant women give birth without any pain.

May the naked find clothing, and the hungry find food. May the forlorn find new hope, constant happiness and prosperity.

May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their illnesses, and may every disease in the world never occur again.

May the 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 all travelers find happiness everywhere they go, and without any effort may they accomplish whatever they set out to do.

May the troubled wanderers who have lost their way meet with fellow travelers. May they live without fear.

May those who find themselves in trackless, fearful wildernesses, the children, the aged, the unprotected, be guarded by beneficent celestials.

May pregnant women give birth without any pain, just like the treasury of space.

May all embodied creatures uninterruptedly hear the sound of Dharma issuing from birds and trees, beams of light, and even space itself.

May celestials bring timely rains so that harvests may be bountiful. May leaders act in accordance with Dharma and the people of the world always prosper.

May no living creature ever suffer, commit evil or fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled, or their minds ever be depressed.

May beings not experience the misery of lower realms, and may they never know any hardships. May they swiftly attain Buddhahood.

For as long as space endures, and for as long as living beings remain, until then may I too abide to dispel the misery of the world.

May all the pains of living creatures ripen solely upon myself, and may all beings experience unending happiness.

(From The Dedication Chapter of Engaging the Ways of the Bodhisattva, by eighth century Buddhist saint and scholar Shantideva.)

The Jainist Prayer of Peace

Peace and Universal Love is the essence of the gospels preached by all the enlightened ones of the past and also of the future.

“Do not injure any living being.”
This is the eternal, perennial and unalterable way of spiritual life.

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.

Whom thou intendest to strike is, in truth, none other than thyself.
Whom thou intendest to govern is, in truth, none other than thyself.
Whom thou intendest to torture is, in truth, none other than thyself.
Whom thou intendest to enslave is, in truth, none other than thyself.
Whom thou intendest to kill is, in truth, none other than thyself.

Know that violence is the root cause of all miseries in the world. A weapon howsoever powerful it may be, can always be superseded by a superior one; but no weapon can, however, be superior to non-violence and love.

Violence, in fact, is the knot of bondage.

May the Lord, supreme in the universe, be pleased to bestow on us health and enlightenment, and the supreme bliss.

The Muslim Prayer of Peace

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Universe, the beneficent, the merciful. You do we worship and you do we call on for help. Guide us along the straight road, the road of those whom you have favored, with whom you are not angry, nor who are lost.

We believe in God, and the revelations given to us, and given to all the prophets from the Lord. We make no difference between one and the other of them, and we bow to the God in Islam.

Oh humankind, reverence your Guardian-Lord who created you from a single person, created of like nature Her mate, and from them twain scattered like seeds countless man and women. Reverence God though whom you demand your mutual rights, and reverence the wombs that bore you, for God ever watches over you.

You who believe, when you go abroad in the cause of God, investigate carefully and say not to anyone who offers you a salutation: “Thou are not a believer.”

Even thus were you before, till God conferred on you Divine Favors. Therefore, carefully investigate, for God is well aware of all you do.

If the enemy incline toward peace, do thou also incline toward peace and trust in God, for the Lord is the one that heareth and knoweth all things.

The servants of God Most Gracious are those who walk the earth in humility, and when we address them we say: “Peace.”

Oh humankind, we created you from a single pair of male and a female and made you into tribes and nations, that you may know each other, not that you may despise each other.

Most honored of you in the sight of God is the most righteous of you. God has full knowledge and is well acquainted with all things.

The Sikh Prayer of Peace

God adjudges us according to our deeds, not the coat that we wear. That truth is above everything, but higher still is truthful living.

Whom shall I call bad, when there is no one other than Thee?”

Know that we attain God when we love, and only that victory endures in consequence of which no one is defeated.

Ego and “Iamness” are the greatest malady of humankind and nations, while forgiveness and self-surrender are the great virtues.

The rays merge with the sun,
The drop merges in the sea,
The light merges in the light,
And we are fulfilled.

One who has enough seeks more and more, while the one who has nothing is denied one’s share and sent to thy door.

Oh God, save us not for the hereafter, but now, and from ourselves. I would not ask for anything more.

The Bahai’ Prayer of Peace

Be generous in prosperity and thankful in adversity.
Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor,
And look upon others with a bright and friendly face.

Be a treasure to the poor,
An admonisher to the irresponsible rich,
An aswerer of the cry of the needy,
And a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge.

Be fair in thy judgment and guarded in thy speech.
Be unjust to no one, and show meekness to all.
Be as a lamp unto those who walk in darkness,
A joy for the sorrowful,
A sea for the thirsty,
A haven for the distressed,
And an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression.

Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all your acts.
Be a home to the stranger,
A balm to the suffering,
And a tower of strength for the fugitive.
Be eyes to the blind,
And a guiding light unto the feet of the erring.

Be an ornament to the countenance of truth,
A crown to the brow of fidelity,
A pillar of the temple of righteousness,
A breath of light to the body of humankind,
An ensign of the hosts of justice,
A luminary above the horizon of virtue,
A dew to the soil of the human heart,
And an ark on the ocean of knowledge.

Be a sun in the heaven of bounty,
A gem on the diadem of wisdom,
A shining light in the firmament of thy generation,
And a fruit upon the tree of humility.

The Shinto Prayer of Peace

Although the people living across the ocean surrounding, I believe, are all our brothers and sisters, why are there constant troubles in the world? Why do winds and waves rise in the ocean surrounding us?

I only earnestly with that the wind will soon puff away all the clouds hanging over the tops of the mountains.

The Native African Prayer of Peace

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 rockmass here on earth.

You are the one who does not hesitate to respond to our call;
You are the cornerstone of peace.

Silent be all persons who frustrate this laudable effort made to achieve peace. May your blessings be manifold upon all those who support and strive for peace.

The Native American Prayer of Peace

Oh Great Spirit, this is my prayer:
Help me to feel thine urge and thy message.
Help me to be just and at all times help me be kind.

If my brothers and sisters are weak and faltering, help me to the good thoughts, and show me the way that I may help them. Move me so that I may find a way to help all those who are in need.

Oh Great Spirit, I pray for your blessing.
I pray that you bring peace to all my brothers and sisters of this world.
I pray that you give us the knowledge to live as brothers and sisters and to love one another.

Oh 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 the good things that you provide for us on this earth.

The Zoroastrian Prayer of Peace

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.

I solemnly dedicate myself to the truth,
To the true spoken word,
And to true action.

I dedicate myself to reason which causes peace and teaches self-sacrifice.

Through the cooperation of all the peoples of the world, may we all be one in justice, and may we all benefit from each other and help those that are in need.

Through words and deeds, make in me a peaceful attitude toward all, seeking to renew my life and make it as you wish it, a life of truth.

The Jewish Prayer of Peace

Our God in Heaven, the Lord of Peace will have compassion and mercy upon us, and upon all the peoples of the earth who implore thy mercy and thy compassion, asking for peace, seeking peace.

Our God in Heaven, give us the strength to act, to work, and to live until the spirit form above manifests Itself upon us, and the desert becomes a vineyard, and the vineyard is seen as a forest.

Justice will have a home in the desert and charity will have a dwelling in the vineyard. The action of justice will produce peace, and the work of justice will yield tranquility and security forever. And my people will be surrounded by peace, in safe dwellings, and places of repose undisturbed.

And so, Oh Lord and God of our ancestors, bring to fulfillment for us and for all the world the promise you made through your prophet Micah:
“It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and people shall flow to it, and many nations shall come and say:
Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that God may teach us the Divine Ways, and we may walk the path of the Most High.”

For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the world of the Lord from Jerusalem. God shall judge between many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not life up sword against nation, neither shall their learn war anymore. They shall sit, everyone under their vine and under their fig tree, and none shall be afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.

Oh Lord in Heaven, give peace to the earth, give well-being to the world, and establish tranquility in our dwellings.

The Christian Prayer of Peace

I say to you that hear:
Love your enemies,
Do good to those who hate you,
Bless those who curse you,
Pray for those who abuse you.
To those who strike you on the cheek,
Offer the other also;
And from those who take away your cloak, do not withhold your coat as well.
Give to everyone who begs from you,
And of those who take away your goods,
Do not ask them again.
And as you wish that others would do to you,
Do so to them.

Blessed be the Peacemakers,
For they shall be called the Children of God.

Medium version of the Peace Prayers

Hindu Prayer for Peace

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.

O 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 thy 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 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 quickly attain Buddhahood.

Zoroastrian Prayer for Peace

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.

Jainist Prayer for Peace

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 non-violence and love.

Jewish Prayer for Peace

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.
Nations 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.

Shinto Prayer for Peace

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.

Native African Prayer for Peace

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.

Native American Prayer for Peace

O Great spirit of our Ancestors, I raise my pipe to you;
To your messengers in 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 this Earth.

Muslim Prayer for Peace

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."

The Baha'i Prayer for Peace

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 upon the soil of the human heart,
and a fruit upon the tree of humility.

Sikh prayer for Peace

God adjudges us according to our deeds, not the clothes that we wear;
That truth is above everything, but higher still is truthful living.
Know that we attain God when we love, and only that victory endures in consequences of which no one is defeated.

Christian Prayer for Peace

Blessed are the Peacemakers
for they shall be known as the Children of God.
But I say to you that hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
To those who strike you on the cheek offer the other also, and from those who take away your cloak, do not withhold your coat as well.
Give to everyone who begs from you, and of those who take away your goods, do not ask them again.
And as you wish that others would to do you,
do so to them.