Book by Keiko Takahashi

The Path of Prayer

Revised Edition

Revised Edition For a Supreme Dialogue

Keiko Takahashi's longtime bestseller is now available in English.

When you cannot do anything about your unsettled feelings and want to restore your real self or when you want to grasp a deep meaning endowed in a given situation, open this book and you will be guided through an inner journey toward discovery of your soul.

Adding more than 60 new entries, this revised edition now basically covers a wide variety of scenes and conditions that you may experience in your life. Follow and trace the words of wisdom and make them your own to live with.

The Author's Words (Excerpt from Preface)

May we return to ourselves no matter what the circumstance. May our loneliness and emptiness be healed; and may we take on with courage the reality that falls upon us, however harsh it is. May we attune our ears to hear the voice of the Great Existence, or God, who is always calling out to us. This book was born from these hopes. It would be my greatest joy if you could walk the path of life with this by your side, as your life companion, during times of happiness and sorrow.

Index

Preface
Praying for the Heart 

When You Become Angry
When You Are Caught Up in Hatred and Resentment
When Discontent Intensifies
When You Want to Blame Someone
When You Cannot Forgive Someone
When You Become Suspicious
When You Detest Someone
When You Feel like a Victim
When You Are Irritated
When You Are about to Lose Your Temper
When You Conclude That Power Is Everything in This World
When You Abandon Yourself to Desperation
When You Do Not Feel Confident
When You Are Nervous
When You Are Tormented by an Inferiority Complex
When You Are Overwhelmed by Solitude and Loneliness
When You Are Anxious and Afraid
When You Are Pessimistic (When You Are Bound by a Feeling of Resignation)
When You Are in Despair or Are Discouraged
When You Give Up All Hope
When You Feel Empty
When You Feel Pity for Yourself (Self-Pity)
When You Are Caught Up in a Sense of Guilt
When You Have Fallen into a State of Self-Hatred and Self-Negation
When You Are Filled with Remorse
When You Feel Disinclined to Doing Something
When You Are Indecisive
When You Are Frantic
When You Are Bothered by Shame (When You Worry about How Others See You)
When You Are Moved by an Impulse of Self-Centered Greed
When You Are Unable to Free Yourself from Attachments and Desires
When You Are Caught Up in Comparison and Competition
When You Try to Depend on Someone Powerful
When You Feel Jealous
When You Feel Superior or Special
When You Are Overflowing with Confidence (When You Are Arrogant)
When You Are in a State of Exaltation
When You Are Isolated
When You Make Light of Something
When You Think There Is No Point in Feeling Regret
When You Feel like Interfering in the Affairs of Others (When You Want to Meddle in Other People’s Business)
When You Feel Optimistic, Satisfied, or Comfortable (When You Feel Things Are Going Smoothly)
When You Feel like Depending on Others
When You Feel like Conforming to Others
When You Give Yourself Over to Idleness
When You Feel Something Is Bothersome or Troublesome
When You Do Not Know What You Should Do
When You Are Unable to Feel Earnest
When You Are Overwhelmed by Weariness
When You Are Tempted to Tell Lies
When You Are Pressured to Act in Haste
When You Feel like Easing the Tension of a Situation

Praying for an Occasion 
Prayer at the Beginning of the Year
Prayer at the End of the Year
Prayer for Today
Prayer at the Time of a Meal
Prayer for Beginning and Ending of Work
Bedtime Prayer
Prayer at the Start of a New Time and Place
Prayer for Seeking a Blueprint(To Clarify an Aspiration and to Form a Vision)
Prayer for Approaching a Solution (Prayer for Seeking the Best Possible Path)
When You Create Something (For Collaboration and Resonance with the Universe)
Prayer for Hindsight Wisdom
Prayer for a Gathering
When You Meet Someone
When You Stand at a Crossroad in Life
Prayer on Parting
When You Engage in Self-Reflection (Introspection)
When You Want to Make a Confession (Prayer for Asking for Forgiveness)
Prayer for Reconciliation (To Reestablish Bonds)
When You Are in Adversity and Facing Obstacles
When You Are in Favorable Circumstances
When You Are Hospitalized
Prayer to Accept Suffering from Illness
Prayer for Helping Others
Prayer at the Time of Pregnancy, Delivery, and Birth of a Child  
Prayer at the Time of Naming a Child
Birthday Prayer
Prayer for a New Beginning (For a New Departure)
Prayer for Marriage
When You Feel You Are Getting Old
Prayer at the Hour of Death
Prayer for a Soul’s Return (Following the Hour of Death)
Prayer for When You Lose Someone Precious
Prayer for Attending a Funeral
Memorial Service Prayer for the Deceased (As Part of the Practice of Offering Personal Memorial Services for Departed Souls)
Prayer for Memorial Services (When Visiting a Grave)
Prayer for Receiving Light
Prayer for Giving Light
Prayer to Seek Divine Protection (Guardianship)
Prayer at Time of an Emergency

Praying for the Path 
Prayer for Receiving a Calling
Prayer for Truly Seeking
Prayer to Deepen Our Steps 1—To Live with the Awareness of Saha (World of Suffering)
Prayer to Deepen Our Steps 2—To Live with the Awareness of Foolishness
Prayer to Deepen Our Steps 3—To Live with the Awareness of Blessings
Prayer to Nature and All Living Things
Prayer of Being in Reverence
Prayer to Serve as a Companion
Prayer for People with Whom You Have Bonds
Prayer to Deepen Love
Prayer to Deepen Faith
Prayer to Deepen Bonds
Prayer to Deepen Bonds with God
Prayer to Accept Your Life
Prayer to Fulfill Your Soul’s Aspiration
Prayer to Overcome Your Karma
Prayer to Resist Temptation
Prayer to Overcome Wavering in Your Faith
Prayer of Gratitude
Prayer for Your Real Self
Prayer for Excavation of Bodaishin—To Nurture the Twelve Bodaishin
Prayer to Nurture a Heart like the Moon
Prayer to Nurture a Heart like Fire
Prayer to Nurture a Heart like the Sky
Prayer to Nurture a Heart like a Mountain
Prayer to Nurture a Heart like Ears of Rice
Prayer to Nurture a Heart like a Spring
Prayer to Nurture a Heart like a River
Prayer to Nurture a Heart like the Earth
Prayer to Nurture a Heart like the Kannon Bodhisattva
Prayer to Nurture a Heart like the Wind
Prayer to Nurture a Heart like the Sea
Prayer to Nurture a Heart like the Sun
Prayer to Overcome the Bonno (Heart of Darkness) of Pleasure-Recklessness
Prayer to Overcome the Bonno (Heart of Darkness) of Pain-Recklessness
Prayer to Overcome the Bonno (Heart of Darkness) of Pain-Lethargy
Prayer to Overcome the Bonno (Heart of Darkness) of Pleasure-Lethargy
Prayer for the Repose of Souls
Prayer for Purification
Prayer for Riding on the Wind of the Guiding Principle
Prayer to Be with God
Prayer to God
About Prayer 
Prayer Is Not for Seeking Reward
Prayer Is an Exercise for Returning to Our Inner Homeland
Prayer Is to Attune Oneself to the Breathing of God
Responding to God’s Calling
The Stages of Prayer
Prayer Is Breathing