The peril of our times is enormous. As nations blunder ever closer toward war, millions of peace-loving citizens in every nation across the globe share the same, heart-felt prayer: we want peace, not war. We know in our hearts that "Hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love alone." We share a deep prayer for peace, and a vision of humanity living in harmony, despite our differences, on this precious planet that is home to all of us. The Global Interfaith Prayer Vigil activates the universal healing and transformative power of the shared heart of humanity-by linking spiritual traditions and faith communities around the world in conscious, focused prayers and other spiritual practices for peace. The collective power of millions of hearts yearning for peace in every corner of the globe is potentially enormous. In this hour of need, the Global Inter-faith Prayer
Vigil seeks to bring millions of people together in prayer across the planet as a way to reach beyond human institutions and resources, and appeal directly to higher spiritual realms to transform the global crisis.

Join the Inner Net of the Heart:
A Global Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Peace

Auspicious Beginning

The Inner Net of the Heart project was initiated on November 9, 2002 as the Global SOS Initiative; an appeal to spiritual leaders and their constituencies in diverse spiritual and religious traditions around the globe to enter into a 40-day prayer vigil for peace. The response to this preliminary call was very inspiring, especially considering the short advance notice involved. With less than 10 days notice, more than a dozen spiritual leaders around the world officially endorsed the prayer vigil and called on their followers to begin specific prayers and spiritual ceremonies for peace. These participating communities spanned a broad diversity of traditions-including Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Indigenous, Islamic Sufi, Jewish, Native American, Taoist, and Zen. In each case, participating groups were asked to draw upon their own traditions-whether these be of prayer, meditation, fasting, or other ritual or ceremonial practices-to join in this collective world-wide prayer vigil for peace and reconciliation.

You are invited to join the Global Interfaith Prayer Vigil:
February 1 to May 16, 2003

The enthusiastic response to the first phase of the interfaith prayer vigil-coupled with the global urgency of this time-naturally inspires a broader appeal for further global interfaith prayers for peace. Hence we are reaching out to spiritual leaders all around the world, inviting them and
their respective constituencies and communities to join in a larger global prayer vigil for peace. This expanded prayer vigil begins on February 1 and continues through May 16, 2003.

Your spiritual community is specifically invited to join this expanded global prayer vigil. For this purpose, you are encouraged to draw upon the unique spiritual practices or prayers from within your own tradition that seem most appropriate in this hour of humanity's need. This expanded vigil begins at sundown on February 1, 2003 all across the globe, and continues for 15 weeks, concluding on May 16, 2003. We recognize that this is very short notice, but time is of the essence. You are invited to participate for any portion or all of this period.

Does your spiritual community already pray for peace?

Many spiritual groups that regularly pray for peace are joining the vigil as a way to commune with others in a worldwide prayer for peace. As Father Thomas Keating, a Christian monk and founder of the Centering Prayer movement put it, "Our Cistercian order already prays for peace six or seven times a day, but what is crucial about this global inter-faith vigil is that it is organized, conscious, and focused. It is important that we are praying for peace in communion with our counterparts in other faith traditions around the world."

We received similar responses from spiritual leaders in other traditions:
Venerable Tenzin Palmo of India told us "It is essential at this time of great world conflict that the many spiritual traditions come together to pray for peace in the world, to benefit all beings." Buddhist master Thrangu Rimpoche in Nepal told us "In order to help pacify the tensions of a disturbed time such as this, it is necessary for every person with a mind of compassion to pray as much as possible for peace." And Neeghani Aki Innini (Leading Earth Man) of Canada said "Prophecies tell us that the uncovering of the Truth will require the participation of all races of people joining in one spirit. The motivation of this effort will be of Love. In this time of crisis and division we must come together as human beings and embrace the values that unify us, the values that bring peace and love." We invite your spiritual community to join this vigil in a similar spirit. Endorsements and Participating GroupsSpiritual communities and organizations across the globe are joining the interfaith prayer vigil for peace. It has been endorsed by spiritual leaders and organizations, including (in alphabetical order):

* Arvol Looking Horse, original pipekeeper for North America and organizer of World Peace Day,
* Asheninka indigenous tribe of Brazil,
* Swami Chidananda Saraswati (Muniji), India
* Joan Campbell, former General Secretary of the National Council of Churches,
* Joan Chittister, OSB, St. Scholastica Priory, Pennsylvania, USA
* Rabbi Malka Drucker, HaMakom Congregation, New Mexico
* Shaykha Fariha, Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order
* Gangten Tulku, High Lama of Bhutan,
* Hirota Roshi, Zen Master from Japan,
* His Holiness the 17th Karmapa,
* Bawa Jain, Secretary General, World Council of Religious Leaders (an outgrowth of The Millennium World Peace Summit),
* Father Thomas Keating, founder, Centering Prayer Movement, St. Benedict's Monastery, Snowmass, Colorado, USA,
* Grand Master Ilchee Lee, traditional Taoist master, South Korea,
* Mae-Chee Sansanee Sthirasuta , Sathira Dhammasthan, Bangkok, Thailand
* Dena Merriam, Convener of the Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders,
* Rabbi Zalmon Schachter-Shalomi, founder of the Jewish Renewal Movement,
* Red Cloud, Cree spiritual leader, Alberta, Canada
* Rigpe Dorje Centre, Toronto, Canada
* Swami Dyananda Saraswati, Rishikesh, India
* Tautra Mariakloster, Norway,
* Thrangu Rimpoche, Kathmandu, Nepal,
* Venerable Chun-Dam, World Peace Foundation, South Korea,
* Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche,
* Venerable Tenzin Palmo, Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery, India

How to join the prayer vigil

Simply choose the particular prayers or spiritual practices that your community will perform, and announce the prayer schedule to be maintained during the vigil. Some monasteries are holding prayers 24 hours a day throughout the vigil. Other groups are practicing for specific periods each day. Any schedule is fine.

Please email your prayer schedule to us at info@innernetoftheheart.org, and please include the type of prayer or spiritual practice you will be doing, the name of your organization, and your spiritual leader(s) if any. Your group's participation will be posted on this website-along with all other participating spiritual and religious communities across the globe.

Timing of the vigil

The Global Inter-faith Prayer Vigil begins on Saturday, February 1, 2003 at sundown all across the planet. The vigil will continue for 15 weeks, concluding at midnight on May 16, 2003. This particular timing of the interfaith prayer vigil encompasses special times of worship and celebration in many different traditions. The vigil begins at a holy moment in the Christian faith (Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, February 1) and concludes at a sacred time in the Buddhist tradition (Visakha puja, May 16; celebrating Buddha's birth and enlightenment). The intervening 15-week prayer vigil includes several major religious holidays, including the birthdays of Muhammad (Mawlid an Nabi, May 14) and Hindu saint Ramakrishna (Ramakrishna Jayanti, March 5), the Jewish Passover, the Christian Lent and Easter, the Hindu New Year (Ugadi, April 14) and Islamic New Year (Hijra, March 5), and the Jewish remembrance of the holocaust, Yom Hashoah (April 29).

If your group cannot begin by February 1, this will not be a problem-just begin as soon thereafter as possible. It is of course possible for your group to begin sooner than February 1, if you so choose. Inner Net of the Heart The combined power of millions of hearts praying in unison for peace is a profound blessing to the world at this critical time. We are one human family-linked by the "inner net" of the heart. We speak many different languages, yet the yearning of our hearts is one. We practice different religions, yet our hearts' prayer for peace is universal.
Join us where the heart's longing meets the world's need. Together we will form an "inner net" of hearts across the globe praying for peace. Join us in prayer

* on behalf of the innocent children, civilians, and soldiers who
will be killed or maimed if a war begins . . .
* on behalf of all life forms that would be harmed by a war . . .
* in compassion for all beings . . .

May peace prevail on Earth
Please distribute this notice as widely as possible!

The Inner Net of the Heart: Global Interfaith Prayer Vigil is a joint
project of the
Manitou Institute and the Satyana Institute.
For more information, visit our website at
www.innernetoftheheart.org