Welcome to the 2023 edition of of 15 Days of Prayer for the Buddhist World.  

One of the biggest obstacles to prayer is that it can be overwhelming to know where to begin to pray for people and situations that are hard to understand.   

Buddhism is itself complex. There is debate even about whether it is a religion or a philosophy.  Buddhists from different schools have different ways of interpreting and applying the Buddha’s teaching. The terminology and the worldview of Buddhists can be challenging to grasp for those who are unfamiliar with it – Buddhist monks spend a lifetime studying.  

Add to this the historical, geographical and political complexities of the largest Buddhist communities in the world and there is no shortage of topics for a prayer guide!   

But the focus of these prayer guides has always been to pray for Buddhist people – a simple task, not one requiring many words, as Jesus said in Matthew 6:7. The beliefs, politics, concerns, and the priorities of every single Buddhist is known to God. He knows how a local Buddhist priest can influence a village; and how a government leader can impact a whole nation. The One who sees the sparrow fall understands the confusion in the heart of a young Buddhist woman in Thimphu, Bhutan, and the disappointments of an old Buddhist man in Kobe, Japan.   

We welcome you to pray for Buddhist people in this guide, which looks at nations with the largest or most dominant Buddhist populations. As we pray, we will learn about cultures and beliefs, but also trust God to understand what we do not understand, and act where we cannot act.