FROM THE DIVINE FEMININE  
Prayer to Quan Yin, Claudia L'Amoreaux  

Divine Mother of all Beings 
Great Goddess of Compassion and Mercy 
May my heart be home to you 
like your island in the sea. 
May I feel your presence guiding me in fear and rage. 
May the strength and balance of your grace-filled body 
be mine when I need them, 
And may I walk in your Bodhisattva Way with trust and gladness, 
Beyond time, beyond the end, beyond the beginning. 

FROM THE HINDU SCRIPTURES:  
The Bhagavad-Gita  

In the calm of self-surrender you can free yourself from the bondage of virtue and vice during this very life.  Devote yourself, therefore, to reaching union with Brahman.  To unite the heart with Brahman and then to act:  that is the secret of non-attached work.  In the calm of self-surrender, the seers renounce the fruits of their actions, and so reach enlightenment. 

Water flows continually into the ocean, but the ocean is never disturbed: 
Desire flows into the mind of the seer, but he is never disturbed. 
The seer knows peace:  the man who stirs up his own lusts can never know peace. 

FROM THE BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES  

Our original Buddha-nature is, in all truth, nothing which can be apprehended.  It is void, omnipresent, silent, pure;  it is glorious and mysterious peacefulness, and that is all which can be said.  You yourself must awake to it, fathoming its depths.  That which is before you is it in all its entirety and with nothing whatsoever lacking.  Even if you go through all the stages of a Bodhisatva's progress towards Buddhahood, stage by stage, then at last, it is by a single flash of thoughtj that you attain to full realization. 

FROM THE ZOROASTRIAN SCRIPTURES  
Songs of Zarathustra: XLVIII  

In times of doubt, O Mazda Ahura! 
In times of stress and strife, Thou Best One! 
When the vengeful harm of the wicked threatens us, 
We shall recall all the best Thou hast taught us, 
In the wide bright glow of the Altar-flame! 

FROM THE TAO  
Tao te Ching Chapter 29  

Do you want to improve the world? 
I do not think it can be done. 

The world is sacred. 
It cannot be improved. 
If you tamper with it, you will ruin it, 
If you treat it like an object, you will lose it. 

There is a time for being ahead, 
a time for being behind; 
a time for being in motion, 
a time for being at rest; 
a time for being vigorous, 
a time for being exhausted; 
a time for being safe, 
a time for being in danger. 

The Master sees things as they are, 
without trying to control them. 
She lets them go their own way, 
and resides at the center of the circle. 

She who is centered in the Tao 
can go where she wishes, without danger. 
She perceives the universal harmony, 
even amid great pain, 
because she has found peace in her heart. 

FROM THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES  
Psalms 119  

Great peace have they that love Thy law;  and there is no stumbling for them. 

FROM THE CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES  
Matthew 10  

When you come to any town or village, look for some worthy person in it, and make your home there until you leave.  Wish the house peace as you enter it, so that, if it is worthy, your peace may descend on it;  if it is not worthy, your peace can come back to you.  If anyone will not receive you or listen to what you say, then as you leave that house or that town, shake the dust of it off your feet. 

"Look, I send you out like sheep among wolves; be wary as serpents, innocent as doves.  And be on your guard, for men will hand you over to their courts, they will flog you in the synagogues, and you will be brought before governors and kings, for my sake, to testify before them and the heathen.  But when you are arrested, do not worry about what you are to say:  when the time comes, the words you need will be given you; for it is not you who will be speaking:  it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking in you." 

FROM THE ISLAMIC SCRIPTURES  
Koran  Sura 48   1-4  

Verily we have granted thee a manifest victory.  That God may forgive thee thy faults of the past and those to follow, fulfill His favour to thee;  and guide thee on the straight way;  and that God may help thee with powerful help.  It is He who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers, that they may add faith to their faith;  for to God belong the forces of the heavens and the earth;  and God is full of Knowledge and Wisdom. 

FROM THE GAYAN, VADAN, NIRTAN OF HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN  

The first thing necessary is to make peace for the time being with the outside world, in order to prepare for the warfare which is fought within. 

The one who is able to keep his equilibrium without being annoyed, without being troubled, gains that mastery which is needed in the evolution of life. 

Once peace is made within, one will have gained sufficient strength and power to use in the struggle of life, both within and without. 

Peace is not a knowledge, peace is not a power, peace is not a happiness;  yet peace is all these.  Peace is productive of happiness, peace inspires one with knowledge of the seen and the unseen, and in peace is to be found the Divine Presence.