page_title: Prayer beads
section_title: Buddhism
hierarchical_section_title: Prayer beads / Use / Buddhism
caption_attribution_description: 片手念珠（左・女性用、右・男性用）
context_page_description: Prayer beads are used by members of various religious traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Umbanda, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and the Bahá'í Faith to mark the repetitions of prayers, chants or devotions, such as the rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Catholicism, dhikr in Islam and jaap in Hinduism.
context_section_description: Prayer beads (Chinese: 佛珠; 念珠; pinyin: fózhū, niànzhū, Japanese: 数珠, romanized: juzu, zuzu, Korean: 염주 (yeomju), Standard Tibetan: ཕྲེང་བ།) are also used in many forms of Mahayana Buddhism, often with a lesser number of beads (usually a divisor of 108). In Pure Land Buddhism, for instance, 27-bead malas are common. These shorter malas are sometimes called "prostration rosaries" because they are easier to hold when enumerating repeated prostrations. In Tibetan Buddhism malas are also 108 beads: one mala counts as 100 mantras, and the eight extra are meant to be dedicated to all sentient beings (the practice as a whole is dedicated at its end as well). In Tibetan Buddhism, often larger malas are used; for example, malas of 111 beads. When counting, they calculate one mala as 100 mantras and the 11 additional beads are taken as extra to compensate for errors.
  Various type of materials are used to make mala beads such as seeds of the rudraksha, beads made from the wood of the tulsi plant, animal bone, wood or seeds from the Bodhi Tree (a particularly sacred tree of the species Ficus religiosa) or of Nelumbo nucifera (the lotus plant). Semi-precious stones like carnelian and amethyst are also used. Another commonly used material is sandalwood.
caption: Japanese Zen Buddhist prayer beads (Juzu).
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