Buddhist prayer beads

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Buddhist prayer beads are traditional devotional tools of prayer used in various forms of Buddhism. They are similar to other forms of prayer beads and the Rosary used in various world religions; thus this tool has also been known as the Buddhist rosary.

Prayer beads or japa malas are used in many, forms of Mahayana Buddhism, often with a lesser number of beads than the Hindu japa malas 108 (number)--usually a divisor of 108. In Pure Land Buddhism, for instance, 27-bead rosaries are common.

Theravada Buddhists in Myanmar also use prayer beads, called ba-di (ပုတီး [bədí]). Such beads are typically made of fragrant wood, with a series of brightly-coloured strings at the end of the beads.

In Chinese culture such rosaries are named shu zhu 数珠("counting beads"), Fo zhu 佛珠 ("Buddha beads"), or nian zhu 念珠 ("prayer beads"). Chinese court beads (Chinese: 朝珠; pinyin: cháozhū) also derive from Buddhist prayer beads.

In Japanese Buddhism, they are known as "juzu" 数珠(counting beads) or "nenju" 念珠(thought beads), and both words are usually preceded by the honorific 'o' 御(e.g. "o-juzu" 御数珠).

In Tibetan Buddhism, often larger malas are used, for example 111 beads. One mala consists of 100 mantras, with 11 extra taken to compensate for errors.