In old Tibet, nearly everyone carried or wore prayer beads
of wood, shell, amber, semiprecious, or precious stones. The materials differed
according to the owner's taste and wealth, and depended too on the devotee's
sect and the deity worshiped. The most highly prized beads were made from the
bones of a lama.
In old Tibetan rosaries, three beads of different sizes and
materials were used to divide the full rosary of 108 round or disk beads into
four groups of twenty-seven each. At the point where the two ends of the string
came together, three large retaining beads were included to indicate the
completion of a round or circuit of prayer. These last beads symbolize the
triad of Buddha, the doctrine, and the community. Attached to the main string were
usually two strands of ten smaller beads. Known as the "number
keepers" or counters, these act like a miniature abacus, keeping track of
the number of times the user recites his prayers or mantra. The counter strings
generally terminate with two small pendants, called the djore and drilbu. The
djore (a representative of the conventionalized thunderbolt of Indra) is the
single circuit string, while the drilbu (a tiny bell) marks every ten
repetitions. In addition to these conventions, it is common to find personal
odds and ends, such as tweezers or keys, attached to the rosaries.
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