I love wood and stone, and wood and stone beads, and sometimes I need to make something with my hands. Like malas 📿. And sometimes other stuff too.
This blog is mostly for myself, to make notes and to keep track of what I've made, and to collect info on the different kinds of Buddhist prayer beads as well as on wood and stones. But if anyone else happens to find any of this interesting or inspiring or useful, I'm glad 🙂.
I usually purchase the beads I use, mostly through Etsy or Ebay or from local sellers of jewellery materials and equipment, but I would like to try my hand on bead making, at some point.
Here are the collected links to my posts:
📿 Mala info
📿 Japanese Buddhist prayer beads info
🔴 Stone info masterpost
🟤 Wood info masterpost
📿 Malas and other stuff made by me
Latest updates:
25/06/23: Posted information about bodhi beads
24/06/23: Posted a short mala in bayong, silver and turquoise
03/06/23: Posted a full mala in gaharu buaya and amazonite
And a final note: all images watermarked with woodxstone || tumblr are by me. Please do not repost any of my content without asking first, thanks! Reblogs are ok, as always 🙂.
From Seeds used for Bodhi beads in China (link below):
Bodhi beads are Buddhist prayer items that have been traditional tools for counting while reciting a mantra, as prayer beads have been used in other world religions. The Bodhi beads are called Pu Ti Zi in Chinese: Pu Ti means Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa), and Zi means seed; but Bodhi beads are not made of the seeds of a Bodhi tree. ...In modern times, ‘Bodhi seeds’ do not refer to any particular plant but instead refer generally to seeds and the fruits of various plants used to make prayer beads.
Bodhi beads have an important position in Tibetan Buddhism and are very popular in Tibet (the Xizang Tibetan Autonomous Region). The culture of Bodhi beads spread throughout Tibet and other provinces of China, and there are dozens to hundreds of Bodhi beads with different meanings. Recently, people have begun to wear Bodhi beads as a kind of praying or blessing ornament, in addition to functioning as a prayer bead.
Bodhi seed prayer beads. From Wikimedia Commons by Аркадий Зарубин.
Most seeds of a particular species can produce only one type of Bodhi bead. However, different degrees of processing of Corypha umbraculifera, Daemonorops jenkinsiana, and Elaeis guineensis can be used to make different types of Bodhi bead. The seeds with 2-, 3- or 4-loculed drupes of Ziziphus abyssinica can be used to make ‘Phoenix eye’, ‘Dragon eye’, and ‘Kylin eye’, respectively. Chinese names of most Bodhi beads are according to the morphological characteristics of their respective seeds; for example, the beads called ‘Moon and Stars’ usually have an ivory surface with small holes (moons) and tiny black dots (stars). Seeds of Caesalpinia bonduc are grayish, shiny, ovoid to globose, and look like the moon; therefore, the name of the corresponding Bodhi bead is ‘Moon seed’.
The occurrence frequencies of four types of Bodhi beads reached at least 50%, including ‘King Kong’, ‘Moon and star’, ‘Bodhi root’, and ‘Phoenix eye’. These were the most popular Bodhi beads in the markets.
The most common Bodhi bead, ‘King Kong’, is made from the fruit of Elaeocarpus angustifolius. ‘Two-furrowed King Kong’ is made from the fruit of Elaeocarpus hainanensis. ‘King Kong’ may have been the earliest form of prayer bead in India, named ‘Rudraksha’ in the local language, meaning ‘eye of Shiva’.
Rudraksha mala at Pasupati region kathmandu, Nepal. From Wikimedia Commons by Janak Bhatta.
‘Moon and stars’ is a very popular and traditional Bodhi bead in Chinese Buddhism and is the hard and dense seed of Daemonorops jenkinsiana. The ‘Moon and stars’ name reflects the small holes (moon) and tiny black dots (stars) covering the seed’s surface.
Moon and stars bodhi beads. From Wikimedia Commons by pack372sd.
Seeds of Corypha umbraculifera are used to make ‘Bodhi root’ beads. In India, it is also called ‘vegetable ivory’ and is a traditional tool for carving Buddhist Sutras, such as the famous ‘tale palm’ or ‘tad-patri’ because the leaves are flexible and soft when dry.
‘Phoenix eye’ and ‘Small phoenix eye’ are made from the fruits of Ziziphus abyssinica and Ziziphus jujuba var. spinosa, respectively. The name ‘Phoenix eye’ refers to the eye-like shape that appears on the hard endocarp.
A "Phoenix Eye" mala. The beads are made from the polished seeds of the Ziziphus budhensis tree, known locally as Buddhacita, which are endemic to the Timal region of Kavreplanchok and at Namobuddha in Central Nepal. From Wikimedia Commons by Christopher J. Lynn.
🟤 Seeds used for Bodhi beads in China (ncbi.nml.nih.gov)
A short wrist mala with 27 counting beads. This is so far the only one I've made with this style of attaching the tassel... I think bayong and the turquoise (some old beads from New Mexico) go nicely together and also look good with silver.
Materials:
27 counting beads: bayong, 10 mm
guru bead: silver, 14 mm
additional beads: turquoise, about 7 mm and silver, 5 mm
A rather traditional full mala in "crocodile agarwood" and some gorgeous beads of tianhe stone that just glow when the light hits them right (they appear more teal and darker in low light). The markers placed after the 7th and 21st beads, placement favoured by Zen Buddhists; I also placed one in the middle.
Materials:
108 counting beads: gaharu buaya, 7 mm
marker beads and the focal bead: amazonite, 7 and 12 mm, respectively
Amazonite, also known as Amazonstone, is a green or blue-green variety of the potassium feldspar called microcline. Its chemical formula is KAlSi3O8.
Amazonite. Image from Wikimedia Commons.
The name of the stone is taken from the Amazon River, from which green stones were formerly obtained, though it is unknown whether those stones were amazonite. It has been used for jewellery for well over three thousand years, as attested by archaeological finds in Middle and New Kingdom Egypt and Mesopotamia, but it was first described as a distinct mineral only in the 18th century.
Amazonite from Ethiopia. Image from Wikimedia Commons by Parent Gèry.
It has been described as a "beautiful crystallized variety of a bright verdigris-green" and as possessing a "lively green colour." For many years, the source of amazonite's color was a mystery. Some people assumed the color was due to copper because copper compounds often have blue and green colors, with other studies suggesting the colors are associated with the increasing content of lead, rubidium, and thallium.
Amazonite from Burma (Myanmar). Image from Wikimedia Commons by Robert M. Lavinsky.
Amazonite is a mineral of limited occurrence. In Bronze Age Egypt, it was mined in the southern Eastern Desert at Gebel Migif. In early modern times, it was obtained almost exclusively from the area of Miass in the Ilmensky Mountains, Russia, where it occurs in granitic rocks. Amazonite is now known to occur in various places around the globe, for example in China, Libya, Mongolia, South Africa, Sweden and United States.
High-quality beads of amazonite (7 and 12 mm) from China.
🟢 Amazonite - Wikipedia
🟢 Amazonite value, price and jewelry information (gemsociety.org)
Other names: Crocodile agarwood, crocodile eaglewood
Gaharu buaya is the only species in the genus Aetoxylon, only found in Borneo. It grows as a tree up to 40 metres tall, with a trunk diameter of up to 60 centimetres. Bark is dark brown to black. Fruit is reddish brown, up to 5 centimetres in diameter.
Habitat of gaharu buaya is lowland forests from sea level to 100 metres altitude; it is commonly found in swamp areas where crocodiles live, which is why it is called "crocodile agarwood" (gaharu - agarwood, buaya - crocodile).
A bracelet of 14 mm beads of gaharu buaya.
Gaharu buaya has a soft sweet fragrance when brought close to the nose, stronger when burned. The fragrance is different from agarwood that formed in Aquilaria/Gyrinops trees. There are differing views regarding whether agarwood that formed in Aetoxylon trees should be considered as real agarwood or not.
This is a juzu inspired by the contemporary prayer beads used by the Sōtō-sect, one of the Japanese Zen Buddhist schools (my post about Japanese Buddhist prayer beads). It has 108 counting beads, 4 marker beads in addition to the parent beads (the middle bead, also known as second parent bead, here similar to the markers) and a sliding ring typical of the Sōtō school. I did, however, use a stone ring instead of the metal (usually silver) ring used in the Sōtō juzu. The parent and marker beads divide the counters into sets of 18. The tassel is knotted from 6 strands of 1 mm thick satin rattail cord, 4 black and 2 coppery brown.
Materials:
Main (counting) beads (judama, kodama): 108, bayong, 8 mm
"The Buddhist rosary was introduced to Japan in the early stages of Japanese Buddhism... Although rosaries were probably considered valuable objects since the introduction of Buddhism in Japan, it seems they were not widely used in religious practices for another several centuries. Only by the Kamakura period (1185–1333) do prayer beads seem to have become common ritual implements."
"The form of the first prayer beads in Japan already varied, but over the centuries, the rosary was further modified to fit the usage and doctrine of different schools. As a result, various distinct forms developed, which can be easily distinguished from each other today. The rosaries differ, for example, in the number of larger beads, tassels, or beads on the strings attached to the larger beads... Also, the manner of how to hold a rosary differs depending on the school."
The most common term for the rosary is juzu 数珠 (Ch. shuzhu), literally “counting beads” or “telling beads,” which hints at the ritual usage of the beads for counting recitations. The other common term, nenju 念珠 (Ch. nianzhu), can be understood either as “recitation beads,” describing the beads as an aid in chanting practices, or as “mindfulness beads,” suggesting that “chanting is an aid to meditation and even a form of it.”
(from Prayer beads in Japanese Sōtō Zen, link under Sōtō)
Juzu beads in two different styles. Image from Wikimedia Commons by Suguri_F.
The number of beads
"The earliest text on prayer beads, the Mu huanzi jing, states that the rosary should have 108 beads, which is the most common number of beads in a Buddhist rosary. Other sutras further mention rosaries with 1,080, fifty-four, forty-two, twenty-seven, twenty-one, and fourteen beads. Lower numbers than 108 are encouraged, if one has difficulties obtaining 108 beads. Rosaries with thirty-six or eighteen beads are also used in Japan."
(from Prayer beads in Japanese Sōtō Zen, link under Sōtō)
108: The number 108 has many symbolic associations. Most commonly the 108 beads are associated with the 108 defilements. The number 108 further represents the 108 deities of the diamond realm (kongōkai) in esoteric Buddhism, or the 108 kinds of samādhi.
54: The number fifty-four stands for the fifty four stages of practice consisting of the ten stages of faith, ten abodes, ten practices, ten transferences of merit, ten grounds, and the four wholesome roots.
42: The number forty-two expresses the ten abodes, ten practices, ten transferences of merit, ten grounds, plus the two stages of “equal” and marvelous enlightenment (tōgaku and myōgaku).
27: Twenty-seven symbolizes the stages toward arhatship.
21: The number twenty-one further represents the ten grounds of inherent qualities, plus the ten grounds of the qualities produced by practice, plus buddhahood.
The names of the beads
"A rosary has at least one large bead, which is called the mother bead (boju) or parent bead (oya dama) alerting the user that they have finished one round of the rosary. When finishing one round, the user should not cross over the mother bead, as this would be a major offense; instead, they should reverse the direction."
"Sometimes a rosary has two larger beads; in this case, the second larger bead is either called middle bead (nakadama), as it marks the middle of the rosary, or also mother bead. The other beads on the main string are called retainer beads (ju dama) or children beads (ko dama). There are four beads among the retainer beads that are usually of smaller size and/or different color. They are placed after the seventh and the twenty-first beads on both sides of the (main) mother bead and therefore mark the seventh or twenty-first recitation. These four beads are called shiten 四点 beads (lit. four point beads). They are often interpreted as the four heavenly kings (Shitennō), Jikokuten (Skt. Dhṛtarāṣṭra), Tamonten (also called Bishamonten, Skt. Vaiśravaṇa), Zōjōten (Skt. Virūḍhaka), and Kōmokuten (Skt. Virūpākṣa). The beads are therefore also called “four heavenly kings” (shiten 四天), a homophone of “four points.”
"The main mother bead, and sometimes also the middle bead, has tassels attached. Usually, there are two short strings with smaller beads, known as recorder beads (kishi dama) or disciple beads (deshi dama), attached to the main mother bead. These beads help to count the rounds of recitations.
They are thought to symbolize the ten pāramitās or, especially if they are called disciple beads, the Buddha’s direct disciples. At the end of the strings just above the tassels are the recorder bead stoppers, which
are called dewdrop beads (tsuyudama), because they are often shaped like teardrops. The string between the mother bead and the recorder beads has usually a small loop, and on one side of this loop is a small bead, which
is called jōmyō 浄明 (lit. pure and bright)... The bead is also called successor bodhisattva (fusho bosatsu) because it might take the place of any recorder bead that might be broken."
(from Prayer beads in Japanese Sōtō Zen, link under Sōtō)
Prayer beads in different Japanese schools
Jōdō (Pure Land)
Nichiren
A set of garnet Nichiren Shoshu Juzu prayer beads. Image from Wikimedia Commons by BeccaTrans.
Ōbaku
Rinzai
Honren juzu beads used in the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism. Image from Wikimedia Commons by Peehyoro Acala.
Shingon
Sōtō
Dōgen, the founder of the Sōtō Zen school, wrote about prayer beads: “You should not hold a rosary in the hall" and later writes that a monk should not disturb others by making a sound with the rosary on the raised platform. Later still, he elaborates “In the study hall, you should not disturb the pure assembly by reading sutras with loud voices or loudly intoning poems. Do not boisterously raise your voice while chanting dharani. It is further discourteous to hold a rosary facing others.”
"Considering these three brief statements in Dōgen’s works, we can presume that the rosary played no significant role for Dōgen and his community. Yet some prayer beads left by early Sōtō monks have been regarded as temple treasures and have been venerated
as a contact relic in remembrance of the master. One example is a rosary made of beautiful rock crystal that Keizan used and that is now preserved at the temple Yōkōji in Ishikawa prefecture."
The form of the Sōtō rosary changed over time. Today’s formal Sōtō rosary has 108 beads and two mother beads, one larger one, and a slightly smaller one, as well as the four point beads. It has tassels only on the main mother bead, but there are no beads on the strings attached to this bead. The contemporary formal Sōtō rosary also has a small metal ring, which symbolizes the circle of rebirth in the six realms. In the Rinzai and Ōbaku schools this ring is not part of the rosary and, therefore, a Sōtō rosary can easily be distinguished from rosaries of the other Zen schools. When Sōtō clerics added this metal ring is unclear. ...This metal ring was not part of the Sōtō rosary in the Tokugawa period and therefore must have been added later."
(from Prayer beads in Japanese Sōtō Zen, link below)
⚫️ Sōtō Zen - Wikipedia
⚫️ Prayer Beads in Japanese Sōtō Zen by Michaela Mross (link to download)
Other names: Warring States (Red) agate, fighting blood agate
The Zhanguo agate is a beautiful and rare natural gemstone from Liaoning province in China that has appeared in the market in recent years. This highly prized agate is called "Warring States agate" because it resembles a material found in Warring States tombs from the period 475-221 BC.
Zhanguo agate has strong red orangey to yellow colors with intricate patterns and it can be separated into two main types, Beipiao and Xuanhua. The color of Beipiao material is rich and very bright, Xuanhua material may be darker in color and not that rich. There are still a few grades between the two types. Just a note that I have not seen these distinctions used...
6 mm beads of Zhanguo agate.
Among the Chinese red agates, yellow is unique to the Warring States agate. Because yellow is relatively rare, it is considered the most prised colour: "if red is a nobleman, then yellow is the royal relative". Yellow occurs in many shades (sometimes even greenish), with a bright lemon yellow considered as the most desirable.
8 and 10 mm beads of Zhanguo agate.
At best, the colours occur in stacks, where each new colour is superimposed on the previous one with clear boundaries between them, forming a laminated texture without mixing of the variously coloured layers.
Zhanguo agate guru beads.
🟠 How much do you know about the Warring States Red agate
🟠 Agate and carnelian: Straight from a horse's brain (agates in ancient China)
This is a rather classical, hand-knotted full mala; I usually like to make the knotted type when I am using gemstones, it feels more secure with the heavier beads. I roughly arraged the unakite beads so that the ones with more pink in them are placed closer to the guru and the almost purely green ones close to the middle, which gives the colour of the mala a slightly graded (and calmer) look. The real colour of the tassel is best shown in the last photo. Markers after every 27 bead, dividing the mala into quarters.
Unakite is not a single mineral, but a metamorphic rock (metasomatised granite) composed of greenish epidote (Ca2(Al,Fe)3(SiO4)3(OH)), pink potassium feldspar (KAlSi3O8), and gray/colourless quartz (SiO2). Unakite is usually mottled in appearance.
Unakite from Virginia, USA. Image from Wikimedia Commons, by James St. John.
Unakite was first found in the United States in the Unaka mountain range of North Carolina from which it gets its name. Unakite is not limited to the United States, and has also been reported in South Africa, Sierra Leone, Brazil, China and Australia.
A good quality unakite is considered a semiprecious stone; it will take a good polish and is often used in jewelry as beads or cabochons and other lapidary work such as eggs, spheres and carvings.
Unakite beads.
🟢 Unakite - Wikipedia
🟢 Unakite: a pink and green rock with gemstone properties (geology.com)
Cinnabar is the bright scarlet to brick-red form of mercury sulfide (HgS). It is the most common source ore for refining elemental mercury and is the historic source for the brilliant red or scarlet pigment termed vermilion and associated red mercury pigments.
Cinnabar is generally found in a massive, granular or earthy form, though it occasionally occurs in crystals with a nonmetallic adamantine luster. Cinnabar is a relatively soft mineral, with a hardness of 2.0–2.5 on the Mohs scale; its specific gravity is 8.1.
Cinnabar in calcite. Picture from Wikimedia Commons, by Robert M. Lavinsky.
Cinnabar typically occurs as a vein-filling mineral associated with recent volcanic activity and alkaline hot springs, deposited by epithermal ascending aqueous solutions (those near surface and not too hot) far removed from their igneous source.
Cinnabar is essentially found in all mineral extraction localities that yield mercury, notably Almadén (Spain), which was for centuries the most important cinnabar deposit in the world. Good cinnabar crystals have also been found there. Cinnabar deposits also appear in Egypt, Philippines, United States, Slovenia, Italy, Peru and the province of Guizhou in China as well as Western ghats in India where fine crystals have been obtained.
Cinnabar has been used for its color since antiquity in the Near East, including as a rouge-type cosmetic, in the New World since the Olmec culture, and in China for writing on oracle bones as early as the Zhou dynasty. The most popularly known use of cinnabar is in Chinese carved lacquerware, a technique that apparently originated in the Song dynasty.
Chinese cinnabar lacquerware. Image from Wikimedia Commons, by Buddhawelt.
Because of its mercury content, cinnabar can be toxic to human beings. It was dangerous to those who mined and processed cinnabar; it caused shaking, loss of sense, and death. Data suggests that mercury was retorted from cinnabar and the workers were exposed to the toxic mercury fumes.
As a gemstone, however, cinnabar is safe to use, because of its low bioavailability (meaning, it is hard for the mercury in the cinnabar to get out of the cinnabar and into the body of the wearer). The bioavailability is a critical determinant of toxicity of mercurial compounds, and it is quite clear that the solubility and bioavailability of cinnabar is quite different from mercury vapor, mercuric chloride, and methyl mercury. Thus, it is not surprising that cinnabar has quite different toxicology potentials from common mercurials. Cinnabar is insoluble and stable, and cinnabar powder has been used as an important ingredient in traditional Chinese medicines and in Indian Ayurvedic medicines. Cinnabar is used to color paints and as one of red coloring agents used in tattoo dyes.
🔴 Cinnabar - Wikipedia
🔴 CInnabar - red, beautiful - and toxic (science.howstuffworks.com)
🔴 Cinnabar (geology.com)
🔴 The Story of Cinnabar and Vermilion (HgS) at The Met (metmuseum.org)
🔴 Mercury in traditional medicines: Is cinnabar toxicologically similar to common mercurials? (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
This is a traditional full, 108-bead mala in various reddish tones, accented with silver and black. The lotus-shaped marker beads are placed after 27 counting beads from the guru (placement typically used in Tibetan Buddhist prayer beads), and the half-point is marked by a blackwood bead, to balance the black tassel. This is one of my favourites 🙂.
Scientific name: Agathis alba syn. Agathis dammara
Other names: King of wood, Dragonblood wood, Red agathis, Amboina pine
Agathis dammara is an evergreen tree belonging to the family Agathis, commonly known as kauri or dammara. It is a medium-large conifer up to 60 metres in height, native to Sulawesi, the Maluku Islands and the Philippines, growing in tropical rainforests from sea level to very high mountainous regions where it becomes extremely stunted.
Agathis dammara belongs to the southern hemisphere family Araucariaceae, widespread throughout the entire Mesozoic, emerging about 200 million years ago. This tree is a source of dammar gum, also known as cat-eye resin.
Agathis dammara from Wikimedia Commons, by Franz Eugen Köhler.
Agathis species are distinctive, highly sought and exploited for their valuable timber, and Agathis dammara is listed as vulnerable.
In Southeast Asia, the tree is called raja kayu and it's wood is considered to have magical properties; in Malaysia, the indigenous people have long used wood from the raja kayu for powerful protective charms and amulets. Raja kayu is also used to make Buddhist prayer beads.
Once the raja kayu wood becomes saturated with resin, it gains a lovely reddish orange colour and becomes chatoyant, having a changeable luster/color. The resin-rich parts also gain translucency, allowing light to pass through. High-quality raja kayu will sink in water.
Translucency of raja kayu. Image from IndonesiaExotic (Etsy), who have some nice raja kayu beads for sale.
