This Worldwide Community is not an official SGI site
Posted on April 28, 2009 at 9:50pm 1 Comment 0 Likes
SGI Buddhism is a community created by members of SGI. SGI Buddhism is not an official site of SGI.
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Welcome to the group, Kelly! The Lotus Sutra was expounded, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo declared, and the Gosho written for our attainment of Enlightenment. No doubt, it will help you! Best always and always be happy....Nice to see you!
The beads are simply an accessory and they have some symbolic significance but not necessary for your practice. But just a brief explanation, the inner circle of beads total 112. 108 of them represent the 108 earthly desires, the other very smaller 4 beads represent the 4 virtues of a buddha or also represents the 4 Bodhisattvas of the Earth who appear in the 15th chapter of the Lotus Sutra. The 4 virtues represent true self, purity, eternity, and happiness. The history of these japanese juzu beads is that originally the beads were proscribed by Shakyamuni (Siddhartha Gautama, the historical buddha) about 2500-3000 yrs ago. They were called 'mala' because they were made with 'mala' seeds. They were originally just the 108 beads and one tassle. Somewhere between the transition of Buddhism that travelled from China to Korea, to Japan --- in Japan the beads (juzu, meaning beads) developed these 3 tassles on one side, two tassles on the other. In one sense, the 3 tassles represent the two arms and head of a person, the inner circle representing the body, and the two tassles on the other end represents the legs. When you hold between your fingers, it represents we hold our own lives in our possesion. The coming together of your fingers represent the 10 worlds of mutual possession of it when we steeple them together in a respectful position. You can, when necessary, rub your beads between your fingers when you're bored chanting. Back in olden days, the beads may have been (like the rosary beads) used to count how many times you said your prayers or in this case when you chant Nam myoho renge kyo with each bead you slide. There's more of course, but in the Buy & Sell section, there's some members who posted their websites and they sometimes have the history and explanation of the beads. Good luck!