NO. ir,r,-. COLLECTION OF ROSARIES— CA8AN0WICZ. 337 



of pearl and other precious stones, or of silver and gold. The yellow 

 rosary made from the ochery yellow wood, supposed to be from the 

 Bodhi tree, usually in form of spherical beads about the size of a pea, 

 is used for all kinds of devotions. But prized above all are beads 

 made from the bones of a holy lama. Lay people, however, use 

 rosaries composed of any sort of bead, and the same chaplet may 

 contain beads of a variety of sizes, materials, and colors. 



The full Tibetan rosary of 108 beads is usually divided by three 

 beads of a different size or material into four groups of 27 beads each. 

 The two ends of the string before being knotted are passed through 

 Ihree extra beads, called do dzin (spelled rdog hdsin), ''retaining 

 beads " or " union holders," as they keep the proper rosary beads in 

 position and indicate the completion of a cycle. They symbolize 

 the Buddhist triad — the Buddha, the doctrine (dharma) and the 

 community {sangha). Attached to the main string are two small 

 pendant strings, having each 10 smaller beads, or metal rings, one 

 terminating in a miniature dorje or vajra (the conventionalized 

 thunderbolt of Indra), the other in a tiny bell {drilhu). These 

 pendants are used as counters {drang dzin) to keep count of the 

 number of times the rosary is said. A bead of the dorje string is 

 slid down to mark a single recital of the rosary, while those of the 

 bell string note each ten repetitions. They thus serve to register the 

 utterance of 108 multiplied by 10 multiplied by 10 equaling 10,800 

 prayers or formulas. In the beads of lay people both counter strings 

 record only units of c^^cles, which suffice for the smaller amount of 

 bead telling done by the laity. Sometimes there are two additional 

 pendants terminating respectively in a magic peg (purbu) and a 

 wheel (^''o/■ lo). There are also attached to the rosary string small 

 odds and ends, such as keys, tweezers, toothpicks, etc. 



The formula most frequently repeated by means of the rosary, and 

 which is uttered at the conclusion of any other prayer that may be 

 recited, is 07n manl pad/ne hum! which is commonly rendered 

 "Salutation to the jewel in the lotus flower!" in allusion to Pad- 

 mapani (Sanskrit Avalokiteshvara), the mystical reflex or repre- 

 sentative of Buddha, who is believed to have appeared on earth 

 from a lotus flower. He is held in special veneration in Tibet as the 

 protector and patron of the country, and is believed to be reincar- 

 nated in the Dalai Lama, the head of Tibetan Buddhism, by the 

 emission of a beam of light. 



1. Tibetan rosary. — Consisting of 108 disk-shaped shell beads, 

 divided into four groups of 27 beads each by three red coral beads. 

 The three retaining beads are a large spherical amber bead, a smaller 

 disk-shaped one, and a conical one of coral. The four counter 

 strings, with 10 silver beads on each, terminate in various ornaments. 

 This form of rosary is in common use among the lamas. Length, 

 Proc. N. M. vol. xxxvi— 09 22 



