Mālā (Japamālā) Buddhist rosary of 108 beads of 9 mm. in natural red jasper

The Tibetan Mālā, also known as Japamālā, are rosaries used by Buddhist monks for counting and reciting mantras. They are in fact composed of 108 grains or spheres that can be of perfumed wood, Yak bone, natural stones and seeds, among the best known those of rudraksha (from Sanskrit Rudra, translatable as "eyes of Shiva"). They are the seeds of Elaeocarpus ganitrus, a species widespread in the vicinity of the Himalayas, in Nepal and in various parts of Asia, which according to many oriental religious and mystical currents have healing (Ayurvedic medicine) and spiritual properties.
In Zen Buddhism, where mantras are not recited, the mālā is a simple bracelet that practitioners wear on the left wrist to symbolically remind them of 108 attachments that every practitioner must avoid if he is to free himself from suffering.