Why 18 beads in mala bracelet?

As you may notice, the adjustable mala bracelets in my shop usually comes in two sizes - 18 beads (fits XS) & 21 beads (fits S-M)- and there are several reasons.

(Adjustable Mala Bracelet - Positive Affirmation - with AAA grade amazonite and aventurine. )

Let’s focus on the number 18. The number 18 can be broken down to 6+6+6, and each 6 has its own meaning.

The first 6 represents six roots of sensations or “Sadindriya” - eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind. (六根： 眼、耳、鼻、舌、身、意）

The second 6 represents six gunas - gunas are received by six roots of sensations, each root of sensation receives one guna. In oother words, what we see, what we hear, what we smell, what we taste, what we touch, and Dharma（六塵：色、聲、香、味、觸、法）

The third 6 represents six senses - the senses we get after 6 gunas are received thru eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind.（六識：眼識、耳識、鼻識、舌識、身識、意識）

Combined all of above, we get 18 elements/dhātavah or “Astādaśa dhātavah”. （十八界：六根、六塵、六識）These are what we have and what we can do in this human body in this life time.

Also, number 18 is a factor of 108, which is used in majority of mala beads.

We will discuss number 108 in the next blog. Stay tuned!

(Disclaimer: The information is based on what I’ve learned in Buddhism and it may be different in other cultures and religions.)