Wednesday, June 04, 2008

108

108 Flowers for you.

108 Sun salutations.

The number 108 is sacred within Buddhism, Hinduism and their connected yoga and dharma based practices.

A Mala usually has 108 beads for 108 repititions of a mantra.

Hindu deitieshave 108 names. Recital of these names, often accompanied by counting of 108-beadedMala, is considered sacred and often done during religious ceremonies. The recital is called namajapa.

Krishna dances with 108 'Gopis' (cow-herd girls) in His Vrindavan pastimes, and later marries 16,108 wives in His city of Dwarka, as described in the Srimad Bhagavatum. Hare Krishna devotees hold this as a number of great significance.


Siva Nataraja dances his cosmic dance of 108 poses.

Numerology: the total of all digits of 108 (1+0+8) is 9, which in Hinduism is said to represent the 9tattvas . If you divide 108 by 2 or multiply by 2 the total of all digits again equals 9.

There are 108 sins in Tibetan Buddhism.




In Japan, at the end of the year, a bell is chimed 108 times to finish the old year and welcome the new one. Each ring represents one of 108 earthly temptations a person must overcome to achieve nirvana.

Zen priests wear juzu (a ring of prayer beads) around their wrists, which consists of 108 beads

The diameter of the Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Earth. The distance from the Sun to the Earth is 108 times the diameter of the Sun. The average distance of the Moon from the Earth is 108 times the diameter of the Moon.

The Chinese school of martial arts agrees with the South Indian school of martial arts on the principle of 108 pressure points. Marma Adi, a potent Indian martial arts form which uses pressures and precise strikes to vulnerable points on the body, has 108 pressure points.

The number 108 also figures prominently in the symbolism associated with Karate, particularly theGoju Ryu discipline. The ultimate Goju-ryu kata, Suparinpei, literally translates to 108.
(info from Wikipedia.)


3 comments:

Michelle said...

Keiko,
As usual, incredible post! Everything about it is amazing to me! Thanks my friend!
Michelle

HiHoRosie said...

Very interesting! Lovely post.

Robin 'Keiko' Gregory said...

Thanks Michelle, Thanks Rosie - Love to both of you!!