Post #108

It's actually been awhile since I've been wondering why I have encountered lots of 108.
Like in the Water Margin/Suikoden, the heroes sum up to 108. So it's 108 heroes of Suikoden.
In Buddhism, I remembered my mom always chanted using the necklace made of string and 108 beads, 1 bead for 1 phrase "Namo Amithaba" until the whole necklace is finished.
And from animes, I know: in Japan in the end of the year to welcome new year, the bell in the temple would be struck 108 times.

Well, again from anime, I actually found out that that number for the Japanese religious context represents the numbers of 108 earthly spirits.
This is a combination of 3 periods in life (past, present, future), 6 earthly desires (still can't find what are the 6) and 6 bases of human consciousness (sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell, and interpretation).
In the water margin(one of the 4 most legendary , 108 are the numbers of stars of destiny which consists of 36 heavenly spirits and 72 earthly fiends.
Well, and there are a lot more meaning behind 108 and wiki, as usual, is a very good source of information.
Refer to the "Religions and the Arts" section. Somehow 108 is like a favourite number in Buddhism and Hinduism.
Yeah.. That's all, 108..