A mala made from seashells, earth, wood or seeds from trees or fruit is meant to be used to accomplish peaceful sadhanas and peaceful action. A mala made from gold will accomplish expansive karmas. A red coral mala is best for accomplishing powerful sadhanas. A steel or turquoise is good for wrathful activity. A mala made from Dzi or other precious stones can be used to accomplish any of the karmic activities you are doing.

A mala made from Bodhiseed accomplishes all Dharmas. Malas of Bodhi tree wood accomplish peaceful karmas.

Beads made of stone are good for expansive practice. Beads made of medicine are good for wrathful practice. Malas with many different types of jewels are good for any practice. However, I suggest that you not attempt to create a mala with a lot of different beads on it because, unless you know which combinations are effective, you may cause a non-positive result.

It is said that a mala made from bodhiseed manifests limitless benefits for any form of practice, be it peaceful, expansive, powerful or wrathful.

Ideally your mala should be strung with three, five, or nine strings. These strings symbolise the three kayas, the five buddhas, and the nine strings symbolise the nine vehicles.

The main Guru Bead may be composed of three beads, symbolising the three Vajra states of being, the three kayas. The smallest bead on the outside should be blue, perhaps made of lapis. The colour blue symbolises the unchanging mind of ultimate truth. The bead in the middle should be red, to symbolise Vajra speech, and the innermost bead should be white, to symbolise the Vajra body.

Your mala must be blessed by a Lama, and you should constantly bless your mala yourself by imbuing it with energy. You must put energy into your mala before counting recitations with it, to produce real benefit.

Your mala represents not only the form of the Deity but the speech of the Deity as well. For example, if you recite the hundred syllable mantra, the guru bead represents the syllable OM and the other beads represent the remaining syllables.

Whatever kind of practice you are doing, always be aware that the thumb is a vajra hook which hooks spiritual powers, deities and other blessings. It is also easier to move the beads with your thumb.

The following teachings have come straight from the mouth of Guru Rinpoche. If your mala has been repeatedly blessed by geat Lamas, by your own teacher and by yourself as part of your deity practice, it should accompany you like your shadow. You keep the root samaya of the Vajra mala by never letting it leave your body.

Never show your secret vajra mala to any other person. Never put your mala in other people’s hands. Do not pass it around or entrust it to the care of others. Never let your mala pass into the hands of a person who has broken his or her vows.

Hold your mala only when doing Mantra recitation. Do not play or fumble with it nervously at other times. Do not perform divinations on your mala or tally sums on it.

Keep your mala private and have a humble attitude. Do not flash it around for others to notice. Never put it in a low place, and certainly never on the ground. Do not put beads on your mala that have no meaning and do not put beads on it for adornment’s sake.

It is very important to protect your mala from contamination by non-virtuous persons. If it contacts the hands of a person who has committed any of the five henious crimes, you will fail in whatever you try to accomplish.

A mala that is incomplete or damaged should not be used. A mala with more or less than 108 beads is not fit to be used.

These teachings were not given by Guru Rinpoche so that you would become so attached to your mala that you would not show it to others. These teachings were given because, as a Vajrayana practitioner, you need a consecrated mala to perform vajra recitations. The mala is viewed as the root deity with the entire assembly and mandala. As a Vajrayana practitioner, you take the mala as your source of refuge and thus achieve spiritual powers and blessings on an extraordinary, supreme leveland not merely on an ordinary level. Therefore, you are instructed to rely on your mala in these ways.