Tibetan Meditation Beads

Tibetan Meditation beads, or Mala beads, are used to count mantras.   Some Buddhist teachings require you to count 1 million mantras as a start to your life as a Buddhist.  

Each time you count the round of 108 beads (an auspicious number in almost all religions) you count it as 100 recitations of the mantra.   Buddhists prefer more mantras, rather than forgetting a few.  

In fact modern Tibetan Meditation Beads often have 111 including spacers.