Bodhi seed is the one mala material that is neither stone nor wood. It is a plant seed — the pit of a fruit — and it behaves like neither: light like wood, hard like stone, and darker than either after a year of handling.
Two seeds, two readings
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Multicolor bodhi root — the root rather than the seed, cut into beads with the natural variation left in. The color runs from cream to brown across a single strand, and no two beads match.
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Phoenix-eye bodhi with yak bone — the seed shows a single eye-like mark on its face, which is where the name comes from. Here it is set against carved bone rather than strung on its own.
Why the material matters
Bodhi seed darkens as it is handled. A strand bought pale will go honey-brown, then deep brown — and the change is even rather than patchy, if the beads are all turned as they wear. That slow darkening is why the material has been used for counting beads for so long: a strand records the handling it has had.
It is also the reason a bodhi mala is not usually bought as a display piece. It is meant to be in the hand.
Choosing
Take the root if you want a strand that is visibly uneven from the first day. Take the phoenix-eye if the mark on each bead is the thing you want to look at.
The wooden malas are the other traditional answer.
