So I started the new Special Research today. One of the tasks was to use 108 berries in capturing pokemons in the wild. I wondered about that number, but completed the quest. Then I got to the second Special Research this evening, and one of the tasks is catch 108 pokemons. Hmmmm? At this point I concluded that there must some significance to 108. And there is! 108 is the product of one 1, multiplied by two 2's, multiplied by three 3's, i.e. 1 x 2 x 2 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 108. It is the product of the first three primes with each prime used as a factor in a quantity equal to the numerical amount of that prime. We all know that PoGO is basically a math game, largely influenced by probabilities. And, thank the Pokemon gods that Niantic stopped it at 3. 4 to the fourth is 256 and 256 x 108 is 27,648. It would have taken more time than I could afford to spend of my remaining life in using 27,648 berries and then catching 27,648 pokemon!
From Bulbapedia:
"Spiritomb is based on a Jibakurei, a spirit bound to a single place. It also based on a Buddhist tradition performed on New Year's Eve in Japan. A bell is rung 108 times to chase away the 108 temptations in order to achieve nirvana. Note also that Spiritomb is #108 in the Sinnoh Dex and also weighs 108.0kg, and that both its Defense and Special Defense base stats are 108."
Very nice! But why under the Buddhist tradition was the bell rung 108 times? And why where there 108 temptations? Why not a base 10 one hundred temptations? I think the Buddhists must have chosen 108 for the reasons stated in my "prime postulation". Perhaps the Buddhists monks among us could answer this question?
I like math as much as the next guy but the number 108 is a spiritual thing. Just like the bulbapedia article it's a symbol of the Buddhist 108 temptations. Japan has a deep history of spirituality and many different faiths that popular culture draws from. The manga Death Note had 108 chapters for the same reason.
LOL. To me, trolling is a method of fishing, but maybe that is because I am 65. Maybe explain what you mean by "trolling" hard. I suppose you mean "fishing" for responses. That is true. I wanted to learn about the significance of the number 108 in pokemon lore. And I did. But the significance of 108 in this "Bulbapedia" thing must have come from somewhere and my postulation is that the only mathematical significance of 108 is 1 x 2 x 2 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 108. So it is my postulation that that is the route reason why 108 is significant. My "prime postulation". Nothing else accounts for it. Yes, 108 may be in this Bulbapedia, but 108 got in the Bulbapedia because 1 x 2 x 2 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 108.
108 is a sacred number in many eastern religions. It is explained in many different ways; if there is a single original explanation it is unknown nowadays (afaik). Considering the Japanese origin of Pokemon, the 108 that went into the lore of Spiritomb is certainly the 108 Buddhist defilements/delusions/earthly desires. The most popular explanation of this number (and assuming that Pokemon is not supposed to be a work of deep spiritual meaning this would be the one used) is 6 senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, mind) x 3 feelings (gladness, sadness, equanimity) x 2 ways of life (attached, detached) x 3 times (past, present, future). Thus it is actually 2x3x3x6=108, but not 1x2^2x3^3, as the six senses would be hard to split up into groups of three.
