The number, one hundred and eight, represents human Bonno (earthly desires); each of rokkon (the six senses), which are eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind, has three types of senses, Ko (sense to feel good), Aku (sense to feel bad), Hei (sense to feel indifferent), thus producing eighteen kinds of senses in total; then each of the eighteen senses has two types of feeling, Jo (pure) and Sen (dirty), making thirty six types; these thirty six types are multiplied by three, representing the previous life, the current life and future life, to make one hundred and eight.
眼（げん）・耳（に）・鼻（び）・舌（ぜつ）・身（しん）・意（い）の六根のそれぞれに好（こう：気持ちが好い）・悪（あく：気持ちが悪い）・平（へい：どうでもよい）があって18類、この18類それぞれに浄（じょう）・染（せん：きたない）の2類があって36類、この36類を前世・今世・来世の三世に配当して108となり、人間の煩悩の数を表す。