From the gods a gift to the human race:
thus I reckon the gift of seeing the One
in the many and the many in the One.
— Plato (428-348 B.C.)
    Philebus 16d

The One does not bear to be numbered
in with anything else, with a one or
a two or any such quantity; it refuses
to take number because it is measure and
not the measured... in the realm of Being,
the trace of The One establishes reality:
existence is a trace of The One.
— Plotinus (204-270 A.D.)
    The Enneads V.5.4-5

If all things return to the One,
where does this One return?
Zen master Mang Gong said:
"The spring geese are flying north."
— Zen Master Seung Sahn (b. 1927)
    New York Dharma Speech (4-20-1975)

On the Nature of the One

The One is one,
One without a second.
Not having a second,
It is timeless.
Being timeless, it is eternal
Being eternal, it is changeless
Being changeless, it is real
Being real, it is true
Being true, it is complete
Being complete, it is full
Being full, it is fulfilled
Being fulfilled, it is joyful
Being joyful, it is aware
Being aware, it is One.

Peter Y. Chou
Cambridge, MA, 7-7-77

One: Number of Divine Unity |
Numero Uno |
Buddhist Numbers |
Numbers & Geometry |