Meditations on 96

99)

Woodblock Print 96
of 100 Views of Edo (1856-1858)
by Japanese painter & printmaker
Ando Hiroshige (1797-1858)
is titled "Horie, Nekozane"
showing numerous huts along
a coast with a single boat
and Mount Fuji in the distance.

102)

"96 Vandam" is a poem by Gerald Stern
(This Time: New and Selected Poems, 1998):
I am going to carry my bed into New York City tonight
complete with dangling sheets and ripped blankets;
I am going to push it across three dark highways
or coast along under 600,000 faint stars.
I want to have it with me so I don't have to beg
for too much shelter from my weak and exhausted friends.
I want to be as close as possible to my pillow
in case a dream or a fantasy should pass by.
I want to fall asleep on my own fire escape
and wake up dazed and hungry
to the sound of garbage grinding in the street below
and the smell of coffee cooking in the window above.

108)

Joseph Haydn's Symphony #96 in G Major (1795) is called "The Miracle"
It was in London during the first concert of the 1795 series that Symphony #96
earned the nickname "The Miracle Symphony." Haydn was presiding over the orchestra
from his keyboard and a large portion of the crowd had left their seats and formed
a crush at the gallery front to catch a better glimpse of Haydn. During the finale,
a huge chandelier came crashing down in the seats that had been vacated. No one was hurt.

112)

Rolling Stone Magazine's poll of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
has named Jerry Lee Lewis' Great Balls of Fire (1957)
as the 96th Greatest Song. (Movie with song)
(#1. Bob Dylan "Like a Rolling Stone",
#2. Rolling Stones "Satisfaction", #3. John Lennon "Imagine")

113)

"96 Tears" is a song by Question Mark and the Mysterians.
"?" was Rudy Martinez, the composer of the song who wanted to be anonymous.
It was released in 1966 and made hit #1 on the U.S. Chart. Last four stanzas of Lyrics:
Too many teardrops
For one heart to be crying
Youre gonna cry ninety-six tears

120)

The 96th Psalm is a praise to God for his judgments:
O sing unto the Lord a new song:
sing unto the Lord, all the earth.
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof.
Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein:
then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice.
Psalms 96.1-2, 96.11-12 (1023 BC),

121)

96th Book of Enoch: "Grounds of Hopefulness for the Righteous: Woes for the Wicked":
Your children shall mount and rise as eagles,
And a bright light shall enlighten you,
— Book of Enoch XCVI.1-3, 6, 8 (circa 105 B.C.-64 B.C.)
translated by R. H. Charles, S.P.C.K., London, 1917, pp. 137-138

123)

Chapter 96 of Pistis Sophia (circa 150 A.D.):
For it becomes a great beam of light and flies to the height,
Pistis Sophia, Ch. 96
(Translated by Violet MacDermott, Edited by Carl Schmidt,
Nag Hammadi Studies, IX: Pistis Sophia, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1978, pp. 226-233

124)

Hymn 96 in Book 7 of the Rig Veda is a song of praise
to Sarasvati the Goddess of Learning:
1. I sing a lofty song, for she is mightiest, most divine of Streams.
Sarasvati will I exalt with hymns and lauds, and, O Vasistha, Heaven and Earth.
Rig Veda, Book 7, 96.1-6 (circa 1500 B.C.)

126)

Nausicaa & friends bathing in Line 96 from Book 6 of Homer's Odyssey
The ocean washed pebbles up along the shore.
They bathed and anointed themselves richly with olive oil.
Homer, The Odyssey, VI.95-98 (circa 800 BC)
(translated by Albert Cook)
Norton & Co., New York, 1967, p. 81

128)

Verse 96 of Buddha's Dhammapada: Canto VII— The Supremely Worthy
Tranquil is the thought, tranquil the word and deed,
of that supremely tranquil person who is emancipated
through Perfect Knowledge.
Buddha, Dhammapada Verse 96 (240 B.C.)
(translated by Sangharakshita, Dhammapada: The Way of Truth, 2001, p. 40)

129)

96th Verse in Chapter 18 of Astavakra Gita
(Sage Astavakra's dialogue with King Janaka):
The sage is neither happy nor unhappy;
He is not this nor that.
Astavakra Gita Chapter 18, Verse 96 (circa 400 B.C.)
translated by Radhakamal Mukerjee, Astavakra Gita,
Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, India, 1971, p. 166.

133)

96th Verse of Sagathakam: Lankavatara Sutra:
Nothing has ever been brought into existence, all that is seen before us
is delusion; it is due to delusion that things are imagined to have come
into existence, the ignorant are delighted with the dualism of discrimination.
The Lankavatara Sutra (before 443 AD)
(translated from the Sanskrit by D. T. Suzuki, 1932, p. 234)

136)

Text 96 of On Prayer: 153 Texts
of Evagrios the Solitary (345-399 AD)
Cultivate great humility and courage, and you will escape the power of the demons;
'no plague shall come near your dwelling, for He shall give His angels charge over you'
(Psalms 91:10-11). And they will invisibly repel all the energy of the enemy.
The Philokalia (4th-15th century AD),
translated by F.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, & Kallistos Ware,
Faber & Faber, London, 1979, p. 66)

137)

Text 96 of On Those who Think that They are Made Righteous by Works: 226 Texts
of Saint Mark the Ascetic (early 5th century AD)
Prayer comprises the complete fulfilment of the commandments;
For there is nothing higher than love for God.
The Philokalia (4th-15th century AD),
translated by F.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, & Kallistos Ware,
Faber & Faber, London, 1979, p. 133)

140)

Text 96 of For the Encouragement of the Monks in India who had Written to Him: 100 Texts
of Saint John of Karpathos (circa 680 AD)
If you always feel the warmth of prayer and divine grace you may apply to
yourself the words of Scripture: you have 'put on the armour of light' (Romans 13:12).

The Philokalia (4th-15th century AD),
translated by F.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, & Kallistos Ware,
Faber & Faber, London, 1979, p. 320)

147)

Case 96 of Hekiganroku: Joshu's Three Turning Words
Clay Buddhas cannot pass through water:
Divine light illuminates heaven and earth;
But everywhere— the gentle breezes.
Setcho (980-1052), Hekiganroku, 96 (Blue Cliff Records)
(translated by Katsuki Sekida, Two Zen Classics, 1977, pp. 391-392)

150)

Section 96 in Chapter II:
"The Essentials of Learning"
of Chu Hsi's Chin-ssu lu (1175):
Study rules of propriety and we shall naturally be free.
Chu Hsi (1130-1200), Reflections on Things at Hand (Chin-ssu lu)
translated by Wing-Tsit Chan, Columbia University Press, NY, 1967, p. 84

153)

Section 96 of Wang Yang Ming's Instructions for Practical Living:
The Teacher said: “self-cultivation is to overcome and get rid of selfish desires.”
Wang Yang Ming (1472-1529),
Instructions for Practical Living or Ch'uan-hsi lu (1518), I.96
(translated by Wing-tsit Chan, Columbia University Press, NY, 1963, pp. 58-59)

156)

Chapter 96 of Wei Wu Wei's Ask the Awakened (1963)
is titled "Vertical Living":
The Kingdom of Heaven is the 'vertical' mind.
The 'vertical' mind is always present— in the Now-moment.
Intuition is an expression of the 'verticality' of mind.
All truth is 'vertical': nothing 'horizontal' can be true.
All true-seeing is 'vertical'.
All objects are 'horoizontal': subjectivity is 'vertical'.
The 'vertical' is 'real': the 'horizontal' is 'unreal'.
In 'vertical' living the I-fixation is no longer present.
Wei Wu Wei (1895-1986), Ask the Awakened (1963), p. 228

157)

Para #96 from Volume 15 of Paul Brunton's
Notebooks: "The Peace Within You"—
Only one who has intimately felt this divine peace, however briefly,
can know its inestimable worth. Only one who has felt this divine love,
however seldom, can know that its indescribable joy is above all earthly ones (1.96)
The man who knows how to live in his centre and not stray away from it,
frequently finds that he need not make any nove towards satisfying a need.
It will often come by itself at the right moment drawn by the magnetic central power. (3.96)
He does not know why the grace is present, only that it is.
He does not use the intellectual machine to find out. There is
contentment, acceptance, peace. It is enough just now to take no
precise scientific measurements but to stay with the Stillness. (4.96)
Notebooks of Paul Brunton,
XV, Paras #96
from various chapters
Volume 15: The Peace Within You
Larson Publications,
Burdett, NY, 1988,
Part II: pp. 13, 49, 90

158)

"The Art of Being Constant" is Lesson 96
of Subramuniyaswami's Merging with Siva (1999):
Practice art of being constant, and you will awaken and fulfill your destiny.
Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001)
Merging with Siva: Hinduism's Contemporary Metaphysics
Himalayan Academy, Kapaa, Hawaii, 1999

159)

Chapter 96 of Zen Master Seung Sahn's
Dropping Ashes on the Buddha
is titled "An Ambush in the Fields of Dharma":
One morning, during Yong Maeng Jong Jin at the Providence Zen Center,
a student walked into the interview room & bowed to Seung Sahn Soen-sa.
Soen-sa said, "Do you have any questions?"
The student said, "Yes. A great Zen Master once asked his students,
'What is Buddha-nature?' One student shouted 'KATZ!!!'
Another said, 'Take the horns of a rabbit and lift the moon out of the water.'
One student said, 'The bee goes to the flower.'
Which of these answers is the best!?"
Soen-sa said, "They are all bad."
The student said, "Why?"
Soen-sa said, "The bee goes to the flower."
The student said, "That's a terrible answer."
Soen-sa said, "Why?"
The student said, "Outside the window, the tree is green."
Soen-sa said, "Ah, if you hadn't told me, I would have lost my way."
Seung Sahn (born 1927), Dropping Ashes on the Buddha:
The Teaching of Zen Master Seung Sahn,
Edited by Stephen Mitchell, Grove Press, New York, 1976, pp. 222-223

162)

Poem 96 of Su Tung-p'o (1036-1101)
is titled "Drinking Wine" (1092):
Thorns grow in the field of the mind;
clear them and there's no finer place.
Free the mind— let it move with the world
and doubt nothing it finds there!
In wine I stumbled on unexpected joy.
Now I always have an empty cup in hand.
— translated by Burton Watson,
Selected Poems of Su Tung-p'o,
Copper Canyon Press, 1994, p. 122),

163)

Verse 96 of Rubáiyát, of Omar Khayyam (1048-1122):
Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose!
That Youth's sweet-scented manuscript should close!
The Nightingale that in the branches sang,
Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows!
(translated by Edward Fitzgerald, London, 1st Ed. 1859, 2nd Ed. 1868)

164)

Verse 96 of Rumi Daylight:
If love were only spiritual,
the practices of fasting and prayer would not exist.
The gifts of lovers to one another are,
in respect to love, nothing but forms;
yet, they testify
to invisible love.
Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273), Mathnawi, I.2625-7
Rumi Daylight, Verse 96
(Edited by Camille & Kabir Helminski, 1994, p. 63)

165)

The 96th Canto of Dante's Commedia is Canto 29 of Paradiso
where Dante ascends to the 9th Heaven, the Primum Mobile.
Beatrice tells him that the number of angels is incalculable.
The canto ends with the nature of the Eternal Goodness:
By now you see the height, you see the breadth,
of the Eternal Goodness: It has made
so many mirrors, which divide Its light,
but, as before, Its own Self still is One."
Paradiso XXIX.142-145 ( Allen Mandelbaum translation, 1984)

167)

Poem 96 of The Zen Works of Stonehouse:
There isn't any dust to sweep on a mountain
guests have to knock before I open my gate
after a snowfall the setting moon slips through the eaves
the shadow of a plum branch reaches the window
Ch'ing-hung (1272-1352), The Zen Works of Stonehouse, Poem 96
translated by Red Pine (Bill Porter),
Mercury House, San Francisco, p. 47 (Zen Poems)

168)

Zen Talks #96 of The Zen Works of Stonehouse:
The sage doesn't have a divided heart.
He regards the people as his only child. "Thus it is said, when
your mind is an empty universe, what appears is the empty Truth.
Once you realize such emptiness, there is no right or wrong.
The Truth is like the sky that covers everything and like the
earth that supports everything.
Ch'ing-hung (1272-1352), The Zen Works of Stonehouse, Zen Talks 96
translated by Red Pine (Bill Porter),
Mercury House, San Francisco, p. 211

170)

Verse 96 of The Divan of Hafez:
"Since gain, loss, and capital will pass away,
"Neither rejoice nor grieve for this business.
"Where Solomon's throne goes with the wind, there will be
"Wind in your hand if you put your heart on nothingness."
Hafiz (1320-1389), The Divan of Hafez, Verse 96
translated from the Persian by Reza Saberi,
University Press of American, Lanham, MD, 2002, p. 118

171)

Line 96 from the Pearl Poet's Pearl: "The splendour bright of that display"
The splendour bright of that display,
The wood where fortune smiled on me,
Pearl (c. 1370-1400) Lines 96-99
(Edited by J.J. Anderson, Everyman, London, 1996, p. 5)
(This Pearl translation: by Bill Stanton, another by Vernon Eller)

174)

Nature of the mind in Kabir's Sakhi: Verse 96:
The mind is a nervous thief,
the mind is a pure cheat.
The ruin of sages, men and gods,
the mind has a hundred thousand gates.
Kabir (1398-1448), The Bijak of Kabir, Sabda: Verse 96 (p. 100)
(Translated by Linda Hess & Shukdev Singh, North Point Press, San Francisco, 1983)

175)

Chapter 96 of Wu Ch'eng-en The Journey to the West:
Form's not originally form,
Nor is emptiness emptiness.
Quiet, noise, speech, and silence are all the same;
A dream in a dream needn't be told.
The useful is useless in use;
Wu Ch'eng-en (1500-1582),
The Journey to the West or Hsi-yu chi (1518), Volume 4, Chapter 96
(translated by Anthony C. Yu, University of Chicago Press, 1980, p. 343)

178)

96th Haiku of Basho's Haiku (1678):
Suigaku will lend
His boat for their date to cross
The swollen Milky Way!
Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), Basho's Haiku, Vol. 2, Haiku 96
(translated by Toshiharu Oseko, Maruzen, Tokyo, 1996, p. 54)

179)

Poem 96 of Goethe, the Lyrist: 100 Poems:
Within us is a universe as well;
Wherefore this habit casts its happy spell,
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), "Prooemion III"
Goethe, the Lyrist: 100 Poems, (translated by Edwin H. Zeydel
University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC, 1955, p. 167)

181)

Poem 96 of Thomas Cole:
A reminiscence of departed love
shone softly o'er my mind
It came like moonlight on the grove;
Or music on the wind:
It had a sweet regretful power
Like fragrance from a withered flower.
Thomas Cole (1801-1848), Thomas Cole's Poetry, Poem 96
(Compiled & Edited by Marshall B. Tymn, 1972, p. 193)
(Note 1: fay = fairy)

182)

Chapter 96 of Melville's Moby-Dick (1851):
in the natural sun, skies will be bright;
the glorious, golden, glad sun, the only true lamp.
Herman Melville (1819-1891), Moby-Dick, Chapter 96: The Try-Works

183)

96th Poem of Emily Dickinson:
I came to build the Bird's nest,
And sow the Early seed—
That when the snow creeps slowly
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Poem 96 (circa 1859)
(edited by Thomas H. Johnson, 1955, p. 43)

185)

"Limitless leaves" in Line 96 of Walt Whitman's Song of Myself (1855):
And limitless are leaves, stiff or drooping in the fields,
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Song of Myself, Lines 95-98
A Textual Variorum of the Printed Poems, Vol. I, Poems, 1855-1856
(Edited by Sculley Bradley, Harold W. Blodgett, Arthur Golden, William White
New York University Press, 1980, p. 6)

187)

Verse 96 in Tagore's Gitanjali:
I have tasted of the hidden honey of this lotus
that expands on the ocean of light, and thus
am I blessed— let this be my parting word.
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)
Gitanjali: Song Offerings (1912), Verse 96

189)

Line 96 of Rilke's Duino Elegies V [1923]
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926),
Duino Elegies, V.95-101
(translated by Patrick Bridgwater)
Menard Press, London, 1999, pp. 40-41)

190)

96th Page lines in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake,
cover the nakedness of an unknown body in the fields of blue (96.29)
James Joyce (1882-1941), Finnegans Wake, (1939), p. 96

191)

"I am merely a shadow" in Line 96 of Wallace Stevens's,
The Man with the Blue Guitar (1937):
And the color, the overcast blue
Of the air, in which the blue guitar
Is a form, described but difficult,
And I am merely a shadow hunched
Wallace Stevens (1879-1955),
The Man with the Blue Guitar, Lines 94-104 (Section IX)
Collected Poetry and Prose, Library of America, NY, 1997, p. 138

192)

Page 96 in William Carlos Williams' Paterson (1958)
is the second page of a 50-page poem titled "The Library":
For there is a wind or ghost of a wind
in all books to lead the mind away
William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), Paterson (1958)
Edited by Christopher MacGowan
New Directions, NY, 1992, p. 96
(Published in Book III, Section 1, 1949)

193)

Sonnet 96 in Pablo Neruda's 100 Love Sonnets (1960)
I think this time when you loved me
will pass away, and another blue will replace it;
another skin will cover the same bones;
others eyes will see the spring.
And when the earth is freshly washed,
others eyes will be born in the water,
the wheat will flourish without tears.
Love Sonnet XCVI, 100 Love Sonnets: Cien Sonetos de Amor
Editorial Losada, Buenos Aires, 1960 (trans. Stephen Tapscott, 1986)

194)

Chapter 96 in Jack Kerouac's
Desolation Angels (1965):
leaves falling on me in my sleep—... "Wake up!"
the sun shining through the leaves?"...
Jack Kerouac (1922-1969)
Desolation Angel: A Novel, Coward-McCann, NY, 1965, Ch. 96, pp. 196-198

197)

Poem 96 in Tomas Tranströmer's Selected Poems 1954-1986 (1987)
(There are 118 poems in this edition; Poem 95 is "Homeward")
A PART OF THE FOREST
There you walk alone. The thousandfold sun slips
In through the cracks. An atmosphere of childhood around
the spooky trophies. It's so mild in the forest.
Tomas Tranströmer:
Selected Poems 1954-1986
Edited by Robert Hass
(translated by Samuel Charters)
Ecco Press, NY, 1986, p. 152 (web)

198)

"first white heron" in Line 96 of Mary Oliver's's poem "Evening Star":
first road to the ocean,
first smell of the ocean
first white heron
first abalone,
Mary Oliver (born 1935), "Evening Star", lines 94-97
The Leaf and the Cloud, Da Capo Press, 2000, p. 51

199)

There are 229 poems in Kay Ryan's
The Best of It (2010), 96th poem—
WITNESS
Never trust a witness.
By the time a thing is
noticed, it has happened.
Some magician's redirected
our attention to the rabbit.
The best life is suspected,
not examined.
— Kay Ryan (born 9-21-1945),
The Best of It (New & Selected Poems),
Grove Press, NY, 2010, p. 116
(2010 Stanford Workshops); (Web)

200)

There are 170 aphorisms in James Richardson's poem
"Vectors 3.0: Even More Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays"
in By the Numbers (2010)
96th aphorism
From the tipped tree you learn how shallow roots are.
— James Richardson (born 1950),
By the Numbers
Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA, 2010, p. 43

201)

There are 173 poems in Jane Hirshfield's
Women in Praise of the Sacred (1994)
(43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women)
96th poem is by Mirabai (1498-1565),
"The song of the flute"—
The sound of the flute, O sister, is madness.
But hearing that sound, I lose mind and body,
My heart wholly caught in the net.
Even Mira's Lord is trapped in Your seven notes.
— Jane Hirshfield (born 2-24-1953),
Editor of Women in Praise of the Sacred
(43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women)
HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1994, p. 137 (Web)