On the Number 53

53 in Mathematics
1) The 27th odd number = 53
2) The 16th prime number = 53
3) 106/2 = 53; 159/3 = 53
4) Sum of the 13th even number & 14th odd number = 26 + 27 = 53
Sum of the 15th & 16th composite numbers = 26 + 27 = 53
5) Sum of the 11th & 21st composite numbers = 20 + 33 = 53
6) Sum of the 1st odd number & 26th even number = 1 + 52 = 53
7) Sum of the 2nd odd number & 25th even number = 3 + 50 = 53
8) Sum of the 11th even number & 11th prime number = 22 + 31 = 53
9) Sum of 2nd & 7th square numbers = 22 + 72 = 4 + 49 = 53
Sum of 1st & 33rd composite numbers = 4 + 49 = 53
10) Sum of 1st, 4th, and 6th square numbers
= 12 + 42 + 62 = 1 + 16 + 36 = 53
11) Sum of the 1st, 2nd, and 13th lucky numbers = 1 + 3 + 49 = 53
12) Sum of the 1st, 4th, and 12th lucky numbers = 1 + 9 + 43 = 53
13) Sum of 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 8th triangular numbers = 1 + 6 + 10 + 36 = 53
14) Sum of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, & 9th Fibonacci numbers
= 1 + 2 + 3 + 13 + 34 = 53 (Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci, 1170-1250)
15) Square root of 53 = 7.28010989
16) Cube root of 53 = 3.755628575 (1st 10 digits: 3+7+5+5+6+2+8+5+7+5 = 53)
17) ln 53 = 3.970292 (natural log to the base e)
18) log 53 = 1.7242759 (logarithm to the base 10)
19) Sin 53o = 0.79863551
Cos 53o = 0.601815023
Tan 53o = 1.327044822
20) 1/53 expressed as a decimal has 13 digits that repeat itself:
0.0188679245283 0188679245283 0188679245283...
— Richard Phillips, Numbers: Facts, Figures and Fiction, (1994), p. 45
21) Sum of the 11th through 19th digits of pi, π = 53
(π = 3.1415926535 8979323846; 8+9+7+9+3+2+3+8+4 = 53)
22) The 8th & 9th digits of pi, π = 53 (3.1415926535)
23) The 111th & 112th digits of phi = 53
24) The 18th & 19th digits of e = 53
(e = 2.7182818284 5904523536)
25) Binary number for 53 = 110101
(Decimal & Binary Equivalence; Program for conversion)
26) ASCII value for 053 = 5
(Hexadecimal # & ASCII Code Chart)
27) Hexadecimal number for 53 = 35
(Hexadecimal # & ASCII Code Chart)
28) Octal number for 53 = 065
(Octal #, Hexadecimal #, & ASCII Code Chart)
29) The Greek-based numeric prefix tripentaconta- means 53.
30) The Roman numeral for 53 is LIII.
31) Wu Shí San is the Chinese ideograph for 53.
32) is the Babylonian number for 53.
33) 53 in different languages:
Dutch: vijftig-drie, French: cinquante-trois, German: fünfzig-drei, Hungarian: ötven-három,
Italian: cinquanta-tre, Spanish: cincuenta-tres, Swahili: hamsini-tatu, Swedish: femtio-tre
34) The 53rd day of the year = February 22
[February 22 Birthdays: George Washington (1732-1799);
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860); James Russell Lowell (1819-1891);
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950); Luis Buñuel (1900-1983)]
35) In Hebrew numerology, Gematria, Hamah (Sun) adds to 5 + 40 + 8 = 53
(Hebrew words that add up to 53; Gematria Server)
53 in Science
36) Atomic Number of Iodine (I) = 53 (53 protons & 53 electrons)
Iodine is a bluish-black, lustrous solid. It volatilises at ambient temperatures
into a pretty blue-violet gas with an irritating odour. It is only slightly soluble
in water. Iodine compounds are useful in medicine & photography. Lack of
iodine is the cause of goitre (Derbyshire neck). It is assimilated by seaweeds
from which it may be recovered, and is found in Chilean saltpetre,
caliche, old salt brines, and salt wells.
37) Molecular weight of acrylic nitrile (vinyl cyanide), CH2=CHCN = 53.06
38) Molecular weight of ammonium chloride NH4Cl = 53.49
Specific gravity = 1.53
39) Boiling point of silicon hydride (trisilane), Si3H8 = 53oC
40) Boiling point of acrolein (acrylic aldehyde), CH2=CHCHO= 53oC
41) Melting point of sodium ortho-phosphate N2HPO3-5H2O = 53oC
[Norbert A. Lange, Handbook of Chemistry (1952), p. 292]
42) Organic compounds that melt at 53oC:
Amino benzonitrile (meta), HN2C6H4CN, MP = 53oC (p. 380)
Butylcarbamate, NH2CO2C4H9, MP = 53oC (p. 424)
Dichlorobenzene (para), C6H4Cl2 MP = 53.1oC (p. 490)
Dimethyl p-phenylenediamine, (CH3NH)2C6H4, MP = 53oC (p. 500)
Dinitropropane, (CH3)2C(NO2)2, MP = 53oC (p. 506)
Diphenylamine, (C6H5)2NH, MP = 53oC (p. 508)
Lactic Acid, CH3CHOHCOOH, MP = 52.8oC (p. 570)
Methoxyphenol (p), CH3OC6H5OH, MP = 53oC (p. 578)
Nitro m-toluidine (2;1,3), NO2C6H3(CH3)NH2, MP = 53oC (p. 618)
Pentachloroethylbenzene, Cl5C6C2H5, MP = 53.3oC (p. 628)
Penta-cosane, C25H52, MP = 53.3oC (p. 628)
Ricinelaidic acid, C18H34O3, MP = 53oC (p. 654)
Ricinstearolic acid, C6H13CHOHCH2C=CC7H14COOH, MP = 53oC (p. 654)
[Norbert A. Lange, Handbook of Chemistry, Sandusky, Ohio (1952)]
43) Epidermal growth factor (EGF), a peptide containing 53 amino acids,
has been found to be identical to urogastrone, a peptide isolated from
the urine of pregnant women, which blocks the secretion of gastric juices.
( Nucleotide sequence of EGF cDNA: Nature 1983 Jun 23-29;303(5919):722-5
X-ray structure: U. Hommel, et. al., J Mol Biol. 1992 Sep 5;227(1):271-82)
44) Recombinant Human Epidermal Growth Factor (rHuEGF) produced in E.Coli is a single,
non-glycosylated, polypeptide chain containing 53 amino acids with molecular
mass of 6222 Dalton. The first five N-terminal amino acids are Asn-Ser-Asp-Ser-Glu
45) The 53rd amino acid in the 141-residue alpha-chain of Human Hemoglobin is Alanine (A)
The 53rd amino acid in the 146-residue beta-chain of Human Hemoglobin is Alanine (A)
Single-Letter Amino Acid Code
Alpha-chain sequence of human hemoglobin:
VLSPADKTNVKAAWGKVGAHAGEYGAEALERMFLSFPTTKTYFPHFDLSH
GSAQVKGHGKKVADALTNAVAHVDDMPNALSALSDLHAHKLRVDPVNFKL
LSHCLLVTLAAHLPAEFTPAVHASLDKFLASVSTVLTSKYR
Beta-chain sequence of human hemoglobin:
VHLTPEEKSAVTALWGKVNVDEVGGEALGRLLVVYPWTQRFFESFGDLST
PDAVMGNPKVKAHGKKVLGAFSDGLAHLDNLKGTFATLSELHCDKLHVDP
ENFRLLGNVLVCVLAHHFGKEFTPPVQAAYQKVVAGVANALAHKYH
46) The diameter of Mars (6794 km) is 53% that of Earth (12756.3 km).
47) The distance of Mars from the Earth (49 million miles) is 0.53 AU
48) Messier object M53 is one of the more outlying globulars,
about 60,000 light years away from the Galactic center, and almost
the same distance (about 58,000 light years) from our Solar system.
Its discoverer Johann Elert Bode, who found it on February 3, 1775,
described it as a "rather vivid and round" nebula. Charles Messier,
who independently rediscovered and cataloged it two years later, on
February 26, 1777, found it "round and conspicuous" resembling M79.

Georgia Rose		 49) Georgia Rose
      Bred in California, 1980
        Hybrid Tea, Peach
        (Arizona x Seedling)
        Foliage: Large
        shining leathery
      53 petals

50) National Trust Rose
      Hybrid Tea
        Crimson deep red
        Velvet guard petals
      53 petals
National Trust Rose
53 in Mythology & History
51) 53 Symbolism: According to mystics: fond of meditation, a good military
scout, quiet, serious. Physical weak spot: stomach & throat. According to
the cabala: authoritative, a lover of repose, melancholy, overlooking;
in low form: a spy. In Japan, a number constructive in the scheme of things;
frequently appears in constructions of a highway or important structure.
Symbolizes putting together facets which comprise the truth.
— Gertrude Jobes, Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore and Symbols
Scarecrow Press, New York, 1962, Part 1, p. 567
52) Events in 53 B.C.:
Sep 23, Augustus, the first Roman emperor, or Caesar, was born.
    His ascension to the title of emperor marked the end of true
    Roman democracy, even though the Senate survived for generations.
The Parthians defeat the Romans under Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae.
53) Events in 53 A.D.:
Sep 15, Marcus Trajanus, 13th Roman emperor (Trajan's Arch) (98-117), was born.
Roman emperor Claudius removes Agrippa II from the tetrarchy of Chalcis.
Euodius succeeds Saint Peter as Patriarch of Antioch.
54) At Age 53:
Johann Gutenberg (1398-1468), German inventor, has a print shop,
    and completes his in printing (1450)
 Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-1488), Italian sculptor, completes Equestrian Monument (1488)
    in Venice to Bartolomeo Colleoni shortly before his death.
Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), Italian architect & painter, completes the upper-floor across Florence
    joining Palazzo Vecchio to the Pitti Palace (1564) for the use of the Medici family.
René Descartes (1596-1650), French philosopher & mathematician, invited by Queen Christina
    (age 23 in 1649) to Sweden to be her teacher. She wants her lessons at 5 a.m.
    Descartes, a late-riser, soon gets pneumonia and dies.
Samuel F.B. Morse (1791-1872), U.S. inventor, sends the first message
    "What Hath God wrought!" by electric telegraph (1844)
Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) elected President of the Confederate States of America (1861-1865)
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) issued Emancipation Proclamation (Jan. 1, 1863) freeing the slaves.
Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923), French engineer of the Eiffel Tower (1887-1889)
    designed the internal supporting structure of the Statue of Liberty (1885)
Peter Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), Russian composer, dies from cholera (1893).
    He completes Symphony #6 "Pathétique" (1893)
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), British novelist & poet, writes Jude the Obscure (1893).
    He now give up writing novels, and concentrates on poetry.
Luigi Pirandello (1867-1930), Italian playwright, writes his best drama
    Six Characters in Search of An Author (1921)
Sir William Henry Bragg (1862-1942), British physicist, wins Physics Nobel Prize (1915)
    with his son William Lawrence Bragg for pioneering X-ray crystallography.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), French composer, completes Bolero (1928)
Cole Porter (1892-1964), U.S. composer & lyricist, composes
    "Every Time We Say Goodbye (I Die a Little)" (1944)
Louise Nevelson (1899-1988), U.S. sculptor, begins her unique sculptural style,
    using found timber objects and painted matted black (1953), 1972 Interview
Max Ophuls (1902-1957), German director, directs film Lola Montès (1955)
C. P. Snow (1905-1980), British novelist & scientist, publishes
    The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution (1959)
Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), Canadian educator, publishes Understanding Media (1964)
Charles Bronson (1921-2003), U.S. actor stars in film Death Wish (1974)
William Styron (born 6-11-1925), U.S. writer publishes Sophie's Choice (1979)
Johnny Carson (born 10-23-1925), U.S. comedian, gets a new contract for TV's
    "The Tonight Show" (1979) at $5 million per year.
[Sources: World Almanac Book of Who (1980); Jeremy Baker, Tolstoy's Bicycle (1982)]
55) Stanford Bronze Plaque 53
on the ground to the right of Stanford University's
Memorial Church is dedicated to the Class of 1953.
The first graduating class at Stanford was 1892.
In 1980, Stanford Provost Don Kennedy strolled
around the Inner Quad and calculated that it
would take 512 years for the bronze class plaques
embedded in the walkways to circle the entire
area ending with the Class of 2403.
53 in Geography
56) Cities located at 53o latitude:
Punta Arenas, Chile: 53o 10' S latitude & 70o 54' W longitude
Bremen, Germany: 53o 5' N latitude & 8o 49' E longitude
Hamburg, Germany: 53o 33' N latitude & 9o 58' E longitude
Dublin, Ireland: 53o 22' N latitude & 6o 21' W longitude
Shannon, Ireland: 52o 41' N latitude & 8o 55' W longitude
Kuibyshev, Russia: 53o 11' N latitude & 50o 6' E longitude
Petropavlovsk, Russia: 52o 53' N latitude & 158o 42' E longitude
Liverpool, UK: 53o 25' N latitude & 3o 0' W longitude
(The 1991 Information Please Almanac, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1991, p. 467)
57) 53 is the code for international direct dial phone calls to Cuba.
58) 53rd Street is a subway station on the BMT 4th Avenue line in Brooklyn, NYC,
which began service on June 22nd, 1915.
It is between the 45th and 59th Street stations.
59) New York City Subway IND Station Tile Colors:
5th Ave-53rd Street — Band: Carmine Red, Border: Crimson
Lexington Ave-53rd Street — Band & Border: No Color
60) New York's Museum of Modern Art, founded in 1929, is located at
11 West 53rd Street between 5th and 6th Avenue. MoMA closed on 53rd Street
in Manhattan on May 21, 2002 for renovation, and opened MoMA QNS in Queens,
on June 29, 2002. The new MOMA will open in Manhattan on November 20, 2004.
Also: Donnell Library at 20 West 53rd Street between 5th and 6th Ave.
61) 53rd at 3rd in New York City is nicknamed the Lipstick Building
with the address 885 3rd Avenue at East 53rd Street.
The 34-floor building built in 1986 sets itself apart
from its neighbors by the elegance of its elliptical form.
62) 314 East 53rd Street is a New York City Landmark.
It was built in 1866 by Robert & James Cunningham.
63) Saint Thomas Church is located at 5th Avenue & 53rd Street.
It was built in the French High Gothic style and completed in 1913.
64) The Hilton New York Hotel is located at West 53rd Street and 6th Avenue.
Address: 1335 Avenue of the Americas,ÊNew York,ÊNYÊ10019
65) Remi located at 145 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019
was selected as "The Best Italian Restaurant in America"
by Luigi Veronolli, Italian Food Critic
66) By 1952, New York's Palladium Ballroom at Broadway and 53rd Street had become
the American center for the mambo dance craze, followed in 1954 by the cha-cha-cha.
( Tito Puente at the Palladium Ballroom, 1952-1966)
67) Rockefeller Center seen from West 53rd Street is the title
of a photograph by Andreas Feininger (b. France 1906-1999) taken in 1941.
68) Photo: A section of the Berlin Wall outside an office building on
53rd Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues in New York City.
69) Photo: "Looking East on 53rd Street" New York, May 2004
(By Dr. Simon Harper, Computer Science Dept., University of Manchester, UK)
70) Fifty-Third Street Community School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
offers instruction for grades K4 through 5th grade.
Address: 3618 N. 53rd Street, Milwaukee, WI, 53216
71) U.S. Highway 53 had its North Terminus at Superior, Wisconsin (1926-1934)
and International Falls, Minnesota (1934-present).
La Crosse, Wisconsin is its South Terminus since 1926.
72) Highway 53 in New Mexico passes El Malpais National Monument, Junction Cave,
Ice Cave & Bandera Volcano, Ramah Lake, Ramah Museum, Los Gigantes, and Pueblo Of Zuni.
73) Highway 53
in Missouri
North terminus:
near Poplar Bluff
South terminus:
near Holcomb.
74) Highway 53 in DuPage County, Illinois
crosses U.S. Highway 290 and U.S. Highway 88.
DuPage County Map
Within DuPage County:
Argonne National Lab
Fermi National Accelerator Lab
75) King's Highway 53
in Ontario, Canada
(1935-1997)
West terminus:
Eastwood
East terminus:
Stoney Creek.
Length: 76.5 km (1993).
53 in Sports and Games
76)

Life, 9-28-1962		 Los Angeles Dodgers
pitcher (1956-1969)
& Hall-of-Famer
Don Drysdale's
uniform #53
was retired in 1984.
Drysdale sets
baseball record
pitching 58-2/3
scoreless innings
on June 9, 1968
Vin Scully Audio: 6-9-1968
77) Baseball's 53rd All-Star Game was played at Olympic Stadium, Montreal
on July 13, 1982, the first time it was held outside the United States.
The National League won 4-1, with Expos Steve Rogers as the winning pitcher.
Total Baseball, 4th Ed., Viking, NY (1995), p. 269
78) Baseball's 53rd World Series (1956): New York Yankees defeats Brooklyn 4-3
In Game 5, Don Larsen pitched the first and only perfect game in World Series history. (10-8-1956)
79) Jim Palmer and Gaylord Perry are tied for 16th place for career shutouts with 53.
(The Baseball Encyclopedia, 8th Edition, Macmillan, NY, 1990, p. 46)
80) Joe DiMaggio's 53rd consecutive hit-game occurred on July 13, 1941
when he got a hit off Thornton Lee of the Chicago White Sox. (56-game hitting streak)
81) Joe DiMaggio got 53 hits in July 1941
with 28 hits during his 56-game hitting streak (July 1-16, 1941)
(Note: Derek Jeter became the first Yankee
to get 50 hits a month since DiMaggio,
when he went 50-for-131 in August 1998,
batting .382 in 32 games.)
82) Baseball: Position #5 is assigned to the third baseman.
Position #3 is assigned to the first baseman.
5-3 or 5 to 3 on a scorecard denotes the 3rd baseman
throw to the 1st baseman for the putout.
( Baseball fielding positions)
83) The most hockey goals scored by a rookie in NHL is 53
by Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders (1977-78 season)
84) NFL Record: Longest field goal, overtime game: 53 yards by Chris Jacke,
as Green Bay Packers defeats San Francisco 49ers 23-20, on Oct. 14, 1996
(Old record: 52, Mike Cofer, Indianapolis 27, New York Jets 24, Sept. 10, 1995).
85) Soccer: When Celtic Glasgow won their first domestic treble in 32 years in 2000-01,
Henrik Larsson scored a phenomenal 53 goals, earning himself
the European Golden Shoe in the process.
86) Most points scored by a rookie in a NBA Playoff game is 53
by Wilt Chamberlain, Philadelphia vs. Syracuse, March 14, 1960
87) The most field goals in a 3-games series of NBA Playoff is 53
by Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls vs. Miami Heat, 1992
The Official NBA Encyclopedia, 3rd Ed. (2000), p. 870
88) Jerry West of the Los Angeles Lakers scored 53 points in a NBA Finals
against the Boston Celtics on April 23, 1969. This is the fourth highest
individual NBA Finals scoring exceeded only by Elgin Baylor (61), Los Angeles
at Boston (4-14-1962), Rick Barry (55), San Francisco vs. Philadelphia (4-18-1967),
and Michael Jordan (55), Chicago vs. Phoenix (6-16-1993).
The Official NBA Encyclopedia, 3rd Ed. (2000), p. 876
89) The winner of the 53rd Kentucky Derby (May 14, 1927) at Churchill Downs
is Whiskery with jockey Linus McAtee in 2:06
90) Olympics Gold in Triple Jump:
1952 Adhemar de Silva, Brazil, 53 ft 2.5 in.
1956 Adhemar de Silva, Brazil, 53 ft 7.5 in.
91) Olympics Gold in 16-lb Shot-Put:
1936 Hans Woellke, Germany, 53 ft 1.75 in.
92) Olympics Gold in 400-Meter Dash:
1906 Paul Pilgrim, USA, 53.2 seconds
93) Olympics Gold in 400-Meter Hurdles:
1904 Harry Hilman, USA, 53 seconds
94) The 53rd card in a deck of playing cards is the joker.
It was introduced at the end of the 19th century by
the Mississippi gamblers on the river boats in America
(History).
53 in Books & Quotes
95) 53 occurs once in the works of William Shakespeare:
not two or three and fifty upon poor old jack,
(1st Part of King Henry the Fourth, II.4.187)
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Maurice Spevack, Harvard Concordance to Shakespeare,
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1973, p. 411
96) North of Fifty-Three is a short story by Bertrand W. Sinclair (1878-1972),
a prolific author of adventure stories. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and lived in Canada.
The story was published in The Popular Magazine (March 15, 1913)
97) Mademoiselle Summer '53 issue had 20 young women
as guest editors. Chosen from 1,500 applicants, they were dressed
identically in tartan kilts, and were shot from above in the formation
of a star. The woman at the very top of the picture, at the very top
of the star, was Sylvia Plath, who immortalized the guest editor
program in her autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar. Some of the
others were the real-life inspirations for some of its characters.
Mademoiselle's August 1953 issue featured several articles by
and about Sylvia Plath, including her villanelle "Mad Girl's Love Song".
("After The Bell Jar Life Went On", NY Times, 6-22-2003)
98) Volume 53 of the Dictionary of Literary Biography
is titled "Canadian Writers Since 1960, First Series"
Edited by W. H. New, Gale Research, Detroit, 1986
The 67 entries include Milton Acorn, Margaret Atwood, Jay Macpherson,
Alice Munro, Laurence J. Peter, Robin Skelton, and Phyllis Webb.
99) "53 Days" is a novel ("53 jours") by Georges Perec (1936-1982) translated by David Bellos. The French edition was published by P.O.L., Paris (1989). The English edition was published by David R. Godine, Boston (2000). Perec was working on this novel at the time of his death in March 1982. He had fully completed only 11 chapters of a planned 28, but left extensive drafts and notes supply the rest of the mystery, as well as numerous twists and subplots. From these notes, his friends and fellow novelists Harry Mathews and Jacques Roubaud have assembled the elements of the unfinished mystery. The narrator, a teacher in a tropical French colony, is trying to track down the famous crime-writer Robert Serval, who has mysteriously vanished. Serval has left behind the manuscript of his last, unfinished novel, which may contain clues to his fate. From this beginning, Perec lures the reader into a labyrinth of mirror-stories whose solutions can only be glimpsed before they in turn disappear around the corner. Chapter One begins with "15 May— The army and the police are still patrolling the city."
100) Rumi Birdsong: Fifty-Three Short Poems
is a book of 53 short poems by Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273).
These are reworkings of A. J. Arberry's translations by Coleman Barks.
It was published by Maypop Books (1993). Sample poem:
Stars burn clear
all night till dawn.
Do that yourself, and a spring
will rise in the dark with water
your deepest thirst is for.
101) Ringo Starr's book
Postcards From the Boys (2003)
contains 53 Postcards
from his fellow Beatles.
It was published in a
limited edition of 2,500
by Genesis Publications
for $495.
53 in Art, Music, Film
102) 53 Stations of the Tokaido is a set of woodblock prints
by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858). The original prints were
completed in 1834, but Hiroshige returned to the subject
again and again. There are actually 55 prints in the series.
It includes not only the 53 way stations on the road
from Tokyo to Kyoto, but also the starting point at
the Nihon-bashi (Japan bridge) in central Tokyo,
and the ending at Kyoto. (Map of 53 Stations)
103) Johann Sebastian Bach's Cantata #53 is a single Mourning Aria.
The unusual scoring of two bells has given it the name Campanella Cantata.
104) Joseph Haydn's Symphony #53 is called "The Imperial" (1775)
(Recordings by Leopold Stokowski Symphony;
David Bostock's Chamber Philharmonic of Bohemia
105) Beethoven's Opus #53 is Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major "Waldstein" (1803)
106) Felix Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words
Opus 53, No. 2 is titled "The Fleecy Clouds"
Opus 53, No. 5 is titled "Folk Song"
107) Frederic Chopin's Opus #53 for piano is the "Heroic" Polonaise in A flat
108) Ali Ababwa got 53 purple peacocks in the song Prince Ali
sang by Robin Williams in the Disney animated movie Aladdin (1992):
Why, Prince Ali
He's got seventy-five golden camels
Purple peacocks
He's got fifty-three
When it comes to exotic-type mammals
Has he got a zoo?
I'm telling you, it's a world-class menagerie
Prince Ali! Handsome is he, Ali Ababwa
109) 53 appears as a street address in the 3rd stanza of the song
"Bring My Family Back" from the album by Faithless:
I'm on Lonely Street, number fifty three.
Boarded up property,
I'll probably get pulled down.
Litter all around inside there's
no sound and no light.
But yo it gets busy at night, People creeping.
Derelicts sneaking to fix. Speaking.
On the way my timbers creaking,
Roof leaking. And bricks coming loose,
knee high in refuse.
But even though I'm a slum,
I'm still of some use.
110) North of 53 is a short drama black & white silent film (1912)
starring Gertrude Robinson and Hector Dion. It was remade in 1917
directed by William Desmond Taylor (1872-1922)
53 in the Bible
111) 53rd word of the King James Bible's Old Testament Genesis = saw
1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2: And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
    And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4: And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
— Genesis I.1-4 (1611)
112) 53 occurs in the Bible five times as part of other numbers:
Those that were numbered of them even of the tribe of Naphtali were 53,400.
— Numbers, 1.43 (1490 B.C.)
And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were 53,400.
— Numbers, 2.30 (1490 B.C.)
These are the families of the sons of Asher according to those that
were numbered of them; who were 53,400.
— Numbers, 26.47 (1452 B.C.)
And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel
after the numbering wherewith David his fathere had numbered them;
and they were found 153,600.
— II. Chronicles, 2.17 (1015 B.C.)
Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes,
an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many,
yet was not the net broken.
— John, 21.11 (33 A.D.)
The Complete Concordance to the Bible (New King James Version)
Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN (1983), p. 301
113) Verse 53 in Genesis Chapter 24
Abraham's servant obtains Rebekah as a wife for his son Isaac:
And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment,
and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things.
— Genesis, 24.53 (1857 B.C.)
114) Verse 53 of Genesis Chapter 41
The famine in Egypt begins:
And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended.
— Genesis, 41.53 (1715 B.C.)
115) In the 53rd Psalm, David sings to God on man's depravity:
The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they,
and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that does good.
God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see
if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.
Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy;
there is none that does good, no, not one.
Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!
When God brings back the captivity of his people,
Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.
Psalms 53.1-3, 53.6 (1023 B.C.)
116) Chapter 53 of Isaiah fortells Christ's suffering:
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:
yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:
the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief:
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied:
by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many;
for he shall bear their iniquities.
 — Isaiah, 53.4-5, 10-11 (712 B.C.)
117) Verse 53 of Matthew Chapter 26
Think thou that I cannot now pray to my Father,
and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?.
— Matthew, 26.53 (33 A.D.)
118) Verse 53 of Luke Chapter 1
He has filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he has sent empty away.
— Luke, 1.53 (6 B.C.)
119) Verse 53 of Luke Chapter 23
And he [Joseph of Arimathaea] took it [body of Jesus] down, and wrapped it in linen,
and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid..
— Luke, 23.53 (33 A.D.)
120) There are 53 verses in the 24th and last chapter of Luke:
And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
— Luke, 24.53 (33 A.D.)
121) Verse 53 of John Chapter 6
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood,
you have no life in you..
— John, 6.53 (32 A.D.)
122) There are 53 verses in John Chapter 7:
And every man went unto his own house.
— John, 7.53 (33 A.D.)
123) 53rd Book of Enoch describes the Valley of Judgment:
There mine eyes saw a deep valley with open mouths, and all who dwell
the earth and sea and islands shall bring to him gifts and presents
and tokens of homage, but that deep valley shall not become full.
And these mountains shall not stand as the earth before his righteousness,
But the hills shall be as a fountain of water,
And the righteous shall have rest from the oppression of sinners.
 — Book of Enoch LIII.1, 7 (circa 105 B.C.-64 B.C.)
translated by R. H. Charles, S.P.C.K., London, 1917, p. 71
124) 53rd Saying of Gospel of Thomas (circa 150 A.D.):
His disciples said to him, "is circumcision useful or not?"
He said to them, "If it were useful, their father would produce
children already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true
circumcision in spirit has become profitable in every respect."
Gospel of Thomas, Saying 53 (114 Sayings of Jesus)
(translated by Stephen Patterson and Marvin Meyer, 1992)
125) Chapter 53 in the First Book of Pistis Sophia (circa 150 A.D.):
Jesus said to them: "Now at this time let him whose spirit moves him, come
forth and say the interpretation of the tenth repentance of the Pistis Sophia."
Peter answered and said : "O Lord, concerning this also, thy power
prophesied once, through David, in the 119th Psalm, saying:
1. 'I cried to thee, O Lord, in my affliction and thou didst hear me.
2. O Lord, save my soul from unjust lips and from a cunning tongue.
3. What will be given to thee and what will be taken from thee with a cunning tongue?
4. The arrows of the strong are sharpened, together with the coals of the desert.
5. Woe on me, for my dwelling was far off. I dwelt in the dwellings of Kedar.
6. My soul has been a sojourner in many places.
7. I was peaceful with those who hate peace.
    When I spoke with them they fought me without cause.' Now at this time, O Lord, this is the interpretation of the tenth repentance of the Pistis Sophia, which she said when the material emanations of the Authades oppressed her, they and his lion-faced power, and when they afflicted her greatly." Jesus said to him: "Excellent, Peter, and well done. This is the interpretation of the tenth repentance of the Pistis Sophia.".
Pistis Sophia, Chapter 53
(Translated by Violet MacDermott, Edited by Carl Schmidt,
Nag Hammadi Studies, IX: Pistis Sophia, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1978, pp. 201-203)
53 in Philosophy & Religion
126) Hymn 53 in Book 9 of the Rig Veda is an invocation to Indra's friend Soma Pavamana:
O THOU with stones for arms, thy powers, crushing the fiends, have raised themselves:
Chase thou the foes who compass us.
Thou conquerest thus with might when car meets car, and when the prize is staked:
With fearless heart will I sing praise.
No one with evil thought assails this Pavamana's holy laws:
Crush him who fain would fight with thee.
For Indra to the streams they drive the tawny rapture-dropping Steed,
Indu the bringer of delight.
 Rig Veda Book 9, 53.1-4 (circa 1500 B.C.)
127) 53rd Hexagram of the I Ching (circa 1000 B.C.)
Chien / Development (Gradual Progress)
THE JUDGMENT:
DEVELOPMENT. The maiden
Is given in marriage.
Good fortune.
Perseverance furthers. 		THE IMAGE:
On the mountain, a tree:
The image of DEVELOPMENT.
Thus the superior man abides
    in dignity and virtue,
In order to improve the mores.
128) Lao Tzu (604-517 BC), Tao Te Ching, Verse 53:
Were I sufficiently wise
I would follow the Great Way
and only fear going astray
the Great Way is smooth
but people love byways
their palaces are spotless
their fields are overgrown
and their granaries are empty
they wear fine clothes
they carry sharp swords
they tire of food and drink
and possess more than they need
this is called robbery
and robbery is not the Way

(translated by Red Pine, Taoteching,
Mercury House, San Francisco, 1996, p. 106)
129) Lao Tzu (604-517 BC), Hua Hu Ching, Verse 53:
True understanding in a person has two attributes:
awareness and action. Together they form a natural tai chi.
Who can enjoy enlightenment and remain indifferent to
suffering in the world? This is not in keeping with the Way.
Only those who increase their service along with their
understanding can be called men and women of Tao.
 (translated by Brian Walker,
Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu,
Harper SanFrancisco 1992)
130) Verse 53 of Pythagoras's Golden Verses:
So that thou shalt not hope for that which thou shouldst not,
and nothing in this world shall be hid from thee.
Pythagoras (580-500 B.C.), Golden Verses, Verse 53
(translated by A.E.A., Collectanea Hermetica, Vol. V, 1894)
reprinted in Percy Bullock, The Dream of Scipio, Aquarian Press,
Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, UK, 1983, p. 55
131) Chapter 53 of Symbols of Pythagoras:
Honorato imprimis habitum, tribunal et triobolum.
Honour the marks of dignity, the Throne and the Ternary. — Dacier.
Pythagoras (580-500 B.C.), Symbols of Pythagoras
(translated by Sapere Aude, Collectanea Hermetica, Vol. V, 1894)
reprinted in Percy Bullock, The Dream of Scipio, Aquarian Press,
Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, UK, 1983, p. 80
132) Verse 53 of Buddha's Dhammapada: On Flowers
As many garlands are made from a heap of flowers, so one who is
a mortal born should perform many ethically skilful deeds.
Buddha, Dhammapada Verse 53 (240 B.C.)
(translated by Sangharakshita, Dhammapada: The Way of Truth 2001, p. 27)
133) Verse 53 in Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita
(Krishna's lecture to Arjuna on karma yoga):
When thy mind, that may be wavering in the contradictions of many scriptures,
shall rest unshaken in divine contemplation, then the goal of Yoga is thine.
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 53
(Translated by Juan Mascaro, Penguin Books, 1962, p. 53)
134) Verse 53 in Chapter 18 of the Bhagavad Gita
(Krishna lectures to Arjuna on selfless work):
And his selfishness and violence and pride are gone;
when lust and anger and greedliness are no more,
and he is free from the though 'this is mine';
then this man has risen on the mountain of the Highest:
he is worthy to be one with Brahman, with God.
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18, Verse 53
(Translated by Juan Mascaro, Penguin Books, 1962, p. 120)
135) Verse 53 in Chapter 18 of Astavakra Gita
(Sage Astavakra's dialogue with King Janaka):
The wise are free from imaginings, unfettered in intelligence and unbound.
They may sport in great enjoyment or take resort to the mountain caves.
Astavakra Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 53 (circa 400 B.C.)
translated by Radhakamal Mukerjee, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1971, p. 151
136) Aphroism 53 of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra:
For the purpose of bringing about trance and for the purpose of attenuating afflictions.
Vyasa Commentary: The Yoga of action is certainly to be performed,
'for the purpose of bringing about trance and for the purpose of attentuating
the afflictions.' The afflictions thus attenuated become characterized by
unproductiveness. When their seed power has, as it were, being singed by the
fire of High Intellection; and for this reason the mind after their attenuation,
is never again touched by the affliction; and having by subtle cognition come up
to the discernment of the distinct natures of the Purusha and Objective Essence,
has the whole of its duty fulfilled and can only resolve into its cause.
Patanjali (circa 200 B.C.), Yoga Sutra II.2: Aphroism 53 (circa 200 B.C.)
translated by Rama Prasada, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi, 1995, pp. 90-91
137) 53rd Tetragram of the T'ai Hsüan Ching: Eternity / Yung
August 13 - August 17 (am):
Correlates with Earth's Mystery:
Yang; the phase Wood; and the Yi ching Hexagram #32, Duration;
the sun enters the Wing constellation, 6th degree.
Head: Yin seizes by force of arms. Yang endows by civil means.
The Way can be made to last forever.
Yang Hsiung (53 BC-18 AD),
Canon of Supreme Mystery ( T'ai Hsüan Ching)
(translated by Michael Nylan, 1993, p. 323)
138) Stanza 53 of Nagarjuna's Seventy Stanzas on Emptiness:
The eye is devoid of its own self-existent nature.
It is also devoid of the self-existent nature of an other.
In the same way, form is devoid of its own self-existent
nature as well as that of another. And it is the same
with the rest of the entrances.
Nagarjuna (circa 150-250 A.D.),
Seventy Stanzas on Emptiness
(translated by David Ross Komito, Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, NY, 1987, pp. 91-92)
139) Porphyry (233-305 AD) published the works of his master Plotinus (204-279 AD) in 301 A.D.
He arranged the 54 treatises into six Enneads of nine. The 53rd Treatise (VI.8)
is titled "On Free-Will and the Will of the One":
If God is nowhere, then not anywhere has He 'happen to be';
as also everywhere, He is everywhere in entirety: at once.
He is that everywhere and everywise.
Plotinus (204-270 AD), The Enneads, VI.8.16
(translated by Stephen MacKenna,
4th Ed., Faber & Faber, London, 1969, pp. 595-613)
140) 53rd Trigraph of the Ling Ch'i Ching: Shen Chu / Assistance of the Spirits
The image of obstruction at its extremity
A single yang exists alone
Chen (Thunder) * True east
Oracle:
Four ghosts and two shamans bow their heads toward each other.
The spirits of Heaven descend, releasing the entangled and
freeing the imprisoned. Misfortune dispelled, injury restored,
one truly obtains the blessings of Heaven.
Verse:
Heavenly rain bespreading interminably,
The virtue of the vast waters enriched anew.
Dried roots reviving from distress and stagnation,
In a single day all revitalized.
Essential spirit affects Heaven and Earth,
Yin ch'i dissolves away of itself.
Alone, relying on sustaining strength,
All realize achievement though the Great Transformation.
Tung-fang Shuo,
Ling Ch'i Ching (circa 222-419)
(trans. Ralph D. Sawyer & Mei-Chün Lee Sawyer, 1995, p. 135)
141) Section 53 of Chapter 2 in Lankavatara Sutra:
Further, Mahamati, there are four kinds of Nirvana. What are the four?
They are: (1) the Nirvana which is attained when the self-nature
of all things is seen as non-entity; (2) the Nirvana which is attained
when varieties of individual marks characterising all things are seen
as non-entities; (3) the Nirvana which is attained when there is the
recognition of the non-existence of a being endowed with its own
specific attributes; and (4) the Nirvana which is attained when
there takes place the severance of the bondage conditioning
the continuation of individuality and generality of the Skandhas.
Mahamati, these four views of Nirvana belong to the philosophers
and are not my teaching. According to my teaching, Mahamati,
the getting rid of the Manovijnana [thought disrimination]—
this is said to be Nirvana... I enter not into Nirvana by means
of being, of work, of individual signs; I enter into Nirvana
when the Vijnana which is caused by discrimination ceases...
Like a great flood where no waves are stirred because of its
being dried up, the Vijnana-system in its various forms ceases
to work when there is the annihilation of the Manovijnana.
 The Lankavatara Sutra, II.53 (before 443 AD)
(translated from the Sanskrit by D. T. Suzuki, 1932, pp. 108-110)
142) 53rd Verse of Sagathakam in Lankavatara Sutra:
When the mind, released from conditions and unsupported by thought of self,
abides no longer in the body, to me there is no objective world.
 Last chapter of The Lankavatara Sutra (before 443 AD)
(translated from the Sanskrit by D. T. Suzuki, 1932, p. 230)
143) Chapter 53 of Mohammed's Holy Koran is titled "The Star"
I swear by the star when it goes down.
Your companion does not err, nor does he go astray;
Nor does he speak out of desire.
It is naught but revelation that is revealed,
The Lord of Mighty Power has taught him,
The Lord of Strength; so he attained completion,
And he is in the highest part of the horizon.
Then he drew near, then he bowed...
And that man shall have nothing but what he strives for
And that his striving shall soon be seen
Then shall he be rewarded for it with the fullest reward
And that to your Lord is the goal
And that He it is Who makes (men) laugh and makes (them) weep;
And that He it is Who causes death and gives life
Mohammed, Holy Koran, 53.1-8, 53.39-44 (7th century AD)
(translated by M. H. Shakir, Holy Koran, 1983)
144) In the 99 Names of Allah, the 53rd Name is Al-Wakeel:
The Trustee, The One who gives satisfaction and is relied upon.
["Al-Qabid, The Seizer, who both holds tight and is open-haneded"
is listed as the 53rd Name of Allah in Arthur Jeffrey,
Islam: Muhammad and His Religion (1958), pp. 93-98].
145) Section 53 of Hui-Neng's Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (714)
The Master said: "My disciples, farewell. I am going to leave you a verse
entitled the 'Self-nature true Buddha emancipation' verse. Should deluded
men in later generations grasp the purport of this verse, they will see
the true Buddha of their own minds and of their own self-nature.
With this verse I shall part from you. The verse says:
True reality and a pure nature— this is the true Buddha;
Evil views and the three poisons— this is the true demon;
For the person with evil views, the demon is in his home;
For the person with correct views, the Buddha will call at his home...
If within your own nature you seek to see for yourself,
then is the cause of becoming Buddha and attaining enlightenment...
The instant you see into your own nature— this is the True Buddha.
If within your own body you yourself have the True,
Where the True is, there is the means of becoming Buddha.
If you do not seek the True yourself and seek the Buddha outside,
All your seeking will be that of a highly ignorant man.
To save people of the world you must practice yourself.
Now I say to all Ch'an students in this world,
If you do not rely on this Way you are leading vacant lives."
The Master, having finished his verse, then said to his disciples:
"Good-bye, all of you. I shall depart from you now. After I am gone,
do not weep worldly tears, nor accept condolences, money, and silks
from people, nor wear mourning garments. If you did so it would not
accord with the sacred Dharma, nor would you be true disciples of mine.
Be the same as you would if I were here, and sit all together in meditation.
If you are only peacefully calm and quiet, without motion, without stillness,
without birth, without destruction, without coming, without going, without
judgments or right and wrong, without staying and without going—
this then is the Great Way. After I have gone just practice according
to the Dharma in the same way that you did on the days that I was with
you. Even though I were still to be in this world, if you went against
the teachings, there would be no use in my having stayed here."
After finishing speaking these words, the Master, at midnight,
quietly passed away. He was seventy-six years of age.
Hui-Neng (638-713), Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, Section 53
(translated by Philip B. Yampolsky, Columbia University Press, NY, 1967, pp. 180-182)
146) 53rd Verse of Chapter 2 in Santideva's Bodhicaryavatara:
And I worship the Lord of the Thunderbolt. When they have seen him,
the messengers of death and the other evil beings are frightened
and they flee to the four directions.
Santideva's Bodhicaryavatara: Entering the Path of Enlightenment
II.53 (Confession of Evil: Papa-desana) (circa 700 AD)
(translated by Marion L. Matics, Macmillan, London, 1970, p. 151)
147) 53rd Verse of Chapter 7 in Santideva's Bodhicaryavatara:
When one is made powerless by lassitude, injury easily occurs;
but the one who is alert, active, and proud is invincible to the greatest foe.
Santideva's Bodhicaryavatara: Entering the Path of Enlightenment
VII.53 (Perfection of Strength: Virya-paramita) (circa 700 AD)
(translated by Marion L. Matics, Macmillan, London, 1970, p. 191)
148) Saying 53 of Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu:
A monk asked, "What is the mind that the Patriarch brought from the west?"
The master got up from his seat.
The monk said, "Is it nothing more than this?"
The master said, "I haven't said anything yet."
 Chao Chou (778-897),
The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu
translated by James Green, AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, CA, 1998, p. 28
149) Section 53 of Huang Po's Zen Teaching on the Transmission of Mind:
Q: To who did the Patriarch silently transmit the Dharma?
A: No Dharma was transmitted to anybody.
Q: Then why did the Second Patriarch ask Bodhidharma for the transmission of Mind?
A: If you hold that something was transmitted, you imply that the Second Patriarch
reached Mind by seeking, but no amount of seeking can ever lead to Mind;
so we talk of only transmitting Mind to you. If you really get something,
you will find yourself back on the wheel of life and death!
 — Huang Po (died 850 A.D.), Zen Teaching on the Transmission of Mind,
The Wan Ling Record, Section 53
(translated by John Blofeld, Rider & Co., London, 1958, pp. 127-128)
150) Section 53 of Rinzai's Lin-chi Lu:
Governor Wang come one day to visit the master. When they happened to pass
the monk's hall, he asked the master: "Do the monks in this monastery all
study the Sutras?" "No, they don't." "Do they then practise meditation?"
No, they don't." "If they neither study the Sutras nor practise meditation,
what then do they do?" The master said: "All are training to become Buddhas or
patriarch." The Governor said: "Though gold dust is precious, in the eyes it
clouds vision." The mastrer said: "And I almost took you for a common fellow!"
Rinzai Gigen (died Jan. 10, 866 A.D.),
The Zen Teaching of Rinzai
(translated from the Chinese by Irmgard Schloegl)
Shambhala, Berkeley, 1976, p. 71
151) 53rd Teaching of Teachings of Quetzalcoatl:
Various people had come to hear Ce Acatl's words. Someone asked him:
"Teacher, what kind of ritual would you advise so that we can be heard
by the gods?" He answered them: "Ask in full humility and plead with justice.
This is the synthesis of the whole ritual. For the lip that manifests itself
pleading offers compensation and gives out satisfaction."
Quetzalcoatl Ce Acatl (b. 947 A.D.),
Gospel of the Toltecs: The Life & Teachings of Quetzalcoatl, XI.53
by Frank Díaz, Bear & Company, Rochester, VT, 2002, pp. 150-151
152) Case 53 of Hekiganroku: Hyakujo and a Wild Duck
Engo's Introduction: The universe is not veiled; all its activities
lie open. Whichever way he may go, he meets no obstruction. At all times
he behaves independently. His every word is devoid of egocentricity, yet
still has the power to kill others. Tell me, where did the ancient worthy
come to rest? See the following.
Main Subject: When Ba Daishi [Baso] was walking with Hyakujo,
Hyakujo said, "It has flown away." Daishi at last gave Hyakujo's
nose a sharp pinch. Hyakujo cried out with pain.
Daishi said, "There, how can it fly away?"
Setcho's Verse:
The wild duck! What, how, and where?
Baso has seen, talked, taught, and exhausted
The meaning of mountain clouds and moonlit seas.
But Jo doesn't understand— "has flown away."
Flown away? No, he is brought back!
Say! Say!
 Setcho (980-1052), Hekiganroku, 53 (Blue Cliff Records)
(translated by Katsuki Sekida, Two Zen Classics, 1977, pp. 293-294)
153) Chang Tsai (1020-1077), Correcting Youthful Ignorance, Section 53:
If one is upright in his life and follows principle,
then all his good and evil fortunes are correct.
If one is not upright in his life, either he enjoys
blessings that are evil or he shirks from danger.
(Wing-Tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, 1963, pp. 513-514)
154) Ch'eng Hao (1032-1085), Selected Sayings, Section 53:
According to the Principle of Heaven and Earth and all things,
nothing exists in isolation but everything necessarily has its
opposite. All this naturally so and is not arranged or manipulated.
(Wing-Tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, 1963, p. 539)
155) Ch'eng I (1033-1107), Selected Sayings, Section 53:
The Buddhists talk about formation, remaining in the same state,
deteriotion, and extinction. This indicates that they are ignorant
of the Way. There are only formation and deterioration but no remaining
or extinction. Take plants, for example. When they are first produced,
they are already formed. As they approach the highest point of growth,
they immediately begin to decay. The Buddhists think that in the life
of plants, they grow until they reach maturity, remain in that state
for some time, and then gradually deteriorate. But nothing in the world
remains in the same state. Any day added to the life of an infant means
a day spent. Since when can one stay in the same state?
(Wing-Tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, 1963, pp. 564-565)
156) Chapter 53: The Meeting with Dhampa Sangje
from Mila Grubum or The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa:
Early one morning when the Jetsun Milarepa was staying at the Belly Cave
of Nya Non, he had a clear vision of a Dakini with a lion face, who told him
that Dhampa Sangje of India is coming to Tong Lha. Milarepa thought, "People
say that Dhampa Sangje has the Transcendental Miraculous Power. I shall now
test him." He then transformed himself into a clump of flowers growing beside
the road. Dhampa Sangje passed by the flowers with his eyes widely open as
if he did not see them at all. Milarepa thought, "It seems that he does not
have the Perfect Miraculous Power!" But just then Dhampa Sangje turned back.
Approaching the flowers, he kicked them with his foot and said, "I ought not
do this— this is the transformation of Milarepa." Having spoken these words,
he picked up the flowers and addressed them: "You have been singing all the
precious teachings that are cherished by Dakinis as their very lives and hearts,
and so they all became angry. The flesh-eating Dakinis have thus taken your heart,
breath, and spirit away from you... you can only live until this evening. Now tell me,
what confidence do you have in facing death?" In reply, Milarepa suddenly arose from
his transformation, and sang a song called "The Six Assurances on Facing Death":
The great Liberation from Extremes
Is like a gallant lion lying
In the snow at ease, displaying
Without fear its fangs.
In this View do I, the Yogi, trust.
Death leads to the Liberation Path!
Death brings joy to he who holds this View!...

The purified quintessence of the Moving
Energy is like a great eagle flying
On wings of Skill and Wisdom
To the castle of Non-being.
In this Accomplishment do I, the Yogi, trust.
Death leads to the Liberation Path!
Death brings joy to the accomplished man!

Milarepa also sang "The Song of a Lunatic":
Men say, "Is not Milarepa mad?"
I also think it may be so.
Now listen to my madness...
I have many sicknesses,
And many times have died.
Dead are my prejudices
In the vast sphere of the View.
All my distractions and drowsiness
Have died in the sphere of Practice.
My pretensions and hypocrisy
Have died in the sphere of Action.
Dead are all my fears and hopes
In the sphere of Accomplishment,
And my affectations and pretenses
In the sphere of Precepts. I, the Yogi,
Will die in Trikaya's Realm.
 Milarepa (1040-1123), The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, Ch. 53
(translated by Garma C. C. Chang, Shambhala, Boston, 1999, pp. 606-613)
157) Aphroism 53 of Guigo's Meditations:
What a beautiful art, to conquer evil with good.
For contraries are conquered by contraries.
Guiges de Chastel (1083-1137), Meditations of Guigo, Prior of the Charterhouse
translated by John J. Jolin, Marquette University Press, Milwaukee, 1951, p. 13
158) Section 53 in Chapter II:
"The Essentials of Learning"
of Chu Hsi's Chin-ssu lu (1175):
Nowadays students study like people climbing a hill.
As long as the path is unobstructed and level, they all
take long steps. When they reach a dangerous point,
they stop right away. The thing to do is to be firm
and determined and proceed with resolution and courage.
Chu Hsi (1130-1200), Reflections on Things at Hand (Chin-ssu lu)
translated by Wing-Tsit Chan, Columbia University Press, NY, 1967, p. 62
159) Section 53 of William of Auvergne's The Trinity, or the First Principle:
Thus we have made it perfectly clear that the possible is possible
in virtue of the possibility possessed by matter. The truth of the faith
confirms this. For it was possible for the world to be before the world was,
but this possibililty was the potency of the creator, as you have already
learned, since it is true of both the first matter and form that it was
possible for them to be before they were.
William of Auvergne (1180-1249), The Trinity, or the First Principle, Ch. VIII
(translated by Roland J. Teske & Francis C. Wade,
Marquette University Press, Milwaukee, 1989, p. 96)
160) Saint Francis Chapter 53 of Saint Francis of Assisi's The Little Flowers:
How Brother Giovanni of Alverna fainted while consecrating
the Body of Christ during the celebration of Mass.
And as Brother Giovanni pronounced these words "Hoc est Corpus meum", he was enlightened by the Holy Spirit in all the profound and lofty mysteries of that most high Sacrament... As his soul was suspended from bodily feeling his body fell back; and if he had not been held up by the guardian, who was behind him, he would have fallen to the ground. And the friars and the laymen who were in the church, both men and women, rushed up to him and he was carried into the saristy as if dead, because his body was as cold as a dead person's and the fingers of his hands were so stiff that they could barely be straightened out or moved. He remained in this condition, rapt in God, until tierce, and this was during the summer. And because I, present when all this occurred, desired greatly to know what God had worked through him, no sooner was he himself again than I went to him and begged him out of the charity of God to tell me all. And because he trusted me he told me all, and in detail. And among other things he told me that as he was consecrating the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, and even before, his heart was as liquid as molten wax and his flesh seemed to be without bones, so that he could barely lift his arms or hands to make the sign of the cross above the Host or the chalice.
Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226),
The Little Flowers of St. Francis, Ch. LIII
(translated by Serge Hughes, Mentor-Omega Book, New York, 1964, pp. 146-148)
( Another translation: Dom Roger Hudleston)
161) Koan 53 of Master Kido's Kidogoroku:
Tell Me Where I Can Sit
There was once a Taoist pries who came to a Buddhist temple
and sat with his back to the statue of Buddha. A monk said,
"You Taoist, don't you turn your back on Buddha." The Taoist said,
"The virtuous Buddha exists everywhere. Tell me where I can sit."
Master Kido:
I forgot that you are of a different religion.
Master Hakuin:
Are not Buddha and Miroku [a legendary future Buddha] right there?
Plain Saying:
Ah, it's you! Won't you come in and have some tea?
In Hakuin's substitute phrase, the Taoist teaches the monk the
"Buddha is everywhere" principle, thus proving that Zen is also
to be found among non-Buddhists. Kido's response and the plain
saying suggest the attitude the monk would have taken toward the
Taoist visitor were the monk not such a narrow-minded fanatic.
 Kido Chigu (1189-1269), every end exposed, Koan 53
(translated by Yoel Hoffmann, Autumn Press, Brookline, MA, 1977, p. 76)
162) Chapter 53 of Rumi's Discourses (Fihi ma fihi):
Speech is like the sun. All men derive warmth and life from it.
The sun is always existent and present, and everyone is always warmed
by it. However, because the sun cannot always be seen, people do not
know that their warmth and life come from it... Although God is neither
present or absent, He is the creator of both presence and absence.
He must then be other than both of these because, if He were present,
then there must be no such thing as absence. But absence does exist.
It is not present either, although it does exist in the presence of presence.
He cannot, therefore, be qualified by presence or absence, for it would
necessarily follow that an opposite proceed from an opposite in that it
would be necessary in the state of absence for Him to be the creator
of presence, and presence is the opposite of absence. So also in the
state of absence. Opposite cannot be said to proceed from opposite,
and God cannot be said to create His like because He says,
"He has no like." If it were possible for like to create like,
then a state would exist without there being a cause and a thing
would have created itself. Both propositions are untenable. When you
have come this far, stop and apply yourself no more. Reason has no
further sway: when it has reached the edge of the sea, let it halt.
 Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273)
Signs of the Unseen: Discourses of Rumi, Chapter 53
(Translated by W. M. Thackston, Jr., Threshold Books, Putney, VT, 1994, pp. 205-207)
163) Letter 53 of The Letters of Marsilio Ficino (1474):
Care for country, family and friends:
Your father's brother, Bartolo Tedaldi, a learned and prudent man,
often used to quote those words of Socrates: 'In the affairs of men,
two things above all call for care— one's native land and one's family.'
And rightly so, for as a man fathers his child, so does the country a family.
Why then, do you travel abroad so often, My Francesco, and for so long?
In this way you do not serve your country, nor adequately look after your family.
Think less about leaving your sons good things than giving them good company.
You may perhaps find good things abroad but you can be sure of good company
at home... I pray, at least attend to me, to whom you are as dear as the dearest.
Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499), Letter to Francesco Tedaldi, 5th March, 1474
The Letters of Marsilio Ficino, Vol. I, Shepheard-Walwyn, London, 1975, p. 99
164) Section 53 of Wang Yang Ming's Instructions for Practical Living:
T'ang Hsü asked, "Does making up the mind mean retaining good thought
at all times and wanting to do good and remove evil?
The Teacher said, "When a good thought is retained, there is the
Principle of Nature. The thought itself is goodness. Is there another
goodness to be thought about? Since the thought is not evil, what
evil is there to be removed? This thought is comparable to the root
of a tree. To make up one's mind means always to build up this good
thought, that is all. To be able to follow what one's heart desires
without transgressing moral principles merely means that one's
mind has reach full maturity.
Wang Yang Ming (1472-1529),
Instructions for Practical Living or Ch'uan-hsi lu (1518), I.53
(translated by Wing-tsit Chan, Columbia University Press, NY, 1963, p. 43)
165) Section 53 of Lo Ch'in-shun's Knowledge Painfully Acquired:
"Let the people be employed in a way which in intended to secure their ease,
and though they be toiled, they will not murmur." How could a gentleman who
has studied the Way and loves the people fail to remember this? Ch'ao Ts'o
in the Han carried out his plans within the borders, while Ch'en Ching in
the Sung failed to implement his theories in Ching-hsi. The difference was
determined by the intelligence and judgment of their superiors.
Lo Ch'in-shun (1465-1547), Knowledge Painfully Acquired or K'un-chih chi
translated by Irene Bloom, Columbia University Press, NY, 1987, pp. 89-90
166) Section 53 of Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia (1837):
And God created man in His own image, in the image of God
created He him. The reason why "image" is here twice mentioned,
is that faith, which belongs to the understanding, is called "His image;"
whereas love, which belongs to the will, and which in the spiritual man
comes after, but in the celestial man precedes, is called the "image of God."
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772)
Arcana Coelestia, 53 (Swedenborg Foundation, NY, 1965, p. 32)
167) Section 53 of Swedenborg's Worlds in Space (1758):
The reason why they [inhabitants of Jupiter] approved of faces with pouting lips was that most of their speech consists of facial expressions, and it is particularly the region round the lips which they use. Also they never pretend, that is, they never say one thing and think another. So they do no force their faces but leave them free to express their thoughts... The truth of this can be established by examining the fibres of the lips and the surrounding area. There are there manifold series of folded and connected fibres, designed not only for eating and speaking articulately, but also for expressing the ideas in the mind.
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), The Worlds in Space, 53
(translated from Latin by John Chadwick, Swedenborg Society, London, 1997, p. 34)
168) Section 53 of Sage Ninomiya's Evening Talks:
Concession of Ordinary and Higher Order
Concession is a feature of the way of man. One who does not endeavour to save what he has today or this year for use tomorrow or next is not a man in the true sense of the word... Concession of higher order is practised for one's relatives and friends and for one's native place. Still more difficult to practise is the concession for the benefit of one's own country... People who are wealthy or have a mind to be virtuous should be urged to practise the virtue of concession. Wealth and honour come to those who practise it, but leave those who do not. The reward is small for those who practise it in a small measure and is great for those who practise it in a great measure. There is no mistake in what I say. I wish I could teach this virtue of concession to all who are well off.
Sontoku Ninomiya (1787-1856),
Sage Ninomiya's Evening Talks, Section 53
translated by Isoh Yamagata from Ninomiya-Ô Yawa,
Tokuno Kyokai, Tokyo, 1937, pp. 105-108)
169)
Verse 53 in Jack Kerouac's Sutra,
Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1960):

Everything's alright, form is emptiness and emptiness is form,
and we're here forever, in one form or another, which is empty.
Everything's alright, we're not here, there, or anywhere.
Everything's alright, cats sleep.

Jack Kerouac (1922-1969)
 The Scripture of the Golden Eternity
Totem/Corinth Book, NY, 1970, p. 39
170) Chapter 53 of Franklin Merell-Wolff's Pathways through to Space (1936):
The Key to the Higher Knowledge inheres in a kind of Knowing that does not
fall within the subject-object field... It is perfectly true that Kant did reveal
the Way to escape the agnosticism of Hume and opened the door so that the soul
might at least hope and not despair. But buried deep in Kant's thought lies the
Recognition; so here, as ever, That remains the magic Touchstone... Let a man
unveil this Recognition and make It immediately and consciously his own, and then
he will find in logic a power which, if followed with a single eye, will take him
through to the Higher Consciousness. Once given that original Recognition, logic
does supply unanswerable demonstration, and thus breaks through the closed vortex
of subject-object consciousness... Thus we have these six primary propositions
which, when exalted to Recognition, reclaim man unequivocally:
1. "I am not other than God."
2. "God is not other than I."
3. "I am not other than Knowledge."
4. "Knowledge is not other than I."
5. "God is not other than Knowledge."
6. "Knowledge is not other than God."
Let a man repeat these affirmations, but not as mere propositions. Let him add
to those repetitions some measure of that indefinable quality We call 'Recognition,'
and they will at once become magical agents with some measure
of potency, ranging from a faint stirring of a bare sense of a Beyondness up
to a Power so great that the whole universe is, as it were, dislodged from its
commanding position. I Know this to be true, but how can I transfer this certainty?
I have known the Joy of finding a World far greater and far more significant
than all that which came out of the discoveries of Columbus. I simply wish that
others may find the World, or have the Way made clearer to them because of what
I have already accomplished... My final word on this particular subject is:
I sought a Goal the existence of which I had become convinced was highly probable.
I succeeded in finding this Goal, and now I KNOW, and can also say to all others:
"IT IS ABSOLUTELY WORTH ANYTHING THAT IT MAY COST, AND IMMEASURABLY MORE."
Franklin Merrell-Wolff (1887-1985)
Pathways through to Space (Sept. 10, 1936),
Chapter LIII: "Evidence for the Higher Consciousness"
(2nd Edition, Julian Press, NY, 1973, pp. 123-136)
171) Aphorism 53 of Franklin Merrell-Wolff's Consciousness Without an Object (1973):

The GREAT SPACE is not God,
but the comprehender of all Gods,
as well as of all lesser creatures.

Commentaries: The GREAT SPACE transcends and
embraces all entities, even the greatest. There is
a sense in which we may validly speak of the Divine
Person, but, underlying, overlaying, and enveloping
even This, is THAT, symbolized by the GREAT SPACE.


Franklin Merrell-Wolff
Franklin Merrell-Wolff (1887-1985),
Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object
(Reflections on the Nature of Transcendental Consciousness)
(Julian Press, NY, 1973, p. 116, p. 257)
172) Chapter 53 of Wei Wu Wei's Ask the Awakened (1963)
is titled "Sidelights on Some Ko-ans, 2":
Mu-mon in his collection of ko-ans called The Gateless Fate (#23) recounts the story of Hui Neng, pursued by E-myo who, failing to retrieve the Robe and the Bowl, asked for the Doctrine instead, and was immediately enlightened. The doctrine he was given was, 'When you do not think good or not-good, what is your true self (original nature)?
Whatever we may think of this form of words as English, it gives the sense, whereas 'good' and 'evil', being abstract principles, set the mind looking in the wrong direction. What E-myo immediately apprehended was that everything he saw as pleasant or unpleasant, desirable or undesirable, better or worse, was a judgment dictated by an I-concept, and that he had been doing that, and nothing but that, from morning to night, all his life, as we all do. He also perceived that if he could really cease to do that even for a moment in which he would normally be doing it, for that moment the I-concept would be eliminated, and that what remained would be his 'true self'— which has been better indicated by a term such as 'original mind', 'original face', or 'Buddha nature'.
Hui Neng, in one short phrase, revealed the whole problem, which is 'the Doctrine', and opened the mind of his persecutor to the understanding he had vainly sought for so many years under the Fifth Patriarch.
Wei Wu Wei (1895-1986), Ask the Awakened (1963), pp. 116-117
173) Chapter 53 of Wei Wu Wei's Open Secret is titled "Seeing it Simply":
It should be evident, as the Buddha and a hundred other Awakened sages have sought to enable us to understand, that what we are is this 'animating' mind as such, which is noumenon, and not the phenomenal object to which it gives sentience. This does not mean, however, that the phenomenal object has no kind of existence whatever, but that its existence is merely apparent, which is the meaning of the term 'phenomenon'; that is to say, that it is only an appearance in consciousness, an objectivisation, without any nature of its own, being entirely dependent on the mind that objectivises it, which mind is its only nature, very much as in the case of any dreamed creature, as the Buddha in the Diamond Sutra, and many others after him have so patiently explained to us. This impersonal, universal mind or consciousness, is our true nature, our only nature, all, absolutely all, that we are, and it is completely devoid of I-ness... Profoundly to understand this is Awakening to what is called 'enlightenment'... The psychological 'I-concept' has no nature of its own, is no 'thing', and could not possibly create genuine 'bondage'. There cannot be any such thing as bondage at all, but only the idea of such. There is no liberation, for there is no 'thing' from which to be freed. If the whole conceptual structure is seen as what it is, it must necessarily collapse, and the bondage-enlightenment nonsense with it. That is called Awakening, awakening to the natural state whch is that of every sentient being. Sri Ramana Maharshi taught just that when he said that 'enlightenment' is only being rid of the notion that one is not 'enlightened', and Maharshi might have been quoting the T'ang dynasty Chinese sage Hui Hai, known as the Great Pearl, when he stated that Liberation is liberation from the notion of 'liberation'... All objectivisation is conceptual, all conceptuality is inference, and all inference is as empty of truth as a vacuum is empty of air. Morever there is no truth, never has been and never could be; there is no thusness, suchness, is-ness, nor anything positive or negative whatever. There is just absolute absence of the cognisable, which is absolute presence of the unthinkable and the unknowable— which neither is nor is not. Inferentially this is said to be an immense and radiant splendour untrammelled by notions of time and space, and utterly beyond the dim, reflected sentience of temporal and finite imagination.
Wei Wu Wei (1895-1986), Open Secret,
Hong Kong University Press, 1965, pp. 114-117
174)

Paul Brunton (1898-1981),
Notebooks of Paul Brunton,
XV, Paras #53
from various chapters
Volume 15:
Advanced Contemplation
& The Peace Within You,
Larson Publications,
Burdett, NY, 1988,
Part I:
pp. 10, 35 73, 97, 176, 221;
Part II:
pp. 9, 44, 84
(Excerpts)

 Para #53 from Volume 15 of Paul Brunton's
Notebooks: "Advanced Contemplation"—
While a man's mind is full of himself, he shuts out the influx of the Overself. This remains just as true of meditation times as of ordinary times. He must empty out all these earthly interests, all these personal concerns, and even, in the end, all these egoistic spiritual aspirations by transferring his attention to that which is beyond the ego. He must think only of the Overself— of its nature and attributes, of its tokens and signs of presence, of its reality and eternity. (1.53)
The Short Path schools are correct in asserting that if we gain the Overself we shall also gain the purity of heart and goodness of character which go with it. But they omit to point out that such a gain will be quite temporary if we are unable to remain in the Overself. (2.53)
If the end of the Long Path is spiritual stagnation, this is not to be taken to mean that the Long Path is not worth entering, nor that its efforts are valueless and so much time wasted. That would be an error. This so-called stagnation is really the "dark night of the soul," in Spanish Saint John of the Cross' phrase. It makes the man ready to receive grace. (4.53)
The Short Path looks to the Overself and away from the ego. Its thoughts are directed to knowing the infinite being, not to improving the human being. (5.53)
To shut off all thoughts and things, even all sense of a separate personal existence, and rest in contemplation of the One Infinite Life-Power out of which he has emerged, is the goal and end of meditation. (7.53)
If he is willing to accept this emptiness
with all the annihilation of self that goes with it,
he will succeed in passing the hardest of ordeals
and the most rigorous of tests. (8.53)

Para #53 from Volume 15 of Paul Brunton's
Notebooks: "The Peace Within You"—
He will cultivate not only an equable mind
but also a sunny one. (1.53)
To turn one's mind instantly towards the divinity within, when in the presence of discordant people, is to silence harsh thoughts and to banish hurtful feelings. This frequent turning inward is necessary not only for spiritual growth, but for self-protection. Everything and everyone around us plays a potent influence upon our minds, and this is the best means of detaching oneself from this ceaseless flow of suggestions. (3.53)
There is an area of peace hidden within every man.
Its presence is the gracious gift of God
but his task is to discover it. (4.53)
175) Page 53 of Master Subramuniya's Reflections (1971):
It is up to you and you alone
to penetrate the veil of illusion
and realize the Self, the Absolute,
beyond desire, beyond all
experiences of the mind.
 Master Subramuniya (1927-2001), Reflections
Tad Robert Gilmore & Co., San Francisco, 1971, p. 53
176) "Cardinal Signposts" is Lesson 53
of Subramuniyaswami's Merging with Siva (1999):
The young aspirant just becoming acquainted with the path to enlightenment may wonder where he is, how much he has achieved so far. There are a few cardinal signposts he may identify with to know he has touched into the inner realms of his mind. Should he ever have experienced a "here-and-now" consciousness, causing him to fight the "where and when" of the future and the "there and then" of the past afterwards, he can fully impart to himself an award of having achieved some attainment by striving even more diligently than before. The ability to see the external world as transparent, a game, a dream, encourages the aspirant to seek deeper. The moon-like light within the center of his head appears during his tries at meditation, sometimes giving him the perceptive ability to cognize the intricate workings of another's external and subconscious states of mind, as well as his own, intimately. The ability of the ardent soul to recognize his guru and identify himself in the actinic flow from whence the master infuses knowledge by causing inner doors to open is another signpost that the aspirant has become an experiencer and is touching in on the fringe or perimeter of transcendental states of mind. Many on the path to enlightenment will be able to identify, through their personal experience, some of these signposts and recall many happenings that occurred during their awakenings. But remember, the recall and the experience are quite different. The experience is "here and now;" the recall is "there and then." However, by identifying the experience and relating it to a solid intellectual knowledge, the ability will be awakened to utilize and live consciously in inner states of superconsciousness. After acquiring this ability to consciously live superconsciously comes the ability to work accurately and enthusiastically in the material world while holding the intensity of the inner light, giving perceptive awareness of its mechanical structure. There also comes the ability to work out quickly in meditation experiences of the external mind or worldly happenings through finding their "innerversity" aspects rather than being drawn out into the swirl of them. In doing so, the cause-and-effect karmic experiential patterns of the aspirant's life that tend to lower his consciousness into congested areas of the mind will clear up as, more and more, the actinic flow of superconsciousness is maintained as the bursts of clear white light become frequent.
Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001)
Merging with Siva: Hinduism's Contemporary Metaphysics
Himalayan Academy, Kapaa, Hawaii, 1999, pp. 20-21
177) Koan 53 of Zen Master Seung Sahn:
Straight Line in the Circle:
The great layman Hwa Ryon Gosa received inga from Zen Master Ko Bong.
One day, a student asked him, "What is Dharma?"
He answered by making a circle in the air.
The student said, "I still don't understand."
Hwa Ryon Gosa replied, "In the circle there is one
place where there is a straight line, not curved.
Where is that place?"
The student still could not understand,
so Hwa Ryon Gosa told him, "You must sit more."

COMMENTARY:
The earth goes around the sun; the moon goes around the earth.
They never stop, and they never go straight. But these things originally
have no name and no form, and they are unmoving. When mind appears,
everything appears; when mind disappears, everything disappears.
When mind does not appear or disappear, then what?
Then everything is straight.

Seung Sahn (born 1927), The Whole World Is A Single Flower:
365 Kong-ans for Everyday Life, Tuttle, Boston, 1992, p. 44
53 in Poetry & Literature
178) Han-shan's Poem 53 of Collected Songs of Cold Mountain:
once I got to Cold Mountain
I stayed thirty years
finally looking up family and friends
most had entered the Springs
slowly fading like a sputtering candle
or far flowing like a passing stream
this morning facing a solitary shadow
suddenly two tears welled
 Han-shan (fl. 627-649), Collected Songs of Cold Mountain,
Poem 53 (translated by Red Pine, 1990)
( Robert G. Henricks translation, 1990; Burton Watson translation, 1962)
179) Verse 53 of Rubáiyát, of Omar Khayyam (1048-1122):
But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor
Of Earth, and up to Heaven's unopening Door
You gaze To-day, while You are You— how then
To-morrow, You when shall be You no more?
(translated by Edward Fitzgerald, London, 1st edition 1859, 2nd edition 1868)
180) Verse 53 of Dogen (1200-1253):
Not only earthly blossoms
But this mind, pure as the
Celestial garden of an immaculate sky,
Offered to all the Buddhas
Manifest here, there, and everywhere.
(translated by Steven Heine, Zen Poetry of Dogen, Tuttle, Boston, 1997, p. 114)
181) Verse 53 of Rumi Daylight:
The intellectual quest,
though fine as pearl or coral,
is not the spiritual search.
That spiritual search is on another level.
Spiritual wine is a different substance.
Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273), Mathnawi, I.1501-2
Rumi Daylight, Verse 53 (p. 42)
(Edited by Camille & Kabir Helminski, 1994)
182) Dante dreams of the Siren in the beginning of the 53rd Canto of Commedia.
He then ascends to the 5th Cornice of Purgatory (The Avaricious)
"Che hai che pur inver' la terra guati?",
la guida mia incominciò a dirmi,
poco amendue da l'angel sormontati.
 		"What makes you keep your eyes upon the ground?"
my guide began to say to me when both
of us had climbed a little, past the angel.
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
Purgatorio 19.52-54 ( Allen Mandelbaum translation, 1984)
183) In the 53rd Line of Purgatorio, Virgil tells Dante that Beatrice
came down from heaven and asked him to be Dante's personal guide.
Poscia rispuose lui: "Da me non venni:
donna scese del ciel, per li cui prieghi
de la mia compagnia costui sovvenni."
 		Then he replied: "I do not come through my
own self. There was a lady sent from Heaven;
her pleas led me to help and guide this man."
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
Purgatorio 1.52-54 ( Allen Mandelbaum translation, 1984)
184) Dante sets his eyes to stare at the sun in the 53rd line of Paradiso:
così de l'atto suo, per li occhi infuso
ne l'imagine mia, il mio si fece,
e fissi li occhi al sole oltre nostr'uso.
 		fed by my eyes to my imagination,
my action drew, and on the sun I set
my sight more than we usually do.
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
Paradiso I.52-54 ( Allen Mandelbaum translation, 1984)
185) Verse 53 of Hafiz: The Tongue of the Hidden:
Would you escape the folly of Hafiz?
Then hearken to the wind and not the breeze,
    Nor leave the road for paths where Beauty left
The imprint of her feet, or of her knees.
Hafiz (1320-1389), Hafiz: The Tongue of the Hidden, Verse 53
adaptation by Clarence K. Streit, Viking Press, NY, 1928
(Author on Time cover, March 27, 1950)
186) Verse 53 of The Divan of Hafez:
In order to see your ruby, one needs a soul-perceiving eye.
How can my world-perceiving eye deserve this honor?
Be my love. For the sky's ornament and the world's beauty
Are by the moon of your face and the Pleiades of my tears.
Since your love taught me discourse,
People are repeatedly praising and adoring me.
O God, grant me the wealth of poverty.
for this blessing is the cause of my glory and pomp.
 Hafiz (1320-1389), The Divan of Hafez, Verse 53
translated from the Persian by Reza Saberi,
University Press of American, Lanham, MD, 2002, p. 66
187) Line 53 from the Pearl Poet's Pearl: "mourning for the lost pearl"
A devely dele in my hert denned,
Thagh resoun sette myselven sagh.
I playned my perle that ther was spenned
 		A heavy grief lay deep in my heart,
though reason reconciled me to my loss.
I mourned my pearl that was imprisoned
Pearl (c. 1370-1400) Lines 51-53
(Translated by J. J. Anderson, 1996, p. 3)
(Pearl translation: by Bill Stanton, another by Vernon Eller)
188) Line 53 from the Pearl Poet's Purity or Cleanness:
As Mathew meles in his masse of that man ryche
That made the mukel mangerye to marie his here dere,
And send his sonde then to say that thay samne schulde,
 As Matthew speaks in his gospel of that rich man
who made the great banquet to marry his dear son,
and then sent his messengers to say that men should assemble.
Cleanness (c. 1370-1400) Lines 51-53
(Ed. Malcolm Andrew & Ronald Waldron, 1987, p. 112,
above translation by J.J. Anderson, 1996, p. 49)
189) Line 53 from the Pearl Poet's Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Praise for King Arthur
And he the comlokest kyng that the court haldes;
For al was this fayre folk in her firse age, on sille,
The hapnes under heven,
Kyng hyghest mon of wylle.
 		And he who holds court is the handsomest king;
for this fair company in the hall were all in their first youth,
the most favoured people in the world,
the king a man of the noblest temperament.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (c. 1375-1400) Lines 53-56
(Translated by J. J. Anderson, 1996, p. 169)
190) Flute music in Verse 53 of Songs of Kabir:
What is that flute whose music thrills me with joy?
The flame burns without a lamp;
the lotus blossoms without a root;
Flowers bloom in clusters;
The moon-bird is devoted to the moon;
With all its heart the rain-bird longs for the shower of rain;
But upon whose love does the Lover concentrate His entire life?
 Kabir (1398-1448), Songs of Kabir, Verse 53
(Translated by Rabindranath Tagore, Macmillan, NY, 1916, pp. 98-99)
191) Verse 53 of Kabir's Raga Gauri-Purabi:
Meditation and worship
are my earrings,
true concepts, my beggars blanket.
In the silent cave,
I sit in a yogic posture;
forsaking the world is my sect.

My King, I am the yogi of love;
I grieve neither at death nor separation.

I blow my conch
in all the regions of the world;
this burning world is my ash-pouch.
Up-ending triple Maya is my yogic posture;
therefore I am saved,
though I am a householder.

I have made heart and breath
my two lyre-gourds,
aeons are this lyre's neck.
Its durable strings
never break.
This lyre plays without being touched.

Hearing it, my heart
becomes intoxicated:
I am not touched by surging Maya.
Kabir, say, "The ascetic
who plays this game
will not be born again."
Kabir (1398-1448), Raga Gauri-Purabi,
Songs of Kabir from the Adi Granth, Verse 53 (p. 83)
(Translated by Nirmal Dass, State University of NY Press, Albany, 1991)
192) Sloka 53 of Kabir's Slokas of Kabir:
Kabir,
lean is the stag;
this lake is circled
by green trees.
There are thousands of hunters.
He is alone—
how can he survive?
 Kabir (c. 1398-1518)
Songs of Kabir from the Adi Granth (translated by Nirmal Dass)
State University of New York Press, Albany, 1991, p. 268
193) Wonder Tree in Kabir's Sabda: Verse 53:
If you can see that tree
you'll be free
from age and death.
The tree is a whole world.
From one trunk burst three boughs,
the middle bough has four fruits,
and leaves and branches— who can count them?
A creeper clings to the three
spheres, wraps tight
so even the wise ones
can't get free.
Kabir says, I go on shouting
and the pandits go on thinking.
Kabir (1398-1448), The Bijak of Kabir, Sabda: Verse 53 (pp. 58-59)
(Translated by Linda Hess & Shukdev Singh, North Point Press, San Francisco, 1983)
194) Chapter 53 of Wu Ch'eng-en's The Journey to the West:
The Zen Master, taking food, was demonically conceived;
Yellow Hag brings water to dissolve the perverse pregnacy.

Virtuous acts you must perform eight hundred;
Secret merits you must amass three thousand.
Let thing and self, kin and foe, be treated equally—
Only that suits the primal vow of Western Heaven.
Weapons can't threaten the bull demonic;
In vain faultless water and fire have toiled.
Lao Tzu brings submission, it faces Heaven.
Laughing, he the green buffalo turns and leads...

Purple swallows murmuring
And orioles warbling...
On the peak green plums are budding;
By the cliff old cedars detain the clouds.
Faint, misty lights o'er the meadow;
Sandbars warmed by right sunshine.
In several gardens flowers begin to bloom:
The sun comes back to Earth, willow sprouts anew...

Ranges, stretching afar, dense with forests and trees.
Birds call, and wild geese glide by;
Deer drink, and monkeys clamber.
A mountain green like a jade screen;
A ridge blue like locks of hair.
Difficult indeed to reach from this world of dust!
Rocks and water splashing, a sight that never tires!
One often sees immortal lads leave, picking herbs.
One often meets woodsmen come, bearing loads.
Truly it's almost the scenery of T'ien-t'ai,
Surpassing perhaps the three peaks of Mount Hua.
 Wu Ch'eng-en (1500-1582),
The Journey to the West or Hsi-yu chi (1518), Volume 3, Chapter 53
(translated by Anthony C. Yu, University of Chicago Press, 1980, pp. 35-51)
195) There are 74 chapters in Part II of Cervantes' Don Quixote.
Chapter 53 is titled "Of the Troublous End
and Termination Sancho Panza's Government Came to":
To fancy that in this life anything belonging to it will remain for ever in the same state is an idle fancy; on the contrary, in it everything seems to go in a circle, I mean round and round. The spring succeeds the summer, the summer the fall, the fall the autumn, the autumn the winter, and the winter the spring, and so time rolls with never-ceasing wheel. Man's life alone, swifter than time, speeds onward to its end without any hope of renewal, save it be in that other life which is endless and boundless. Thus saith Cide Hamete the Mahometan philosopher; for there are many that by the light of nature alone, without the light of faith, have a comprehension of the fleeting nature and instability of this present life and the endless duration of that eternal life we hope for; but our author is here speaking of the rapidity with which Sancho's government came to an end, melted away, disappeared, vanished as it were in smoke and shadow. For as he lay in bed on the night of the seventh day of his government, sated, not with bread and wine, but with delivering judgments and giving opinions and making laws and proclamations, just as sleep, in spite of hunger, was beginning to close his eyelids, he heard such a noise of bell-ringing and shouting that one would have fancied the whole island was going to the bottom.
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616),
Don Quixote Part II, Ch. LIII (1615)
(translated by John Ormsby)
196) Platonic beauty & grace in Sonnet 53 of William Shakespeare:
What is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows on you tend?
Since every one hath, every one, one shade,
And you but one, can every shadow lend.
Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit
Is poorly imitated after you;
On Helen's cheek all art of beauty set,
And you in Grecian tires are painted new:
Speak of the spring, and foison of the year,
The one doth shadow of your beauty show,
The other as your bounty doth appear;
And you in every blessed shape we know.
In all external grace you have some part,
But you like none, none you, for constant heart.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Sonnet LIII, Commentary
197) Haiku 53 of Basho's Haiku (1678):
A doctor in town,
Sent for with a horse
From a grand mansion!
Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), Basho's Haiku, Vol. 2, Haiku 53
(translated by Toshiharu Oseko, Maruzen, Tokyo, 1996, p. 32)
198) Poem 53 of Goethe, the Lyrist: 100 Poems
HAPPY VOYAGE
The fog-banks are scattered
And heaven is radiant,
While Aeolus looses
The troublesome bond.
The gentle winds murmur,
The skipper is active
O hurry, o hurry!
The wave is divided,
The distance is nearer,
And soon I see land.
 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), "Glückliche Fahrt"
Goethe, the Lyrist: 100 Poems, (translated by Edwin H. Zeydel, 1955, p. 119)
199) Haiku 53 of Issa's Haiku:
Frog and I,
eyeball
to eyeball.
 Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827),
The Dumpling Field: Poems of Issa, Haiku 53
(translated by Lucien Stryk, Swallow Press, Athens, Ohio, 1991, p. 18)
200) 53rd Poem of Thomas Cole's Poetry:
Though snows enwrap the mountain's head
Yet round our feet bright flowers are spread:
O, thus in life may ever be
Sorrow afar— and Joy with thee—

Maria this fond wish of mine
Springs from a love that would entwine
All which is beautiful around
Thy heart in lasting verdure bound.

But sad experience checks the wing
Of Hope— here no eternal Spring
Gladdens the ever changing earth;
Perennial Summer never yet had birth.

I may not hope that life shall be
A lasting sunshine, even to thee:
Clouds, cold and darkness must descend,
And sorrow's self thy anxious spirit bend—

But when life's darkest shadow lays
Upon thy heart, may cheering rays
Of holy hope from out the darkness rise—
A faithful promise of eternal joys—
Thomas Cole (1801-1848),
Thomas Cole's Poetry, Poem 53 (May 10, 1840)
(Compiled & Edited by Marshall B. Tymn,
Liberty Cap Books, York, Pennsylvania, 1972, p. 118)

Thomas Cole, Self-Portrait (1836)

201) Chapter 53 of Melville's Moby-Dick (1851):
What does the whaler do when she meets another whaler in any sort of decent weather?
She has a "Gam," a thing so utterly unknown to all other ships that they never heard
of the name even; and if by chance they should hear of it, they only grin at it...
But what is a Gam? You might wear out your index-finger running up and down the
columns of dictionaries, and never find the word, Dr. Johnson never attained
to that erudition; Noah Webster's ark does not hold it. Nevertheless, this same
expressive word has now for many years been in constant use among some fifteen
thousand true born Yankees. Certainly, it needs a definition, and should be
incorporated into the Lexicon. With that view, let me learnedly define it.
GAM. NOUN- A social meeting of two (or more) Whaleships, generally on a cruising-ground;
when, after exchanging hails, they exchange visits hy boats' crews, the two captains
remaining, for the time, on board of one ship, and the two chief mates on the other.
Herman Melville (1819-1891), Moby-Dick, Chapter 53: The Gam
202) Color of fruits and the sky in Letter 53 of Emily Dickinson to her brother:
You must not give it up, but that you will yet have some, there may be some good angel
passing along your way, to whom we can entrust a snug little bundle— the peaches
are very large— one side a rosy cheek, and the other a golden, and that peculiar coat
of velvet and of down, which makes a peach so beautiful. The grapes too are fine,
juicy, and such a purple— I fancy the robes of kings are not a tint more royal.
The vine looks like a kingdom, with ripe round grapes for kings, and hungry mouths
for subjects— the first instance on record of subjects devouring kings! You shall
have some grapes dear Austin, if I have to come on foot in order to bring them to you...
There was quite an excitement in the village Monday evening. We were all startled by
a violent church bell ringing, and thinking of nothing but fire, rushed out in the street
to see. The sky was a beautiful red, bordering on a crimson, and rays of gold pink color
were constantly shooting off from a kind of sun in the centre. People were alarmed at this
beautiful Phenomenon, supposing that fires somewhere were coloring the sky. The exhibition
lasted for nearly 15 minutes, and the streets were full of people wondering and admiring.
Father happened to see it among the very first and rang the bell himnself to call attention to it.
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Letter 53 (to Austin Dickinson, 1 October 1851)
The Letters of Emily Dickinson, Volume I (Biography)
(edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Harvard University Press, 1955, pp. 136-139)
203) 53rd Poem of Emily Dickinson:

Taken from men— this morning—
Carried by men today—
Met by the Gods with banners—
Who marshalled her away—

One little maid— from playmates—
One little mind from school—
There must be guests in Eden—
All the rooms are full—

Far— as the East from Even—
Dim— as the border star—
Courtiers quaint, in Kingdoms
Our departed are.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Poem 53
(edited by Thomas H. Johnson, 1955)
204) 53rd New Poem of Emily Dickinson:
My life has been too simple and stern
to embarrass any.
Emily Dickinson (Letter 330)
New Poems of Emily Dickinson
(edited by William H. Shurr, University of North Carolin Press, 1993, p. 24)
205) "Echoes reverberate" in Line 53 of Walt Whitman's Passage to India (1871):
I hear the locomotives rushing and roaring, and the shrill steam-whistle,
I hear the echoes reverberate through the grandest scenery in the world;
I cross the Laramie plains— I note the rocks in grotesque shapes— the buttes;
I see the plentiful larkspur and wild onions— the barren, colorless, sage— deserts;
I see in glimpses afar, or towering immediately above me, the great mountains—
I see the Wind River and the Wahsatch mountains;
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Passage to India Section 5, Lines 52-57
A Textual Variorum of the Printed Poems, Vol. III, Poems, 1870-1891
(Edited by Sculley Bradley, Harold W. Blodgett, Arthur Golden, William White
New York University Press, 1980, p. 568)
206)
53rd Verse in Tagore's Gitanjali:
Beautiful is thy wristlet, decked with stars and cunningly wrought in
myriad-coloured jewels. But more beautiful to me thy sword with its
curve of lightning like the outspread wings of the divine bird of Vishnu,
perfectly poised in the angry red light of the sunset.

It quivers like the one last response of life in ecstasy of pain
at the final stroke of death; it shines like the pure flame
of being burning up earthly sense with one fierce flash.

Beautiful is thy wristlet, decked with starry gems; but thy sword,
O lord of thunder, is wrought with uttermost beauty,
terrible to behold or think of.
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)
Gitanjali: Song Offerings (1912), Verse 53
Rabindranath Tagore
(1861-1941)
207) 53rd Page lines in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, (12 samples):
a fin fell. Boomster rombombonant! It scenes like a landescape (53.1)
as Mum's mutyness, this mimage of the seventyseventh kusin of (53.3)
dily with shoulder to shoulder Jehu will tell to Christianier, saint (53.8)
to sage, the humphriad of that fall and rise while daisy winks at (53.9)
your noes and paradigm maymay rererise in eren. Follow we up (53.13)
petrusu. The augustan peacebetothem oaks, the monolith rising (53.15)
stark from the moonlit pinebarren. In all fortitudinous ajaxious (53.16)
rowdinoisy tenuacity. The angelus hour with ditchers bent upon (53.17)
moose genuane!) advertising their milky approach as midnight (53.19)
was striking the hours (letate!), and how brightly the great tri- (53.20)
old high gothsprogue! Wherefore he met Master, he mean to say, (53.27)
——a strange wish for you, my friend, and it would poleaxe your (53.32)
James Joyce (1882-1941), Finnegans Wake, (1939)
208) There are 74 poems in Wallace Stevens, Harmonium (1921).
Poem 53 is titled "Bantams in Pine-Woods":
Chieftain Iffucan of Azcan in caftan
Of tan with henna hackles, halt!

Damned universal cock, as if the sun
Was blackamoor to bear your blazing tail.

Fat! Fat! Fat! Fat! I am the personal.
Your world is you. I am my world.

You ten-foot poet among inchlings. Fat!
Begone! An inchling bristles in these pines,

Bristles, and points their Appalachian tangs,
And fears not portly Azcan nor his hoos.

 Wallace Stevens (1879-1955),
Harmonium (1921), Poem 53
Collected Poetry and Prose, Library of America, NY, 1997, p. 60
("Gray Room" (1917) is the 53rd Poem in Wallace Stevens' Uncollected Poems,
in Wallace Stevens, Collected Poetry and Prose, 1997, pp. 537-538)
209) There are 53 poems in William Carlos Williams, Sour Grapes The 53rd Poem and last poem in the book is "The Great Figure":

Among the rain
and lights
I saw the figure 5
in gold
on a red
fire truck
moving
tense
unheeded
to gong clangs
siren howls
and wheels rumbling
through the dark city

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), Sour Grapes (1921)
The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams
Volume I, 1909-1939, New Directions, NY, 1986, p. 174
(This poem inspired Charles Demuth's The Figure 5 in Gold)

210) Chapter 53 of Ezra Pound's Cantos (selections):
Yeou taught men to break branches
Seu Gin set up the stage and taught barter,
taught the knotting of cords
Fou Hi taught men to grow barley
2837 ante Christum
and they know still where his tomb is
by the high cypress between the strong walls...
This was in the twenty fifth century a.c.
        YAO like the sun and rain,
saw what star is at solstice
saw what star marks mid summer...
Tching prayed on the mountain and
        wrote MAKE IT NEW
on his bath tub
        Day by day make it new...
'Peace and abundance bring virtue.' I am
        'pro-Tcheou' said Confucius five centuries later.
With his mind on this age...
Moon shone in an haze of colours
Water boiled in the wells...
Sky dark, cloudless and starless
        at midnight a rain of stars...
Ezra Pound (1885-1972), The Cantos (1-95), New Directions, NY, 1956, pp. 8-20
211) Sonnet 53 in Edna St. Vincent Millay's Collected Sonnets (1941)
She let them leave their jellies at the door
And go away, reluctant, down the walk.
She heard them talking as they passed before
The blind, but could not quite make out their talk
For noise in the room— the suddenly heavy fall
And roll of a charred log, and the roused shower
Of snapping sparks; then sharply from the wall
The unforgivable crowing of the hour.
One instant set ajar, her quiet ear
Was stormed and forced by the full rout of day:
The rasp of a saw, the fussy cluck and bray
Of hens, the wheeze of a pump, she needs must hear;
She inescapably must endure to feel
Across her teeth the grinding of a backing wagon wheel.

 Sonnets from an Ungrafted Tree in The Harp Weaver (1923)
Collected Sonnets of Edna St. Vincent Millay
Harper & Brothers, NY, 1941, p. 53
Edna St. Vincent Millay
(1892-1950)
212) Poem 53 in e.e. cummings' Xaipe (1950)

mighty guest of merely me

—traveller from eternity;
in a single wish,receive
all i am and dream and have.

Be thou gay by dark and day:
gay as only truth is gay
(nothing's false,in earth in air
in water and in fire,but fear—

mind's a coward;lies are laws)
laugh,and make each no thy yes:
love;and give because the why

—gracious wanderer,be thou gay

e. e. cummings (1894-1962), Xaipe, Liveright, NY, 1979, p. 53
213) There are 53 poems in Charles Reznikoff's Inscriptions: 1944-1956 (1959)
Poem 53 is titled "Exodus"— 4th & final stanza
But there came a shepherd from the desert,
speaking in the ancient tongue
all but our eldest had forgotten;
and we saw an old man— withered hands and haunches;
and he said to us, stuttering as he spoke:
I bring a message from the God of your fathers
and, in place of these burdens,
I bring you— the yoke of His law.
How pleasant it is, distinguished from the beasts,
to feed upon His law,
tasting in each syllable
the radiance of our Lord!
If there is bone enough to make the tooth of a key
and ink enough to write two letters of the alphabet—
then fear not the rush of trampling shoes nor the sound of the shouting
and hurry out of this land!
 Charles Reznikoff (1894-1976),
Poems 1937-1975, Volume II,
Black Sparrow Press, Santa Barbara, 1977, pp. 86-88
214) Sonnet 53 in Pablo Neruda's 100 Love Sonnets (1960)
Here are the bread— the wine— the table— the house:
a man's needs, and a woman's, and a life's.
Peace whirled through and settled in this place:
the common fire burned, to make this light.

Hail to your two hands, which fly and make
their white creations, the singing and the food:
salve! the wholesomeness of your busy feet;
viva! the ballerina who dances with the broom.

Those rugged rivers of water and of threat,
torturous pavillions of the foam,
incendiary hives and reefs: today

they are this respite, your blood in mine,
this path, starry and blue as the night,
this never-ending simple tenderness.
Pablo Neruda
(1904-1973)
Love Sonnet LIII, 100 Love Sonnets: Cien Sonetos de Amor
Editorial Losada, Buenos Aires, 1960 (trans. Stephen Tapscott, 1986, p. 113)
215) Section 53 of Kenneth Rexroth's
"The Love Poems of Marichiko" from The Morning Star (1979):
LIII
Without me you can only
Live at random like
A falling pachinko ball.
I am your wisdom.
Kenneth Rexroth (1905-1982)
The Complete Poems of Kenneth Rexroth
Edited by Sam Hamill & Bradford Morrow
Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA, 2003, p. 729
216) Poem 53 in Thomas Merton's Cables to the Ace (1968):
I think poetry must
I think it must
Stay open all night
In beautiful cellars.
Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton
New Directions, NY, 1977, p. 431
217) 53rd Poem of The Crane's Bill:
Fisherman:
On wide waters, alone, my boat
Follows the current, deep/shallow, high/low.
Moved, I raise my flute to the moon,
Piercing the autumn sky.
— Honei, 11th century
Zen Poems of China and Japan: The Crane's Bill
(translated by Lucien Stryk & Takashi Ikemoto, Anchor Books, NY, 1973, p. 32)
218) Rafael Alberti's Poem 53 of Sailor on Land (1924):
What do you think of by the river,
by the sea that empties into your river?

"Those towers so high,
I don't know if they're church towers
or ship towers."

"High ship towers."
Rafael Alberti (1902-1999),
Poem 53 of Marinero En Tierra Sailor on Land
included in The Other Shore: 100 Poems, (edited by Kosrof Chantikian,
translated by José A. Elgorriaga & Martin Paul, 1981, p. 21)
219) Allen Ginsberg's HOWL (1956) contains 112 lines.
Line 1:
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
Line 53:
who plunged themselves under meat trucks looking for an egg,
 Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997),
Howl and Other Poems
City Lights Books, 1956, p. 16
220) There are 68 poems in Allen Ginsberg's last book Death & Fame (1999).
The shortest poem (5 lines, 13 words) is Poem 53:

Whitmanic Poem

We children, we
        school boys,
girls in America
        laborers, students
dominated by lust

        March 18, 1997

Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997),
Death & Fame
HarperFlamingo, New York, 1999, p. 78)
221) There are 81 poems in Denise Levertov's Evening Train (1992).
Poem 53 is titled "Hoping":

All my life hoping the nightmare
I dreamed as a child (and could make recur
if perverse fascination willed it)
was not prophetic:
        all the animals
seated in peaceful council by candleglow
in a shadowy, fragrant barn,
timeless, unmenaced— then without warning,
without any flash or noise,
the crumbling to black ash, ash
corrugated, writhing, as filmy shreds
of paper used to when sheets of it,
placed round the firescreen to coax the draft
upward and liven the coals, would themselves
catch fire and float, newsprint curdling,
dreadfully out from the hearth towards me.
All my life hoping; having to hope
because decades brought no reassurance.
Denise Levertov (1926-1997),
Evening Train, "Hoping"
HarperFlamingo, New York, 1999, p. 75)
222) Poem 54 of Michael McClure's Ghost Tantras:
THIS IS MY BODY'S WORK. MY MIND IS HE
noor thahln ahh deem err. Droor moveth. . . Aeiiiiiii
naieee ayeii hrahh voh dann wheeesh tonn thoor moobesh
hoh well drann srii weshtoth moshyboth toureee—
drann thy touress. Rohh hyeee gahRAHHRR
sweesly. Wheeyoh ohn ell brezeth porbresh droon.
Broon ah labronteth por esh el moobwath-HAH.
GAHRAH POOOR ER ES TOOH AYY THOWNEY.
Mah taharoooneii wellstove. Selahh toh nah thoney
wheeer es meesheeress tyeeeth moh eratony—
WHAHH DROOHN THE LAKE
reflecting beauties
of multitudinous holy sweetlings
tumt harungggggggggggggggggggg

                                                        (Amadeus Quartet)

Michael McClure (born Oct. 20, 1932),
Ghost Tantras, City Lights Books, 1967, p. 60)
223) There are 67 poems in Charles Simic's The World Doesn't End: Prose Poems (1989)
(which was awarded the 1990 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry)
Poem 46 on Page 53 is titled "M.":

I went on foot to M.
There was no one in M.

I had to tread softly
Past the house of cards—
A whole row of them
Thinking of falling down

In M. at the break of day.

Charles Simic (born May 9, 1938),
The World Doesn't End: Prose Poems, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, NY, 1989, p. 53)
224) There are 87 aphorisms in Charles Simic's "Assembly Required" (pp. 90-98)
from his Orphan Factory: Essays and Memoirs (1997):
Aphorism 53:

The unbelievers say with the scientists that the morning light
has no consciousness; the believers know it does.

Charles Simic (born May 9, 1938),
Orphan Factory: Essays and Memoirs, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, p. 95)
225) There are 54 poems in Louise Glück's The Wild Iris (1992).
Poem 53 is titled "The Gold Lily":

As I perceive
I am dying now and know
I will not speak again, will not
survive the earth, be summoned
out of it again, not
a flower yet, a spine only, raw dirt
catching my ribs, I call you,
father and master: all around,
my companions are failing, thinking
you do not see. How
can they know you see
unless you save us?
In the summer twilight, are you
close enough to hear
your child's terror? Or
are you not my father,
you who raised me?
Louise Glück (born 1943),
The Wild Iris, Ecco Press, Hopewell, NJ, 1992, p. 62)
226) There are 69 poems in Stephen Mitchell's Parables and Portraits (1992).
Poem 53 is titled "Mathematics":

Any place you look is an entrance. The equals-sign. That
fabulous Arab invention, zero. The square root of minus one.
But then, all numbers are imaginary from the start.
(When did I last meet a 7?) This is childishness, or pure art,
where the more beautiful a solution is, the truer. Don't worry,
the technicians will find a use for it. Let x stand for you.
Stephen Mitchell (born 1943),
Parables and Portraits, Harper & Row, NY, p. 65)
53 in Numerology
227) Numerology: words whose letters add up to 53

HYDROGEN: 8 + 7 + 6 + 9 + 6 + 7 + 5 + 5 = 53

THIRTY-ONE: (2+8+9+9+2+7) + (6+5+5) = 37 + 16 = 53

THIRTY-SIX: (2+8+9+9+2+7) + (1+9+6) = 37 + 16 = 53

ANGEL CIRCLE: (1 + 6 + 7 + 5 + 3) + (3 + 9 + 9 + 3 + 3 + 5) = 21 + 32 = 53

BUDDHA SILENCE: (2 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 8 + 1) + (1 + 9 + 3 + 5 + 5 + 3 + 5) = 22 + 31 = 53

CRYSTAL CHILD: (3 + 9 + 7 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 3) + (3 + 8 + 9 + 3 + 4) = 26 + 27 = 53

DANTE POETRY: (4 + 1 + 5 + 2 + 5) + (7 + 6 + 5 + 2 + 9 + 7) = 17 + 36 = 53

EARTH NUMBER: (5 + 1 + 9 + 2 + 8) + (5 + 3 + 4 + 2 + 5 + 9) = 25 + 28 = 53

ETERNAL LIFE: (5 + 2 + 5 + 9 + 5 + 1 + 3) + (3 + 9 + 6 + 5) = 30 + 23 = 53

FLOWER QUEST: (6 + 3 + 6 + 5 + 5 + 9) + (8 + 3 + 5 + 1 + 2) = 34 + 19 = 53

GOLD SILVER: (7 + 6 + 3 + 4) + (1 + 9 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 9) = 20 + 33 = 53

ONE SPIRIT: (6 + 5 + 5) + (1 + 7 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 2) = 16 + 37 = 53

ROSE CIRCLE: (9 + 6 + 1 + 5) + + (3 + 9 + 9 + 3 + 3 + 5) = 21 + 32 = 53

SATURN NEPTUNE: (1 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 9 + 5) + (5 + 5 + 7 + 2 + 3 + 5 + 5) = 21 + 32 = 53

NEPTUNE PLUTO: (5 + 5 + 7 + 2 + 3 + 5 + 5) + (7 + 3 + 3 + 2 + 6) = 32 + 21 = 53

SELF ENERGY: (1 + 5 + 3 + 6) + (5 + 5 + 5 + 9 + 9 + 7) = 15 + 38 = 53

SUNRISE COMET: (1 + 3 + 5 + 9 + 9 + 1 + 5) + (3 + 6 + 4 + 5 + 2) = 33 + 20 = 53

TRUTH WISDOM: (2 + 9 + 3 + 2 + 8) + (5 + 9 + 1 + 4 + 6 + 4) = 24 + 29 = 53

WORLD UNITY: (5 + 6 + 9 + 3 + 4) + (3 + 5 + 9 + 2 + 7) = 27 + 26 = 53

OM ALPHA OMEGA: (6 + 4) + (1 + 3 + 7 + 8 + 1) + (6 + 4 + 5 + 7 + 1) = 10 + 20 + 23 = 53

SUN GOD LOVER: (1 + 3 + 5) + (7 + 6 + 4) + (3 + 6 + 4 + 5 + 9) = 9 + 17 + 27 = 53

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