One gives birth to two, two gives birth to three,
Three gives birth to the ten thousand.
One hundred and eight counts make one cycle,
Constant turning creates all things.
Today is the one hundred and eighth day. Why are numbers so important to those who follow Tao? Even today, when numbers are more commonly yoked to the service of finance and engineering, there are those who revere numbers with the cheap version of mysticism — superstition. Numbers form a closed world with mysteries to explore and exploit if our understanding is deep enough.
Followers of Tao emphasize certain numbers: One is the unity of Tao. Two is duality. Three is the unevenness that will generate movement. Four is the seasons. Five elements generate the world. Six parts of the body are the arms, legs, head, and trunk. Seven is the day of the waxing moon by the lunar calendar. Eight is the number of divination. Nine is the number of life. Ten in heaven’s cycles.
There are twenty-four periods in a year, each with its own characteristic. Thirty-six is six squared. One hundred and eight is three cycles of thirty-six and represent a greater cycle, although there are even more esoteric connotations attached to it.
Numbers are only symbols, a way for human beings to project order upon the universe. They are a language more precise than words. But does Tao talk? Numbers are important to master, but take care to look beyond language an numbers to the true reality that they foreshadow.
There are 108 movements in Tai Chi (I haven’t yet studied Tai Chi, but hope to soon).
Verse 108 of the Tao Te Ching: …and when one does nothing at all there is nothing that is undone.
Only a few atoms of element 108, hassium, have ever been made. The first atoms were made through a nuclear reaction involving fusion of an isotope of lead, 208Pb, with one of iron, 58Fe.
208Bi + 58Fe 265Hs + 1n
Isolation of an observable quantity of hassium has never been achieved, and may well never be. This is because hassium decays very rapidly through the emission of a-particles.
Here is a brief description of hassium.
* Standard state: presumably a solid at 298 K
* Colour: unknown, but probably metallic and silvery white or grey in appearance
* Classification: Metallic
Hassium, is a synthetic element that is not present in the environment at all.
108 people have died in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, most of them violently.
I can certainly see 108 blooms on my Cecile Bruner rose right now!
Myrtle Jones turned 108 yesterday.
108 workers are still missing in a building collapse in Bangladesh.
Britain’s oldest surviving First World War veteran is 108.
Americans watch an average of 108 minutes of television per day.
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