Properties of the number 64

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Symbolism

• As a product of 8 x 8, it is the expression of a realized totality and perfect.

• According to R. Allendy, this number represents the "static realization - even number - of the cosmic unit - 6 + 4 = 10 - in the blooming of the beatitude. It is the final liberation which allows to the being to realize its full individuality after its cycle 4, in the links of the cosmic Karma, 60". It would represent also the natural forces acting in union with the providential determinations of the Cosmos.

• Being the cube of 4, the number 64 represents the physical world of the four elements to the third power, in the plenitude of its expansion.

• According to Claude of Saint-Martin, this number represents the "complement of the octagonal circle where the powerful number, after having covered all the depths of area and of the existence of the beings, restore the unit in its simple number, there where it was divided, and the action where reigned the nothingness and the death".

• Symbol of the paramount chaos.

Bible

• It is the number of generations from Adam until Jesus according to the Gospel of Luke.

General

• The mother of Buddha had, according to the tradition, to born in a family endowed of 64 species of qualities.

• Age of the Virgin Mary when she died, according to visions of Ann-Catherine Emmerich.

• The mathematician W. R. Ball reports the following legend: In a temple of Benares, there is a dome under which a plate of bronze marks the center of the world. On this plate, there are three vertical stems of one cubit height. During the creation of the world, God placed on one of the stems 64 discs of gold of different sizes, the largest at the basis, the others going decreasing. In top, the smallest disc. This accumulation is the tower of Brahma. Night and day, without stop, the priests relay to transfer the discs from a stem to another. Only one disc must be take at once and it is forbidden to place a disc on another of lower diameter. When the 64 discs will be transferred from the tower of Braham to an other stem, the temple and the Universe will crumble. This will be the end of the world.

• The Chinese tradition wants that Confucius has had 64 generations since Hoang-ti, founder of the dynasty.

• The 64 devas of the Abhavara class, at the Indians.

• The 64 Koua (hexagrams) of the Yi-King.

• To the funerals of Alexander the Great, the mortuary chariot was dragged by 64 mules.

• The 64 persons in China who carry the skin of the defunct emperor.

• The 64 "tantras" (books) of the "tantrism", which is a form of Hinduism.

• The magic square using the first sixty four numbers is associated with the Mercury planet and has for sum 260.

                         64  7  6 60 61  3  2 57
                         49 55 11 13 12 14 50 56
                         41 18 46 21 20 43 23 48
                         32 34 27 37 36 30 39 25
                         40 26 35 29 28 38 31 33
                         17 42 22 44 45 19 47 24
                          9 15 51 52 53 54 10 16
                          8 63 62  4  5 59 58  1
  

• The 64 nucleotides of the genetic code.

• The 64 squares of a game of chessboard.

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Last modification: December 19, 1998

sdesr@globetrotter.qc.ca