A Casual Talk on the Zhouyi Cantong Qi (20): Deduce the Numbers of the Five Phases—Simple and Concise, Not Complicated
When water prospers, Kan invades yang; when fire declines, it is like twilight. Yin and yang feed each other; this interaction is the natural Dao. Using the name to fix feeling, and the character to speak of nature—thus the nature of metal can return to its original state, and is therefore called the Reverted Elixir.
These are not empty words I (Perfected Wei) speak, but imitations of the writings of the sages.
Whether it is Dragon and Tiger in ancient inscriptions, the Golden Flower in the Yellow Emperor's teachings, the autumn jade refined in Huainan, or the yellow sprouts spoken of by Yuyang—whichever of these, if encountered by a worthy person they may be transmitted; if encountered by an unworthy person, do not teach them a single thing.
The Dao of past and present has come from one and the same source. Now, in the midst of conversation, I disclose where its plan lies. Students, apply yourselves with effort, attend carefully, and reflect deeply—the essential places have already been fully disclosed. Grasp them earnestly and you will know that I (Perfected Wei) am not deceiving you.
To discuss the numbers of the Five Phases, among the editions commonly found on the market today, none surpasses the exposition in the Great Treatise on the Five Phases.
The Great Treatise on the Five Phases was originally written in the Sui dynasty. Its author was Xiao Ji, courtesy name Wenxiu, a native of Nanlanling (present-day Wujin, Jiangsu).
Xiao Ji was broadly learned and talented, especially versed in yin-yang, calendrical calculation, and techniques of nurturing life. He once served as Vice Minister of the Grand Treasury. He authored six volumes of Essential Recipes for Nourishing Life of Emperors and Kings and the Essential Records of Physiognomy, though sadly both have been lost.
According to historical records, when the Prince of Fangling was still Crown Prince, it was said that the Eastern Palace was full of demons and ghosts, and mouse spirits could often be seen. So the emperor ordered Xiao Ji to the Eastern Palace to expel the evil qi. Xiao Ji later set up a divine seat in the Hall of Xuan’ci. During the ritual, a whirlwind came from the ghost gate in the Gen direction and spun all the way to where the Crown Prince sat. Xiao Ji then used peach-wood decoction and reed fire to drive it off, and the wind exited through the palace gate and stopped. Thereafter Xiao Ji gave thanks to the earth in the Wei direction (southwest), and set up an altar with four gates, placing the divine seats of the Five Emperors at each. At the time the weather had grown cold; a toad came from the southwest, leaped through the Human Gate, then went to the seat of the Red Emperor, and everyone leaped out through the Human Gate after it. After a few steps it suddenly vanished. The emperor saw this and was greatly astonished, and bestowed generous rewards.
Later, when Empress Xian of Emperor Wen of Sui died (Renshou 2, 602 CE), the emperor ordered Xiao Ji to divine and select a burial site. Xiao Ji divined along the mountains and reaching a place said: "Divining two thousand years; divining two hundred generations"—these eight characters—and drew a map to memorialize the throne.
Emperor Wen of Sui saw it and said: "Good and bad fortune come from people, not from the land. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, did not Gao Wei of Northern Qi have people divine for him? And still the state fell. Just like my family's burial grounds: if they were not auspicious, I could never have become Son of Heaven; if they were not inauspicious, how could my brother have died in battle?" Yet he still followed Xiao Ji's counsel.
Later, when the empress's tomb was finished, Emperor Wen of Sui intended to attend the funeral in person. Xiao Ji memorialized: "The August One's natal destiny is Xinyou. This year the Dipper's Kui and the Heavenly Gang (per the Tongzhi, written as 'gang') approach Mao and You. Carefully consulting the Book of Yin and Yang, one must not attend funerals." The emperor did not accept.
This means: the emperor's natal destiny is Xinyou, and in the year of burial the Dipper's Kui and Gang approach Mao and You. According to the Book of Yin and Yang, one must not attend the funeral. Emperor Wen did not listen.
According to the Sui Shu volume 78 and Bei Shi volume 89, Xiao Ji said to his clansman Xiao Pingzhong: "The Crown Prince (Yang Guang) sent Left Commandant Yuwen (Yuwen Shu, then serving as Left Guard Commandant) to thank me deeply, saying: 'Earlier you said I would become Crown Prince; it was ultimately verified, and I will never forget it. Now you divined the imperial mausoleum—you must see that I take the throne early. After I ascend, I will repay you with wealth and honor.' I recorded this and asserted: 'In four years, the Crown Prince shall rule the world.' Now the mausoleum corresponds to the qi, and the emperor also attends the funeral—the omens are increasingly manifest. And when the Crown Prince takes power, will Sui not perish? A true person will emerge. What I earlier deceived with 'divining two thousand years' was actually the characters 'thirty'; 'divining two hundred generations' means two generations of the cycle. My words are verified—you must record this."
In modern language, Xiao Ji said: "Yang Guang once sent the Left Commandant Yuwen to thank me, because I had early called him Crown Prince, which later was fulfilled when he became Crown Prince, so he did not forget it. And he told me he hoped that, taking advantage of this opportunity of divining the site, I would help Yang Guang ascend the throne sooner; after he became emperor he would repay me with wealth and honor. I recorded this and asserted that within four years the Crown Prince would ascend the throne."
He further said: "Now the mausoleum corresponds to the qi, and the emperor (Emperor Wen) is attending the funeral—this omen is already clear. And when the Crown Prince takes power, Sui will also perish; a true person will emerge. And when I earlier soothsaying-said 'divining two thousand years,' what I meant was actually thirty; 'divining two hundred generations' means the two-generation cycle would end. My words are trustworthy—you must record them."
From this passage, it occurred after the emperor ordered Xiao Ji to divine the site, so it should be after 602 CE; and the correspondence of mausoleum and qi is something that happened in between.
According to the historical records, Xiao Ji also submitted a memorial saying: "On the sixteenth of last month, northwest of the empress's mausoleum, before the rooster crowed, there appeared a black cloud some five or six hundred paces square, reaching from earth to sky. To the southeast there were also banners, chariots, horses, and tents, filling seven or eight li, with people coming and going inspecting, their formations very orderly. At sunrise it vanished. More than ten people witnessed it together. Carefully consulting the Book of Burial: 'When the dominant qi is generative with the surname, it is greatly auspicious.' Now the black qi is dominant in winter and generative with the surname—this is a greatly auspicious sign, an omen of unending generations for the descendants." The emperor was greatly pleased.
That is, on the sixteenth, northwest of the empress's mausoleum, before the rooster crowed, a black cloud appeared some six hundred paces square; and to the southeast there were banners, chariots, horses, and tents filling seven or eight li, with people coming and going inspecting in orderly ranks, which vanished at sunrise. About a dozen people witnessed this sight. Now according to the Book of Burial: "When the dominant qi is generative with the surname, it is greatly auspicious." The black qi is vigorous in winter and generative with the surname, so it is an image of great auspiciousness, an omen of unending descendants. Emperor Wen of Sui was very pleased upon hearing this.
However, the four characters "unending descendants" seem never to have drawn anyone's attention; in fact Xiao Ji had already left a hint here.
It should be noted here that ordinary scholars consider this a fabricated story. In reality, however, such events can occur—and not only in China.
In some Western regions, such as Scandinavia, it is called the Wild Hunt phenomenon—generally a regional myth, usually associated with regional ethnic groups. This mythological phenomenon appears fairly frequently in the cultures of Scandinavia, the Germanic peoples, the Gauls (a branch of the Celts), and parts of Catalonia. The image of the Wild Hunt in these cultures is extremely similar: formations of phantoms armed to the teeth, as hunters or armies, riding warhorses and hounds, madly crossing sky or earth in pursuit of prey. The members of the Wild Hunt, depending on the ethnic culture, range in identity from spirits of the dead to elves. The Wild Hunt sometimes has a leader, who may be male or female—a god or spirit, or perhaps a figure from some historical legend. Those unlucky enough to appear on the Wild Hunt's path, or who chase the Wild Hunt, are usually believed to be carried off by it and ultimately bound to the underworld. People also believe the Wild Hunt catches souls in their sleep and adds them to its ranks.
Another example is Jingmacao in Yunnan, China: whenever there is thunder and rain, the sounds of marching and warfare can be heard. Locals say it is sound left from an ancient battlefield; a CCTV program investigated it. The conclusion reached was that the stones of the mountain path contain large amounts of crystalline quartz, and under thunderstorm weather, electricity and magnetism can record sound in the quartz like a tape recorder, then on another stormy day replay it like playing a recording. Of course this explanation actually sounds rather pseudoscientific; the explanation from the Chinese Academy of Sciences institute is more scientific, claiming that the unique shape of Jingmacao causes the wind to produce this sound when it blows. This explanation seems reasonable, but it also faces many challenges.
There are also folk descriptions of "yin armies borrowing the path"—from the perspective of the phenomena themselves, this is not impossible, because explanations of this kind involving magnetic-field recording and playback were not invented by the Chinese; they appeared earliest in foreign explanations of similar mysterious events.
However, whatever they are, these show that it is normal for there to exist in reality some phenomena ordinary people cannot explain—after all, humans are not omniscient.
As mentioned earlier, early Chinese transmission of knowledge was closed; most experience and knowledge was held in royal clans or families. Although common people had opportunities to rise, it remained extremely difficult.
All of this was broken when Emperor Yang of Sui, Yang Guang, established the imperial examination system. Every scholar in the land now had a path to rise, greatly easing the contradiction between the ruling class and the common people. From a modern perspective this was not the best method, but against the historical background of breaking the monopoly rule of royal clans and families, it was a major breakthrough.
However, this also seriously offended the major clan powers, making the Sui dynasty internally hard to keep stable. Coupled with a lack of recovery time, during his reign he built the Grand Canal, constructed the Eastern Capital of Luoyang, expanded territory and opened the Silk Road, and founded the examinations. The results: although he did not defeat Goguryeo, he did bring it to its knees; and he also subdued the Tuyuhun and the Turks. These great undertakings created important conditions for the prosperity of later dynasties.
Because he was too eager for quick success and instant benefit, peasant uprisings continued throughout his reign. Everything he did required money; to get money he could only heavy-tax the people; and when taxes were heavy, the people inevitably could not live. Thus the Sui, like the late Han, fell from excessive taxation.
Regarding the above description, some may notice that Xiao Ji was actually indifferent to the rise and fall of the Sui dynasty. Why?
In fact this was not only Xiao Ji; the official and noble classes of that era almost also did not care about the state—and this was one of the important reasons the Sui dynasty perished.
Take Xiao Ji as an example: originally a direct-line descendant of the Qi-Liang branch of Emperor Wu of Liang, he already held considerable political status in the Liang dynasty. Later, after the fall of Jiangling under Western Wei, he came under Northern Western Wei. Western Wei used the Zhouli, and Xiao Ji's official title was "Yitong" (Equal to the Three Ducal Ministers), first rank. Then within a few years Western Wei abdicated to the Northern Zhou's Yuwen clan. Xiao Ji was responsible for specially reviewing memorials. The Northern Zhou Yuwen held power for only two years before dying, whereupon power fell to Yang Jian—and so it was abdicated to Yang Jian as well. In the Sui dynasty, his official title was "Shang Yitong"; in fact this was a promotion in name but a demotion in substance, because under the Sui this post was equivalent only to fifth rank—like going from prime-minister level to county magistrate, and without even a county magistrate's real authority.
Having lived through four dynasties—the Liang, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, and Great Sui—his indifference to the Sui's rise and fall has historical reasons.
Now let us look at the history of the Sui dynasty.
581 CE: The Sui dynasty is established, seizing the throne of the Northern Zhou's Yuwen clan.
602 CE: Xiao Ji divines the burial site.
604 CE: Yang Guang ascends the throne (later ages rumored he murdered his father to take the throne, though evidence is lacking).
605 CE: Xiao Ji dies.
618 CE: Yang Guang is killed by Yuwen Huaji; the Sui dynasty falls.
A total of thirty years. Judging by the timeline, Xiao Ji's prophecy was successful.
However, taking everything into account: though Xiao Ji's divination was not wrong, Emperor Wen of Sui was also not wrong that good and bad fortune come from people.
Truly it is said: in the unseen depths, there seems to be a fixed destiny.
The book Dayi of the Five Phases was recorded in Chinese history; its last appearance was in the Song Shu, Bibliographic Treatise, around 1343–1345. After that it suddenly vanished from history.
Fortunately the book was preserved in Japan. The earliest Japanese document mentioning the Dayi of the Five Phases is the Shoku Nihongi, completed in 797 CE (Zhenyuan 13 of Tang Dezong). Only in the early nineteenth century, when Japan's Izon Sōsho collection entered China—containing the Dayi of the Five Phases—did China recover the book.
The Dayi of the Five Phases records: "The north is Hai and Zi: water, with birth-number one. Chou is earth, with birth-number five. One and five join to make six; thus water's completion-number is six. The east is Yin and Mao: wood, with birth-number three. Chen is earth, with birth-number five. Three and five join to make eight; thus wood's completion-number is eight. The south is Si and Wu: fire, with birth-number two. Wei is earth, with birth-number five. Two and five join to make seven; thus fire's completion-number is seven. The west is Shen and You: metal, with birth-number four. Xu is earth, with birth-number five. Four and five join to make nine; thus metal's completion-number is nine. The center is Wu and Ji: earth, with birth-number five. Moreover earth's position is in the center; its number is originally five. Two fives join to make ten; thus earth's completion-number is ten. This is yin and yang, the two qi, each completing one circuit. Together as one circuit, they are the birth-numbers; each completing a circuit, they are the completion-numbers. Yang, light and clear, ascends to become heaven; yin, heavy and turbid, descends to become earth. And yang, reaching the fifth, enters the center—for its substance is hasty and swift, so it completes one circuit and enters the center. Yin, only reaching the tenth, enters the center—for its substance is slow and lingering, so it completes each circuit before finally entering."
The River Writing numbers and the earthly branches are relatively simple; I will not elaborate much here.
Later, discussing the na-yin numbers, it further says: "Every one of the Five Phases has a birth-number, a prime number, and an old-number. Wood: birth-number three, prime-number eight, old-number nine. Fire: birth-number two, prime-number seven, old-number three. Earth: birth-number five, prime-number ten, old-number one. Metal: birth-number four, prime-number nine, old-number seven. Water: birth-number one, prime-number six, old-number five. Guan Lu said: Earth's old-number is one, because earth is the master of the ten thousand things, and all return to it—hence one. When the Three Powers interact, human principle is complete. Fire's virtue takes the meaning of the Three Powers; hence its old-number is three. Water corresponds above to the Five Stars and below to the Five Zang organs; hence water's old-number is five. Metal matches the Seven Luminaries; hence metal's old-number is seven."
And it says: "Therefore the na-yin numbers are used. Na-yin: Zi and Wu belong to Geng, the day-branches ruled by the Zhen hexagram; Chou and Wei belong to Xin, ruled by Xun; Yin and Shen belong to Wu, ruled by Kan; Mao and You belong to Ji, ruled by Li; Chen and Xu belong to Bing, ruled by Gen; Si and Hai belongs to Ding, ruled by Dui. 'Obtaining earth in one word' means a natal destiny of Gengzi: Zi belongs to Geng; counting, one word obtains it. 'Obtaining fire in three words' means a natal destiny of Bingyin: Yin belongs to Wu; counting from Bing to Wu is three in all. 'Obtaining water in five words' means a natal destiny of Renxu: Xu belongs to Bing; counting from Ren to Bing is five in all. 'Obtaining metal in seven words' means a natal destiny of Renshen: belongs to Wu; counting from Ren to Wu is seven in all. 'Obtaining wood in nine words' means a natal destiny of Jisi: Si belongs to Ding; counting from Ji to Ding is nine in all."
Those who have read the earlier discussion of Jing Fang's Changes will know that this mnemonic calculation is also related to na-jia. For example, Zi and Wu belonging to Geng means Zhen absorbs Gengzi and Gengwu, corresponding to the first and third lines.
Birth Prime Old
Water 1 6 5
Fire 2 7 3
Wood 3 8 9
Metal 4 9 7
Earth 5 10 1
When the birth-numbers east-three and south-two together make five, one can see among the prime-numbers that fire-seven and wood-eight correspond exactly; and when north-one and west-four together make it, one can see among the prime-numbers that nine and six correspond exactly. And seven and eight, nine and six—together make fifteen. Among the old-numbers, the correspondences are three and nine, and five and seven; one can see they both equal ten.
twelve.
Whether combining to five, combining to ten, or combining to twelve—all contain secrets requiring careful contemplation. One practical application appears in feng shui, which I will not elaborate on here.
These numbers are highly deliberate: twelve times five gives exactly sixty, the sixty-year sexagenary cycle; and twelve times fifteen equals one hundred eighty, the triple-cycle of jiazi periods; and one hundred eighty is half of the three-hundred-sixty-degree celestial circuit, so yin and yang are further divided, each occupying one hundred eighty. This is a very important concept in fire-tempo of the celestial circuit.
The Dayi of the Five Phases records Guo Pu's numbers: "Qian one, Kun two, Zhen three, Xun four, Kan five, Li six, Gen seven, Dui eight. In divining people and things, numbers all follow this."
Guo Pu was also a remarkable figure in history: not only a famous literatus and exegete, but also a founding figure of feng shui. According to the Jin Shu biography of Guo Pu: "Pu, courtesy name Jingchun, was a man of Wenxi in Hedong. He loved the classics and arts, was broadly learned with high talent, yet slow in speech. In ci and fu he was the foremost of the Restoration; he loved ancient script and unusual characters, and was marvelous at yin-yang and calendrical calculation. There was a certain Master Guo dwelling in Hedong, skilled in divination. Pu studied under him; the master gave him nine scrolls of writings from the blue bag, whereupon he fully mastered the arts of the Five Phases, astronomy, and divination—averting disaster and turning fortune, accomplishing the uncanny with no fixed method; even Jing Fang and Guan Lu could not surpass him."
There was once a Master Guo living in Hedong, skilled in divination, and Guo Pu studied under him. Later Master Guo transmitted to him the nine scrolls of blue-bag writings, whereupon he too became skilled in divination and the methods of averting disaster and turning fortune. Even Jing Fang and Guan Lu, compared with Guo Pu, would not surpass him.
Who the Master Guo who taught Guo Pu was is no longer recorded in history—only some conjecture, untraceable. However, his inheritor Guo Pu later wrote the Classic of Burial, and from then on the two characters "feng shui" became widespread under heaven, and feng shui arts came to be called the art of the blue bag.
The feng shui art is also called the art of Qingwu, because the Jiu Tang Shu, Bibliographic Treatise records a famous geomancer called Qingwuzi, very skilled in siting the land, who authored the three-volume Qingwuzi, popular in the world, all discussing the way of siting the land. It is generally believed that Qingwuzi's writings are earlier than Guo Pu's.
A copy of Qingwuzi's Classic of Burial circulates in the present world, suspected to be a later forgery under a famous name: first, the theory is complicated and disordered; second, it mentions the characters "feng shui," and there is no evidence that this term was already popular in the Han dynasty.
However, according to historical records, in the Tang the original Qingwuzi Classic of Burial may still have been circulating, and Guo Pu's transmission going upward may have been connected with Qingwuzi—and it is even possible that Qingwuzi himself also received the blue-bag writings transmission. But the original Qingwu Classic of Burial is alas lost, so this remains mere inference.
This inference is not empty speculation, because in the Tang Shu, Bibliographic Treatise, Five Phases category, there is: "Qingwuzi, three volumes; Classic of Burial, eight volumes; also ten volumes; also two volumes—written by Xiao Ji."
Tracing the surname: it is generally held that after the descendants of Boyi, leader of the ancient Ying clan tribes, became officials at Xiao, they took Xiao as their surname, and their descendants continued the surname Xiao.
Another account, according to the Xu Tongzhi, Treatise on Clans and Surnames and the Gujin Xingshi Shu Bianzheng and other sources, holds that it came from ethnic minorities changing their surnames or being granted surnames. In the Han dynasty, the Bali, Yisujile, and Shulu clans were granted the surname Xiao; in the Two Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Khitan Bali, Yisujile, and Bulu clans changed their surnames to Xiao.
Yet another account: when Nangong Changwan rebelled, Daxin—a descendant of Weizi of Song—led the royal clan youths and retainers to raise an army, killed Nangong Changwan, quelled the rebellion, and supported Min Gong's brother Yushuo to succeed as Duke Huan of Song. Duke Huan of Song, because of Daxin's merit in quelling the rebellion, enfeoffed Daxin at Xiao as a dependent state, establishing the State of Xiao and calling Daxin "Lord Xiao"—people called him Uncle Daxin of Xiao. In 597 BCE Xiao was conquered by Chu, and his descendants took the state name as their surname, called the Xiao surname. Daxin was also honored by later generations as the founding ancestor of the Xiao surname.
Whichever account, since among the surname lineages there appears to be no separate Xiao surname, it is generally held that the Xiao surname is actually an alternative writing of the Xiao (箫) surname. Today the Xiao (肖) surname is more common, actually because after the founding of the PRC, the Xiao (箫) and Xiao (肖) surnames were merged into Xiao (肖).
Seen this way, the Xiao surname recorded in the Tang Book may originally have been the Xiao (箫) surname, and the "Xiao Ji" written here is Xiao (箫) Ji. And Xiao Ji's era was later than Guo Pu's; moreover, the popular Qingwuzi burial book of later generations came from his hand.
This easily explains why the content of the Qingwuzi burial book is obviously later than Guo Pu's. This explanation naturally has some problems too, because Xiao Ji cited content from an even older Book of Burial, whose content differs from Guo Pu's Book of Burial and is not found in the later circulating Qingwuzi Book of Burial.
The classics Guo Pu cited in his Book of Burial are not the content of the later Qingwuzi or Classic of Burial. According to written records, it is more likely he cited the content of the blue-bag writings, the Classic of the Blue Bag.
Speaking of the Classic of the Blue Bag, its origin is even more mysterious. Later numerological books mostly say this book was actually conferred by the Mysterious Maiden of the Nine Heavens on the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan, then transmitted down by the Yellow Emperor; Fenghou received it, Taigong received it, later Huangshigong received it, then Zhang Liang received it, then Guo Pu received it....
Anyone familiar with the numerological arts recognizes this route at once—it is obviously the legendary origin of the Three Methods: Taiyi, Dunjia, and Liu Ren. In fact, in quite a few legends the Three Methods also came from the Classic of the Blue Bag.
After divining a hexagram, one generally begins the divination; the Three Methods, however, have a complete cosmic board (shipan), on which a celestial circuit is established and regions are divided for casting. Similar to hexagram images, the Three Methods are also closely related to astronomy—especially Taiyi and Liu Ren, which are closer to ancient astrology and easier to trace. The hardest to understand is Dunjia: though it too originates in stellar divination, it uses the flying distribution of the Nine Palaces and combines the Earlier and Later Heaven Eight Trigrams in its evolution—this is its most mysterious part.
Guo Pu's numbers can be applied both in taking numbers within hexagrams and on the cosmic board, because they are a major method for calculating fixed numbers. After the Tang, very few have mentioned these numbers, and scholars mostly overlook them. This is a method of deriving numbers from before the Song dynasty, often treasured as a priceless treasure by some practitioners. This poor monk will say a little about it here.
Qian one, Dui two, Li three, Zhen four, Xun five, Kan six, Gen seven, Kun eight—this is the Shaozi numbers.
Qian one, Kun two, Zhen three, Xun four, Kan five, Li six, Gen seven, Dui eight—this is Guo Pu's numbers.
The Shaozi numbers arranged by the Later Heaven Eight Trigrams:
5 3 8
4 2
7 6 1
Summing from one to eight gives thirty-six in all. The Shaozi numbers' Grand Polar division uses the line of one and five, dividing between Chen and Si: 4+7+6+1=18, and 5+3+8+2=18; upper and lower each eighteen numbers, matching the Daoist division of Heaven Gate and Earth House.
If instead arranged by the Earlier Heaven Eight Trigrams, Shaozi's Earlier Heaven hexagram numbers are thus:
2 1 5
3 6
4 8 7
They cannot form a balance of eighteen and eighteen.
And Guo Pu's numbers arranged by the Later Heaven Eight Trigrams:
4 6 2
3 8
7 5 1
They likewise cannot form a balance; but if rearranged by the Earlier Heaven Eight Trigrams, one understands:
8 1 4
6 5
3 2 7
Again dividing by Heaven Gate and Earth House, using the line of seven and eight: upper right 8+1+4+5=18, lower left 6+3+2+7=18—again matching the Daoist division of Heaven Gate and Earth House.
The Shaozi numbers balance on the Later Heaven Eight Trigrams; Guo Pu's numbers balance on the Earlier Heaven Eight Trigrams.
"Students, apply yourselves with effort; keep it in mind and reflect deeply. The most essential words are fully disclosed, bright and clear—they do not deceive me."