續一切經音義 5.58

5.58

Mercury (水星: the essence of water; its colour is black; its nature is wisdom; it appears and disappears throughout the four seasons; when it is bright and moist, the state is prosperous and the people are joyful; otherwise, floods and droughts cause disaster; it normally appears in the middle month of each of the four seasons; it circles the heavens once in one year; its maximum distance from the sun does not exceed twenty-six degrees, so people rarely see it; in thirty-three years it completes 104 cycles, appearing seventy-four times at dawn, and twenty-six times when it should appear it does not).