Wong Tai Sin lot 51 of 100
King Cheng cuts the paulownia leaf and enfeoffs his brother
Middling (中平). Grade as given on the named web transcriptions. We have not seen it on a temple printing, and we do not know that the temple prints one.
剪桐雖是作兒嬉
封弟成圭語不移
何以偽為成實事
言因無戲故如斯
Cutting the paulownia leaf was only a child's game,
yet the words that gave his brother the jade tablet could not be taken back.
How could a pretence be turned into a real act?
Because a ruler's words are never in jest, it came to be so.
What this lot says
A playful gesture is held to be binding because of who made it. The verse is about the weight of words said by someone with authority.
It is a middling lot. Read it as a prompt to mean what you say, and to expect others to hold you to it.
A lot is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
The story behind it
King Cheng cuts the paulownia leaf and enfeoffs his brother (成王剪桐封弟)
A traditional allusion named with this lot. We have not traced the story to a source we could read, so we do not retell it here.
Where this text comes from
This verse is a traditional temple text with no known author, here read from named web transcriptions. We compared the sites character by character and show every difference. We could not establish whether the sites are independent of one another, and we have not read a temple printing.
Fortune Sticks (fortunesticks.org) (the text shown above)
剪桐雖是作兒嬉 / 封弟成圭語不移 / 何以偽為成實事 / 言因無戲故如斯
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Luckeyes (算命眼, luckeyes.com)
剪桐雖是作兒涇 / 封北成圭語不移 / 何以偽為成實事 / 言因無戲故如斯
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Andy.hk (加賀風水)
剪桐雖是作兒嬉 / 封弟成圭語不移 / 何以偽為成實事 / 言因無戲故如斯
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Where the sources differ
- Line 1, character 7: fortunesticks.org and andy.hk read 嬉; luckeyes.com reads 涇. This is a different character.
- Line 2, character 2: fortunesticks.org and andy.hk read 弟; luckeyes.com reads 北. This is a different character.
- The allusion in the lot title: fortunesticks.org and andy.hk name it 成王剪桐封弟; luckeyes.com names it 成王剪桐封第.
English translation and commentary are by Cast & Chart.