Guanyin Oracle · Lot 97

Balanced

What it means

A lot of what can be seen but not held. What you pursue is like moonlight on the ground, lovely but ungraspable, and effort alone won't change it. Zhuge Liang gave everything on six campaigns and still fell short, not from lack of effort but because of circumstance. Let go of the attachment and turn your energy to what can truly be achieved.

By matter

Line by line

1. 園林月色搖疎影
   In the garden, moonlight sways the sparse shadows,
2. 恍若鋪成滿地瓊
   as if the ground were paved with jade.
3. 幾度兒童來收拾
   Children come again and again to gather it,
4. 豈知收拾總無成
   never knowing it cannot be gathered.

Classic commentary

此卦當風點燭之象。凡事虛名不利也。

富貴在天。貧窮是命。不用求謀。皆是前定。

The image: lighting a candle in the wind; empty reputation, little benefit. The verdict: wealth comes from heaven and poverty from fate; no need to scheme, all is already decided.

The story · Six Campaigns from Mount Qi

To fulfil Liu Bei's dying wish, Zhuge Liang marched north from Mount Qi again and again against Wei, pledging in his memorial to serve until his last breath. Supply problems and circumstances defeated him each time, and he died in camp at Wuzhang Plain.

Reference: Lot 97 of the Guanyin Oracle at Mengjia Longshan Temple, Taipei, with its traditional image, verdict, guidance and story. Story summaries are our own.