Guanyin fortune stick
15
Middle stick
A traveler nurses a grudge he cannot swallow;
if trouble suddenly flares, don't go near it.
The nest is broken and the forest bird has nowhere to roost;
seek out the deep woods and settle somewhere safe.
jadealmanac.com
Mainland temple lists give this stick a second chapter of Su Qin's life, Su Qin Achieves His Aim: the failed persuader of stick two, back on the road after his hard study, wins over the rulers of Yan and Zhao and ends up holding the seals of six states. That success sits oddly with a poem about a broken nest and a grudge that will not go down. Master Sean Chan's edition, which grades the lot lower, attaches a darker story that matches the image more closely: the Three Kingdoms general Zhang Fei, who flogged his own officers in his rages and was murdered in his sleep by two of them. Read together, the two stories frame the middle grade: anger kept close ends in ruin, while patience can still bring an aim home.
A traveler cursing the day, unable to swallow his anger, is a picture of resentment with no outlet. Temple readers apply it to grudges between partners, coworkers or neighbors.
Sudden disaster arriving, and the order not to step toward it, is advice to keep your distance. For disputes and lawsuits the reading is literal: do not intervene, do not take sides.
A forest bird with a broken nest has nowhere to spend the night. The line pictures losing a home base, a job or a household arrangement without warning.
The deep part of the forest is where birds shelter from hawks and wind. Interpreters take it as advice to withdraw to a quiet, protected place and wait there.
行人怨日气难吞
忽有灾事勿近前
巢破林鸟无所宿
可寻深处稳安身
Seven characters a line, as printed in the BW Monastery edition.
Sources for the story: https://www.k366.com/guanyin/28873.htm; https://services.shen88.cn/chouqian/guanyin-15.html; https://www.masterseanchan.com/guanyin-oracle/lot-15/; https://www.fatekeep.com/blog/3640.
Optional: the temple way
At a temple the stick is not yours until two moon blocks agree: one flat side up and one round side up, a holy cup.
Stick 15, "Birds Leaving the Wood", is a middle stick, a mixed stick, good with conditions. Once someone holds a grudge, when can you clear it? Kind words won't be believed; hold steady and wait your time.
Blocked for now; slow progress.
Favorable; business succeeds.
Keep the peace and think of the bigger picture.
Draw another stick , or for a straight yes or no, throw the moon blocks
The verse follows the BW Monastery edition of the Guanyin set; the English rendering and reading are Jade Almanac's own. A drawn stick is a tradition and a prompt for reflection, not advice about health, money or the law.
