Guanyin fortune stick
31
Middle stick
Free and untroubled, sit somewhere quiet.
Eat when you are hungry, sleep when you are tired.
Set body and mind down, there is no need to rush.
You will surely draw no grievance and no harm.
jadealmanac.com
Editions split on lot 31. One names Bodhidharma, the founder of Chan Buddhism, who by tradition sat facing a cave wall near the Shaolin monastery for nine years. The Hong Kong-style edition names Foyin, the Song monk who was the close friend and sparring partner of the poet Su Dongpo. In a Ming story collection, Su tries to tempt the monk back to lay life by sending a young singer to him while he is drunk; Foyin stays unmoved and keeps teaching Su the Buddhist way instead. Either figure suits a poem that sounds like a Chan saying, eat when hungry and sleep when tired. A steady mind sits through temptation and fuss alike. The grade is middle because nothing is gained here, but nothing is lost.
Sitting at ease in a quiet place, free of care, is the stick's whole posture. Readers take it as advice to withdraw from busy schemes for a while rather than add to them.
Eat when hungry, sleep when tired is a well-known Chan Buddhist description of the ordinary mind. Temple readers hear it as living simply and attending to the day in front of you.
Setting down body and mind means letting go of strain and hurry. Readers take it as a direct instruction to stop forcing outcomes you cannot yet control.
The promise is that you will draw neither grievance nor disaster. Readers read it as protection by restraint: trouble here comes from needless action, so quietness keeps you safe.
清闲无忧静处坐
饥时吃饭困时卧
放下身心不用忙
必定不招冤与祸
Seven characters a line, as printed in the BW Monastery edition.
Sources for the story: https://www.sheup.org/constellationmatch/guanyinlingqian/guanyin31.htm; https://www.masterseanchan.com/guanyin-oracle/lot-31/; BW Monastery Singapore, Guanyin lots (base text).
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 31, "Keeping the Old Ways in Peace", is a middle stick, a mixed stick, good with conditions. Keep to the old ways and be at ease, ask the gods, wait for the time, and whatever changes will come by chance.
The two of you are a good match.
Hold your position and wait; delay deals.
Keep things as they are and wait for your time.
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.
