Guanyin fortune stick
6
Middle stick
Cast down below the cliff, living where the eagle nests,
you must still carry yourself like a grown man.
Whatever you gather and earn, who else could have it?
No one else can cross heaven and earth the way you do.
jadealmanac.com
The eagle under the cliff is paired with Xue Rengui, the Tang general whose rise from nothing is a favorite of opera and storytelling. He enlisted three times and was kept in the kitchens as a cook, while another officer's son-in-law claimed the credit for his feats in battle. His break came during the campaign against Goguryeo, when Emperor Taizong was cornered by the enemy commander and Xue rode in to save him. Recognized at last, he became the great general of the eastern campaign. Living low while keeping his bearing is exactly what the poem asks, and the hidden reward suits a middle stick: a hard, unseen stretch first, the summons later.
Throwing yourself down beneath the cliff, among nesting eagles, pictures a fall to a humble, exposed place. Readers take it as a low position or a poor season entered by choice or necessity.
The great man here is the old ideal of a person of character who stays steady in hardship. The line asks you to keep acting like one while circumstances are mean.
What you gather and plan for, the line asks, who else could obtain it? Interpreters hear an assurance that gains won through your own effort belong to you alone.
Moving freely across heaven and earth was a phrase for unmatched ability. Saying no other person can do it marks you as rare, and readers see future reward for patience in the low place.
投身岩下雕鸟居
须是还他大丈夫
拾得营谋谁可得
通行天地此人无
Seven characters a line, as printed in the BW Monastery edition.
Sources for the story: https://www.k366.com/guanyin/28775.htm; https://services.shen88.cn/chouqian/guanyin-6.html; https://www.masterseanchan.com/guanyin-oracle/lot-6/; 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 6, "The Eagle Beneath the Cliff", is a middle stick, a mixed stick, good with conditions. Food and goods with nothing to spare, clean and content in plain living; wait for your time, then share its gains.
Average.
Average; business is hard going.
Build up your strength; diligence makes up for gaps.
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.
