Guanyin fortune stick
74
Lower stick
Like a swan that flies into the cage by itself,
it wants to turn and fly out, but there's no way through.
South, north, east and west, every side is hard to leave.
With this stick, I fear the regret has no end.
jadealmanac.com
Temple books are divided over this lot. Two lead with Qin's defeat and its three captured generals; one leads with the death of Han Fei, and another tells both. In 627 BC Duke Mu of Qin ignored the warning of his old minister Jian Shu and sent an army to strike the distant state of Zheng. On the way home it was ambushed by Jin in the Xiao mountains, and all three commanders were taken. Han Fei, the great Legalist thinker and a prince of Han, went to Qin as an envoy, impressed its king, and was imprisoned through the slander of his old fellow student Li Si, who sent him poison in 233 BC. Both walked into the trap themselves, like the swan flying into its own cage in the image line. That is why the lot is lower.
Like a swan that flies into the cage by itself. Readers stress the words by itself: the confinement in this lot is a commitment or situation you entered of your own will.
It wants to turn around and fly out, but there is no way through. Traditionally this means attempts to reverse course will fail for now, however hard you try.
South, north, east and west are all hard to leave. Temple readers take this as blocked travel and moving, and the lot's verdicts advise staying where you are.
With this lot, the fear is that regret has no end. Readers take the closing line as a caution to think carefully before the next commitment, since this one cannot be undone quickly.
似鹄飞来自入笼
欲得翻身却不通
南北东西都难出
此卦诚恐恨无穹
Seven characters a line, as printed in the BW Monastery edition.
Sources for the story: https://www.51chouqian.com/guanyinlingqian/74.html (Qin Defeated, Three Generals Captured); https://www.nongli.com/item5/guanyin/74.html (Qin defeat, plus Han Fei); masterseanchan.com/guanyin-oracle/lot-74 (edition A: Han Fei Meets His End, also Qin defeat).
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 74, "A Swan Flying Into a Cage", is a lower stick, a cautionary stick. You can't advance and it's hard to step back; lower your head and go straight on, everything rests on that.
You may hurt each other; go gently.
Petty people and losses in trade.
Keep a low profile; think three times before acting.
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.
