Guanyin fortune stick
94
Lower stick
A decent person should not act like a petty one.
One slip in how you handle things, and trouble follows.
A zither should be played for someone who truly hears it.
Keep to the usual way, stay quiet, and all is well.
jadealmanac.com
Boya Visits His Friend is the allusion in every edition, and one of the best-known friendship stories in China. Yu Boya was a master of the zither. One night by the river a woodcutter named Zhong Ziqi heard him play and said, of one piece, that he could see high mountains, and of the next, flowing water. No one had ever heard his music so exactly, and the two became sworn friends, agreeing to meet again the next year. When Boya returned, Ziqi had died. Boya broke his zither and never played again, since no one was left who truly heard him. The poem's third line points straight at this story, and it suits a lower stick that tells you to share yourself only with those who understand.
A decent person not acting like a petty one sets the moral line. The usual reading takes it as a warning not to answer pettiness in kind, however provoked you feel.
One slip leading to trouble describes a period when small errors draw blame and gossip. Interpreters see it as advice to be careful with words, paperwork and other people's business.
A zither played for the one who truly hears it recalls Boya and Ziqi. Most readings take it as advice to share plans and feelings only with people who already understand you.
Keeping to the usual way and staying quiet is the stick's remedy. Readers understand it as a time for routine and discretion, with help expected to come later rather than be sought.
君子莫体小人为
事若差池惹是非
琴鸣须用知音听
守常安静得相宜
Seven characters a line, as printed in the BW Monastery edition.
Sources for the story: zhouyi.cc Guanyin lot 94: https://www.zhouyi.cc/lingqian/guanyin/5477.html; ttlingqian.com Guanyin lot 94: https://www.ttlingqian.com/guanyin/94.html; masterseanchan.com Guanyin oracle lot 94.
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 94, "Meeting the One Who Understands", is a lower stick, a cautionary stick. Agree only with those who truly understand you, leave idle business alone, and when help arrives, all is joy.
Better to postpone.
Wait for the moment; go carefully in trade.
Keep to the rules and wait for an opening.
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.
