Guan Di lot 76 of 100
Three thousand laws, eight thousand words
Middling (中平, 辛己). Grades differ between editions, and many Taiwanese temples print none. Shown as Wikisource gives it. Wikisource prints no stem pair for this lot, so 辛己 is from manekineko.com.tw.
三千法律八千文
此事何如說與君
善惡兩途君自作
一生禍福此中分
Three thousand laws and eight thousand written words:
how can I put this matter to you?
Good and bad are two roads, and you make the choice yourself.
A whole life's fortune and misfortune divide right here.
What this lot says
This is a lot about responsibility. The verse says that law and rule are vast, that you choose between right and wrong, and that the consequences of the choice follow you.
It is a sober lot with no prediction. It asks you to own your choice.
A lot is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
The story behind it
Xiao He annotates the laws (蕭何註律)
According to the account on Wikisource, Xiao He of the Han dynasty began as a minor clerk, helped Emperor Gaozu win the realm and became chancellor. When the earlier three-article code proved too thin for governing, he was ordered to annotate the laws so that people would know them.
Source: Wikisource, 關聖帝君靈籤/76, the 故事及記載 section
Where this text comes from
This verse is a traditional temple text with no known author. We read it from two named web transcriptions, Chinese Wikisource (the base text) and manekineko.com.tw. Neither is a scan of a printing, the edition behind them is mixed, and we could not establish whether the two are independent of each other.
Wikisource (關聖帝君靈籤) (the text shown above)
三千法律八千文 / 此事何如說與君 / 善惡兩途君自作 / 一生禍福此中分
Retrieved 2026-11-09. Transcription licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
manekineko.com.tw (富貴轉運站)
三千法律八千文 / 此事如何說與君 / 善惡兩途君自作 / 一生禍福此中分
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Where the sources differ
- Line 2 reads 此事何如說與君 in Wikisource and 此事如何說與君 on manekineko.com.tw. We show the Wikisource reading.
English translation, meaning and story summaries are by Cast & Chart.