Guan Di lot 77 of 100
Trees have roots, water has a source
Lowest (下下, 辛庚). Grades differ between editions, and many Taiwanese temples print none. Shown as Wikisource gives it. Wikisource prints no stem pair for this lot, so 辛庚 is from manekineko.com.tw.
木有根荄水有源
君當自此究其原
莫隨道路人閒話
訟到終凶是至言
Trees have roots and water has a source.
From now on, look into the origin of your matter.
Do not follow idle talk on the road.
A lawsuit ends badly: that is an honest saying.
What this lot says
This is a lot about finding the cause. The verse says to trace a problem to its source and not to rely on rumour.
It warns once more against going to court. For a real legal matter, speak to a qualified lawyer.
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
Empress Lü kills Han Xin (呂后害韓信)
According to the account on Wikisource, Han Xin contributed most to the Han victory and was first made king of Qi, then king of Chu. After the emperor came to suspect him, he was demoted, and he was later lured to court and executed by Empress Lü with the help of Xiao He.
Source: Wikisource, 關聖帝君靈籤/77, 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)
木有根荄水有源 / 君當自此究其原 / 莫隨道路人閒話 / 訟到終凶是至言
Retrieved 2026-11-09. Transcription licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
manekineko.com.tw (富貴轉運站)
木有根荄水有源 / 君當自此究其原 / 莫隨道路人閒話 / 訟到終凶是至言
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Where the sources differ
- Line 4: a note in Wikisource's transcription gives 則 for 到, apparently a variant reading.
English translation, meaning and story summaries are by Cast & Chart.