Guan Di lot 81 of 100
Borrowed goods return
Middling (中平, 壬甲). Grades differ between editions, and many Taiwanese temples print none. Shown as Wikisource gives it. Wikisource prints no stem pair for this lot, so 壬甲 is from manekineko.com.tw.
假君財物自當還
謀賴心欺他自奸
幸有高臺明月鏡
請來對照破機關
What you borrowed from another should be returned.
A heart that schemes to cheat is its own treachery.
Luckily there is a high terrace and a bright moon mirror.
Invite it in, hold it up, and the trick is exposed.
What this lot says
This is a lot about honesty and being found out. The verse says that what you borrowed must go back and that the bright mirror will show any trick.
It is addressed to the one tempted to cheat. If you are the one being cheated, it pictures the trick being brought to light.
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
Lord Kou serves at Leiyang (寇公任雷陽)
According to the account on Wikisource, Kou Zhun of the Song dynasty passed the exams at nineteen, worked hard for the people, became chancellor, and secured the treaty at Chanyuan. He was later sent away to Leiyang.
Source: Wikisource, 關聖帝君靈籤/81, 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)
假君財物自當還 / 謀賴心欺他自奸 / 幸有高臺明月鏡 / 請來對照破機關
Retrieved 2026-11-09. Transcription licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
manekineko.com.tw (富貴轉運站)
假君財物自當還 / 謀賴心欺他自奸 / 幸有高臺明月鏡 / 請來對照破機關
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Where the sources differ
- Line 2: a note in Wikisource's transcription gives 欺心 for 心欺, apparently a variant reading.
English translation, meaning and story summaries are by Cast & Chart.