Guan Di lot 91 of 100
Sift the sand for gold
Middling (中平, 癸甲). Grades differ between editions, and many Taiwanese temples print none. Shown as Wikisource gives it. Wikisource prints no stem pair for this lot, so 癸甲 is from manekineko.com.tw.
佛說淘沙始見金
只緣君子不勞心
榮華總得詩書效
妙裏工夫仔細尋
The Buddha said that sifting sand is how you find gold.
It is only because you, a gentleman, do not strain your mind.
Glory comes from the results of study and writing.
Look for the fine work inside the details.
What this lot says
This is a lot about patient, careful work. The verse compares careful study to sifting sand, where gold is found by repeated sorting.
It suits a question about learning or craft. It asks you to look closely, not to hurry.
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
Zhao Zilong carries the young prince (趙子龍抱太子)
According to the account on Wikisource, Zhao Yun of the Three Kingdoms period found Liu Bei's wife Lady Mi after a defeat. She handed him the infant Adou, refused his horse and threw herself down a well, and he fought his way out carrying the child.
Source: Wikisource, 關聖帝君靈籤/91, 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)
佛說淘沙始見金 / 只緣君子不勞心 / 榮華總得詩書效 / 妙裏工夫仔細尋
Retrieved 2026-11-09. Transcription licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
manekineko.com.tw (富貴轉運站)
佛說淘沙始見金 / 只緣君子不勞心 / 榮華總得詩書效 / 妙裏工夫仔細尋
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Where the sources differ
- Line 2: a note in Wikisource's transcription gives 苦 for 不, apparently a variant reading.
English translation, meaning and story summaries are by Cast & Chart.