Guan Yin lot 15 of 100
Broken eggs, empty nest
Even (中平). Grade from lot 15 of the related Goodfate edition, whose verse is worded quite differently, so it is not compared line by line below. Grades differ between temples, and many Taiwanese temples print none.
觸人口氣最難吞
忽有災危禍到門
卵破巢空無宿處
深為穩便把心存
Words that offend are the hardest to swallow.
Suddenly danger and trouble come to the door.
The eggs are broken, the nest is empty, no place to rest.
The safest course is to keep your heart steady.
What this lot says
The verse begins with words that are hard to swallow and moves on to trouble at the door. A nest with broken eggs is a picture of a home or plan upset, and of having nowhere to settle for a while.
Its one instruction is to hold your heart steady. Anger at an insult can do more damage than the insult.
If you have been slighted by a colleague or a relative, and the disruption is spreading, hold back the sharp reply. Secure the basics first, such as somewhere to live, your savings and the people you trust, then deal with the quarrel calmly.
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
Su Qin achieves his aim (蘇秦得志)
By tradition, the strategist Su Qin was scorned at home after years of failure, then returned in honor to a family that now treated him with reverence, though parts of his biography are disputed. The story shows a slight outlasted, which suits a verse about swallowing hard words.
Source: Wikipedia, Su Qin (parts of the traditional account are disputed)
Where this text comes from
This verse is a traditional temple text with no known author. No single original edition is known and wording differs between temples, so we compare named witnesses and record where they differ.
Míguāng (覓光) (the text shown above)
觸人口氣最難吞 / 忽有災危禍到門 / 卵破巢空無宿處 / 深為穩便把心存
Retrieved 2026-11-08
Jiěqiān Gé (解籤閣)
觸人口氣最難吞 / 忽有災危禍到門 / 卵破巢空無宿處 / 深為穩便把心存
Retrieved 2026-11-08
Where the sources differ
- The related Goodfate edition has a substantially different verse for this lot.
English translation and commentary are by Cast & Chart.