Guan Yin lot 74 of 100
A lazy crane enters the cage
Lowest (下下). Grade from lot 74 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.
慵飛野鶴自投籠
欲舉鵬霄落陷中
南北東西混障碍
此身憔悴恨無窮
The idle wild crane walks into the cage itself.
It tries for the roc's height and falls in a pit.
North, south, east and west, all is obstruction.
Worn and haggard, you are left with endless regret.
What this lot says
A wild crane that grows too lazy to fly steps into a cage on its own. Then it tries to soar like a roc and lands in a pit. The verse shows two opposite mistakes, too little effort and too much reach.
The obstacles in every direction are real for now, so stop pushing in all of them. The regret in the final line is a feeling, and it can be set down.
If you settled for a comfortable trap and then overreached to escape it, choose one door and one small step. Ask a person you trust which one looks open.
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
Qin's three commanders captured (秦敗擒三帥)
In 627 BC the state of Jin destroyed a Qin army at Xiao Mountain and took its three commanders prisoner, after Qin's ruler had ignored a warning from his minister Jian Shu. The generals were later released, and the defeat matches this lot's trap of one's own making.
Source: Wikipedia (Chinese), 崤之戰
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)
慵飛野鶴自投籠 / 欲舉鵬霄落陷中 / 南北東西混障碍 / 此身憔悴恨無窮
Retrieved 2026-11-08
Jiěqiān Gé (解籤閣)
慵飛野鶴自投籠 / 欲舉鵬霄落陷中 / 南北東西混障碍 / 此身憔悴恨無窮
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.