Cast & Chart

Guan Yin lot 87 of 100

Halfway up at sunset

Even (中平). Grade from the related Goodfate edition. Grades differ between temples, and many Taiwanese temples print none.

人行半嶺日啣山

峻險巉巖未可攀

仰望上天垂護佑

此身猶在太虛間

Halfway up the ridge, the hills hold the setting sun.

The cliffs are sheer and steep, too hard to climb.

You look up and ask heaven for its care,

And this body still hangs in the great void.

What this lot says

The climber is halfway up as the light goes, with rock ahead that cannot be scaled. There is nothing to hold on to, and the last line leaves the person suspended between ground and sky.

The verse asks for caution at this height. Looking up for protection admits that effort has reached its limit for today.

If you are midway through a hard project with time and energy running short, stop before taking on the steepest part. Make a safe camp, ask for help, and take a fresh look in the morning.

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

Cheng Yaojin explores the cave (咬金探地穴)

In the legends of the Sui and Tang story cycle, Cheng Yaojin goes down alone to explore an underground cave, and his companions afterward raise him as their leader, the Demon King of Chaos. A lone descent into the dark suits a lot about someone stranded halfway on a hard slope.

Source: Wikipedia (zh), 程咬金

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)

人行半嶺日啣山 / 峻險巉巖未可攀 / 仰望上天垂護佑 / 此身猶在太虛間

Retrieved 2026-11-08

Jiěqiān Gé (解籤閣)

人行半嶺日啣山 / 峻險巉巖未可攀 / 仰望上天垂護佑 / 此身猶在太虛間

Retrieved 2026-11-08

Goodfate (今日運勢), a related edition

人行半嶺日銜山 / 峻險崎岩未可攀 / 仰望上天垂護佑 / 此身猶在太虛間

Retrieved 2026-11-08

Where the sources differ

  • Line 1 reads 人行半嶺日銜山 in the related Goodfate edition.
  • Line 2 reads 峻險崎岩未可攀 in the related Goodfate edition.

English translation and commentary are by Cast & Chart.