Wong Tai Sin lot 3 of 100
Lu Ban opens the mountain
Middling (中平). Grade as given on the named web transcriptions. We have not seen it on a temple printing, and we do not know that the temple prints one.
牛山之木皆常美
獨惜斧工盡伐他
大器大材無足用
規矩不準怎為槎
The trees on Ox Mountain were all once fine.
It is a pity that the axes cut every one of them down.
Even great timber is of no use.
If the compass and square are out, how can you build even a raft?
What this lot says
The verse is about waste. A forest that was once rich has been felled without care, and even large timber turns out to be of no use.
The closing question asks about method: without a true measure, even a small job fails. As a prompt for reflection, it asks what you are using up and whether your measures are sound.
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
Lu Ban opens the mountain (魯班開山)
A traditional allusion named with this lot. We have not traced the story to a source we could read, so we do not retell it here.
Where this text comes from
This verse is a traditional temple text with no known author, here read from named web transcriptions. We compared the sites character by character and show every difference. We could not establish whether the sites are independent of one another, and we have not read a temple printing.
Fortune Sticks (fortunesticks.org) (the text shown above)
牛山之木皆常美 / 獨惜斧工盡伐他 / 大器大材無足用 / 規矩不準怎為槎
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Luckeyes (算命眼, luckeyes.com)
牛山之木皆常美 / 獨惜斧工盡伐他 / 大器大材無足用 / 規矩不准怎為搓
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Andy.hk (加賀風水)
牛山之木皆常美 / 獨惜斧工盡伐他 / 大器大材無足用 / 規矩不準怎為槎
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Where the sources differ
- Line 4, character 4: fortunesticks.org and andy.hk read 準; luckeyes.com reads 准. This is the same character in a different written form.
- Line 4, character 7: fortunesticks.org and andy.hk read 槎; luckeyes.com reads 搓. This is a different character.
English translation and commentary are by Cast & Chart.