Wong Tai Sin lot 76 of 100
Self-cultivation and a contented poverty
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.
人能樂道自修身
疏水曲肱豈厭貧
不義而富且貴者
我心都作是浮雲
A person who delights in the Way works on their own character.
With plain water and a bent arm for a pillow, how could they dislike being poor?
As for riches and rank gained by wrong means,
in my heart they are no more than floating clouds.
What this lot says
The verse praises a person who is content with little and refuses wealth that comes from wrong means. It echoes a familiar saying that such wealth is like drifting cloud.
It is a middling lot about integrity over gain.
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
Self-cultivation and a contented poverty (修身不厭貧)
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)
人能樂道自修身 / 疏水曲肱豈厭貧 / 不義而富且貴者 / 我心都作是浮雲
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Luckeyes (算命眼, luckeyes.com)
人能樂道自修身 / 疏水曲肱豈厭貧 / 不義而富且貴者 / 我心都作是浮雲
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Andy.hk (加賀風水)
人能樂道自修身 / 疏水曲肱豈厭貧 / 不義而富且貴者 / 我心都作是浮雲
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Where the sources differ
- The allusion in the lot title: fortunesticks.org names it 修身不厭貧; luckeyes.com names it 孔子修身不厭貧; andy.hk names it 顏回守困.
English translation and commentary are by Cast & Chart.