Wong Tai Sin lot 86 of 100
Tao Kan's mother welcomes the guest
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.
截髮迎賓否也貧
貧中賢婦更何人
古今只有陶侃母
所以名留萬代聞
She cut her hair to welcome a guest: was that not poverty?
In poverty, who is a worthier wife or mother?
In all of history there is only Tao Kan's mother,
and so her name has been heard for ten thousand generations.
What this lot says
A poor household finds a way to be hospitable, and the verse honours the person who made the sacrifice.
It is a middling lot. Read it as a prompt to value generosity that costs something.
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
Tao Kan's mother welcomes the guest (侃母迎賓)
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)
截髮迎賓否也貧 / 貧中賢婦更何人 / 古今只有陶侃母 / 所以名留萬代聞
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Luckeyes (算命眼, luckeyes.com)
截發迎賓否也貧 / 貧中賢婦更何人 / 古今只有陶侃母 / 所以名留萬代聞
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Andy.hk (加賀風水)
截髮迎賓否也貧 / 貧中賢婦更何人 / 古今祇有陶侃母 / 所以名留萬代聞
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Where the sources differ
- Line 1, character 2: fortunesticks.org and andy.hk read 髮; luckeyes.com reads 發. This is the same character in a different written form.
- Line 3, character 3: fortunesticks.org and luckeyes.com read 只; andy.hk reads 祇. This is the same character in a different written form.
- The grade: the temple's website (Sik Sik Yuen, taonet.siksikyuen.org.hk) gives 中吉 (Good).
English translation and commentary are by Cast & Chart.