Wong Tai Sin lot 93 of 100
Confucius hears the music of Zheng and Wei
Lowest (下下). 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.
鄭衛之音不忍聽
淫風敗俗國將傾
令人深入迷津路
所奏全非古樂聲
The music of Zheng and Wei is unbearable to hear.
It spreads loose ways and ruins customs, and the state is about to fall.
It leads people deep into a lost and confusing road.
What is played is nothing like the old music.
What this lot says
The verse condemns a kind of music as corrupting, and warns that a state can fall when its habits decay. The speaker sets it against the old music as a standard.
It is graded lowest. Read it as a caution about what you let shape you, and about drifting away from a standard you once held.
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
Confucius hears the music of Zheng and Wei (孔子聞鄭衛之音)
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)
鄭衛之音不忍聽 / 淫風敗俗國將傾 / 令人深入迷津路 / 所奏全非古樂聲
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Luckeyes (算命眼, luckeyes.com)
鄭衛之音不忍聽 / 淫風敗俗國將傾 / 令人深入迷津路 / 所奏全非古樂聲
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Andy.hk (加賀風水)
鄭衛之音不忍聽 / 淫風敗俗國將傾 / 今人深入迷津路 / 所奏全非古樂聲
Retrieved 2026-11-09
Where the sources differ
- Line 3, character 1: fortunesticks.org and luckeyes.com read 令; andy.hk reads 今. This is a different character.
- The allusion in the lot title: fortunesticks.org names it 孔子聞鄭衛之音; luckeyes.com and andy.hk name it 孔子聞衛樂.
- The allusion in the lot title: the temple's website (Sik Sik Yuen, taonet.siksikyuen.org.hk) names it 鄭王失位.
English translation and commentary are by Cast & Chart.