Hanlu Temple · eighty lots
Wenquxing Hall — Lot 7
This tube asks about studies. Write the exam you have to pass clearly in your mind.
Wenquxing Hall · Lot 7Poor
学问原无捷径抄投机取巧最徒劳回头重把根基打免得来年再一遭
What it means: No shortcuts. Rebuild the foundations.
The verse is kept in Chinese. It is a four-line regulated poem — rhyme and metre are part of the thing itself, and they do not survive translation. The reading below is written in English.
The reading
Any thought of a shortcut has to go — cutting corners is what costs you. Go back to the textbook and lay the base again. Better to lose a year than to gamble once more.
Wenchang's lots rarely mention luck. They talk about work and frame of mind.
How to read this grade
Poor describes the present, not your fate. Its use is to tell you to pull back a little, stop adding to the position, and move again when the conditions have changed.
All eighty lots are lines written for Hanlu Temple. They are here to help you put a question into words — no promise, and no medical, financial or legal advice.
Draw this lot in the hall
Walk to the Wenquxing Hall, sit down on a cushion and put your palms together. The tube of lots stands by the altar. A lot you drew in the same hall on the same day is remembered, so you can come back and read it again.