Make your invocation in earnest, shake the sacred oracle tube until one stick falls out, cast the moon blocks for confirmation, then read the verse, the explanation and the commentary exactly as the classical lot books have handed them down.
Each set holds 100 lots, exactly as handed down at the pagodas and the temples. Choose the set that suits your faith and the matter you wish to lay before the powers above.
Your mind is stilled; now press to shake the oracle tube.
Cast the two moon blocks to ask the powers above: one face down and one face up is a Holy Cast 聖筊, and the lot is granted.
Master Ung Khiem greets you warmly. Drawing an oracle lot is a rite of the spirit that has followed the Vietnamese people through many generations, at the turn of each year or whenever something weighs on the heart and the way ahead is not yet clear. The ancients believed that when the heart is sincere enough, the lot that falls comes as a word from the powers above, helping one look again at the matter in doubt and know the good road from the ill. This page for drawing lots online I have rebuilt to follow the classical sequence exactly, in four unbroken steps. First one stills the mind and makes the invocation; next one shakes the tube in earnest until a stick falls out; then one casts the moon blocks to ask the powers above whether they grant that lot; and only then does one read the verse and its explanation. Let me say plainly: whether the lot is fair or ill is not a thing to rejoice at or to fear, but a thing by which to hold oneself in check and cultivate the heart, for in the end our blessings are made by our own hearts.
What is drawing an oracle lot online. This is a tool that reproduces the shaking of the oracle tube at a pagoda or temple, so that those who live far away may still keep the whole rite of invocation, shaking the stick and casting the blocks at home. The result is for reflection and reference; what matters most is still the sincerity of the one who asks.
Drawing an oracle lot is the most widespread form of seeking a sacred response at the pagodas, temples and shrines of Vietnam. The one who asks washes clean, dresses properly, lights three sticks of incense and makes the invocation, then holds the lot jar and shakes it gently and evenly until a stick springs out. The number on the stick answers to a lot made up of a verse of four lines, an explanation and a commentary, and it is the word of the powers above concerning the matter laid before them. This page reproduces that rite in full: the invocation in the classical form, the shaking of the tube, the casting of the moon blocks for confirmation, and the reading of the explanation exactly as the lot books have handed it down.
The Guan Yin Oracle Lots 觀音靈籤 are the set of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara 觀世音菩薩, and are drawn at almost every pagoda. Each lot carries a classical allusion and is graded from Thượng Thượng 上上, the highest, down to Hạ Hạ 下下, the lowest. On this page every Guan Yin 觀音 lot has its verse, a general explanation, a separate reading for love, for wealth and for career, and a link to the full commentary covering the allusion, the application to each area, the counsel and the cautions.
The Holy Mother Oracle Lots 聖母靈籤 are the set drawn before the temples and shrines of the Holy Mothers: Ngũ Hành Nương Nương 五行娘娘, Linh Sơn Thánh Mẫu 靈山聖母, Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu 天后聖母, Thiên Y Thánh Mẫu 天依聖母 and Chúa Xứ Thánh Mẫu 主處聖母. Each lot holds four lines of verse in Chinese characters with a transliteration, a Vietnamese verse translation, four lines of explanation and a commentary by the Five Phases 五行, exactly as the classical lot books have handed them down.
| Grade of the lot | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Thượng Thượng 上上 | Greatly auspicious: all things run smoothly and what you seek is granted | Go boldly ahead, yet keep a humble and respectful heart |
| Trung Bình 中平 | The middle lot: success or failure follows your affinity and your effort | Persevere in self-cultivation, do good works, and wait for the season |
| Hạ Hạ 下下 | An inauspicious lot: the matter meets obstruction, and care is needed | Hold yourself carefully, shun the ill and seek the good, and accumulate merit to turn things about |
An inauspicious lot is not a thing to be feared. The ancients took an oracle lot as a word of reminder from the powers above: know the water and you may wade it, know the path and you may pass, and so shun the ill, seek the good, and turn calamity into blessing.
Once the stick has been drawn, the one who asks commonly casts two crescent-shaped wooden moon blocks to ask the powers above whether they grant the lot. One face down and one face up is a Holy Cast 聖筊, and the lot is accepted. Both faces up is a Laughing Cast 笑筊: the powers above are still smiling and have not yet granted it. Both faces down is a Yin Cast 陰筊: it is not favourable, and one should ask again in earnest. By the old custom one should draw only one lot a day, ask about only one matter with one lot, and ask many times over is to lose the sacred response.
Every Guan Yin 觀音 lot has a full commentary covering the classical allusion, a detailed reading, the application to each area, the counsel and the cautions. Press a lot number to see it:
Lot 1 Lot 2 Lot 3 Lot 4 Lot 5 Lot 6 Lot 7 Lot 8 Lot 9 Lot 10 Lot 11 Lot 12 Lot 13 Lot 14 Lot 15 Lot 16 Lot 17 Lot 18 Lot 19 Lot 20 Lot 21 Lot 22 Lot 23 Lot 24 Lot 25 Lot 26 Lot 27 Lot 28 Lot 29 Lot 30 Lot 31 Lot 32 Lot 33 Lot 34 Lot 35 Lot 36 Lot 37 Lot 38 Lot 39 Lot 40 Lot 41 Lot 42 Lot 43 Lot 44 Lot 45 Lot 46 Lot 47 Lot 48 Lot 49 Lot 50 Lot 51 Lot 52 Lot 53 Lot 54 Lot 55 Lot 56 Lot 57 Lot 58 Lot 59 Lot 60 Lot 61 Lot 62 Lot 63 Lot 64 Lot 65 Lot 66 Lot 67 Lot 68 Lot 69 Lot 70 Lot 71 Lot 72 Lot 73 Lot 74 Lot 75 Lot 76 Lot 77 Lot 78 Lot 79 Lot 80 Lot 81 Lot 82 Lot 83 Lot 84 Lot 85 Lot 86 Lot 87 Lot 88 Lot 89 Lot 90 Lot 91 Lot 92 Lot 93 Lot 94 Lot 95 Lot 96 Lot 97 Lot 98 Lot 99 Lot 100
You may also reflect further by other methods: cast an I Ching hexagram with a turtle shell and 3 coins, Liu Yao Divination 六爻 or an cast a Plum Blossom Numerology 梅花易數 hexagram.