Emperor Renzong meets an immortal
The allusion is Emperor Renzong of the Song encountering an immortal, an episode in which a ruler known for restraint, never for force, is granted an unearned kindness. Renzong's reputation in the histories is exactly the first line: he is remembered for tolerating remonstrance and for not overruling people.
The second line quotes a line every literate reader would have recognised, 積善之家必有餘慶 from the Book of Changes, the house that accumulates good has blessing to spare. The lot is unusual in that it states its own mechanism in line two, which is why it reads more like advice than like an omen.
Traditional palace assignment: Xu palace (宮位), one of the twelve branch positions the old lot books use to file each verse.
Reading lot 45
If you drew this over a conflict, the verse is direct. It says the softer approach has the longer reach, and it says so before it says anything about your prospects. That ordering is the reading: line one is a method, line four is what follows from it.
In a practical dispute the usable version is narrow. Answer the part of the other side's case that is correct before you answer the part that is wrong. Take the confrontation out of the channel where it is being performed for an audience. Give the other party a way to move without losing face, because a position defended in public hardens.
The fourth line, sweet wine at the height of thirst, is the relief image, and it is worth noticing that relief is where the verse puts the good news. Victory appears nowhere in the four lines, and neither does the other side conceding.
A verse can give you a frame for thinking about a situation. It cannot report what another person has decided, and it cannot confirm that a particular event will happen.
Questions about lot 45
What does Guan Yin lot 45 mean in a conflict?
It argues for the softer approach, and it puts that instruction in the first line, before any statement about the outcome. Practically it favours conceding the correct part of the other side's case, moving the argument out of public view, and leaving the other party a way to step back.
Where does the second line of lot 45 come from?
It reworks a line from the Book of Changes, 積善之家必有餘慶, the house that accumulates good has blessing to spare. The lot is one of the few in the set that states its own mechanism and does not leave you with only an image.
Is lot 45 a good lot?
It is graded an Upper Lot. Note where the verse puts the good news: the closing image is relief, sweet wine at the height of thirst. It is not victory. Nothing in the four lines says the other side gives way.
