All 384 Lessons
Zhuge Shen Shu (the Zhuge Oracle, also known as Shen Shu) is traditionally attributed to Zhuge Liang of the Three Kingdoms era. The complete system has 384 lessons, culturally grounded in the I Ching’s 64 hexagrams and six changing lines (64 × 6 = 384). Many circulating versions contain only 100 verses — this page lists the complete 384 lessons with the classical oracle text and its interpretation.
Lessons 1 - 24
- Lesson 1 · At Heaven's Gate the roll of honor hangs
- Lesson 2 · Within the earth there dwells a god
- Lesson 3 · The blossoms of Chang'an stay out of reach
- Lesson 4 · Spring blossoms, tender and bewitching
- Lesson 5 · Spring thunder quakes, the summer wind ascends
- Lesson 6 · Not mystic, and not deep
- Lesson 7 · You must awaken—let no doubt mislead
- Lesson 8 · The tiger loving high peaks bides its hour
- Lesson 9 · A noble guest you well may hope to meet
- Lesson 10 · The crying wild goose breaks free from the flock
- Lesson 11 · No trace remains, no track to find
- Lesson 12 · The spirit dims
- Lesson 13 · In your good fortune you shall meet a wife
- Lesson 14 · The cauldron boils, the storm winds rise
- Lesson 15 · At ease, your heart still trusts the days to come
- Lesson 16 · When hearts are one and minds agree
- Lesson 17 · You move to go, then halt once more
- Lesson 18 · The heart is anxious, the mouth runs on
- Lesson 19 · Not far, not near
- Lesson 20 · Peach and plum bid the spring wind farewell
- Lesson 21 · Stream beyond stream stretches away
- Lesson 22 · Affairs lend aid along the way
- Lesson 23 · Joy, and joy, and joy again—
- Lesson 24 · The mind is striving
Lessons 25 - 48
- Lesson 25 · Seen or unseen, beware
- Lesson 26 · Each peach-and-plum brings round its spring
- Lesson 27 · Do not reproach me for my errant sight—
- Lesson 28 · Fortune and rank come galloping as one—
- Lesson 29 · The matter on your heart is set to rest
- Lesson 30 · To cling to high office till your hair turns white—
- Lesson 31 · Amid the partings, hard as they may be
- Lesson 32 · At the peak of joy, the sorrow nears
- Lesson 33 · Through three and five great surges you have passed
- Lesson 34 · The broken moon turns round to full once more
- Lesson 35 · Hard is the road, how hard the road to walk—
- Lesson 36 · The spring scene shines, its colors fresh and new
- Lesson 37 · Ten thousand horses turn back to the source
- Lesson 38 · The oriole heralds the royal grove
- Lesson 39 · Pour out the sacred elixir without stint
- Lesson 40 · A belt of water, clear and blue-green
- Lesson 41 · Peach and plum unfold their loveliness
- Lesson 42 · Plain within the hidden, faint within the plain
- Lesson 43 · There is no road up ahead the way you face
- Lesson 44 · Look all around—no gate, no road appears
- Lesson 45 · No need to hurry, and no need for alarm—
- Lesson 46 · A whole life spent in restless toil and haste
- Lesson 47 · True, true, and true—yet people do not see it
- Lesson 48 · Though you walk to the far edge of the world
Lessons 49 - 72
- Lesson 49 · A deep and lingering sickness clouds the sky
- Lesson 50 · Wealth and the fortune-horse both rush along
- Lesson 51 · Empty, and empty, and empty again—
- Lesson 52 · The careworn face unclenches into a smile
- Lesson 53 · Bend to your work, and do not wander far
- Lesson 54 · No trace, no track—near or far, none to find
- Lesson 55 · The fine rain drizzles down and soaks the ground
- Lesson 56 · On level ground the clouds and mist arise
- Lesson 57 · Hold fast to what is upright and sincere
- Lesson 58 · The worthy rise, the petty block the way
- Lesson 59 · Tangled, and tangled yet again—
- Lesson 60 · A lovely face is fair—but dwell not on it
- Lesson 61 · The bridge is broken, and the road is closed
- Lesson 62 · The moon deep in the pool, a form within the mirror—
- Lesson 63 · With heart as broad as lake and sea
- Lesson 64 · What you have built is not yet firm
- Lesson 65 · Easy to enter in, but hard to leave
- Lesson 66 · The work is slow, the will is quick to leap
- Lesson 67 · Mount up and ride ahead—
- Lesson 68 · The boat slips from the ancient ford, the moon
- Lesson 69 · Never enough, and never enough—
- Lesson 70 · In beauty there is worth, in worth is beauty
- Lesson 71 · Lake and sea stretch far and wide
- Lesson 72 · Bar the inner door and lock it fast
Lessons 73 - 96
- Lesson 73 · River and sea stretch on and on
- Lesson 74 · You would cross over, yet have not
- Lesson 75 · For each gain, a worry
- Lesson 76 · Hard, and hard, and hard—
- Lesson 77 · The heart is willing
- Lesson 78 · The body ill at ease, the heart ill at ease
- Lesson 79 · The affair is settled, the goods are not
- Lesson 80 · The tree puts forth in the sunlit spring
- Lesson 81 · One moon is waning
- Lesson 82 · Chariots and horsemen draw near
- Lesson 83 · Where shall I lodge, oh where shall I lodge
- Lesson 84 · The golden scale is in your hand—
- Lesson 85 · Pour out a cup
- Lesson 86 · A wild ghost draws its bow against the master
- Lesson 87 · The star of fortune shines
- Lesson 88 · Alone you fish the cold deep pool
- Lesson 89 · It will not come to one
- Lesson 90 · The clouds clear off, the moon at center sky
- Lesson 91 · Swords and halberds ranged like mountain woods
- Lesson 92 · Banks broad, water deep—the boat moves on with ease
- Lesson 93 · You mean to move but may not move just yet
- Lesson 94 · One person leaves, another enters
- Lesson 95 · Joy is not yet secure
- Lesson 96 · To such a one you may entrust a province's fate
Lessons 97 - 120
- Lesson 97 · Word comes to the royal grove
- Lesson 98 · The rat goes into its earthen hole
- Lesson 99 · Rouse the ambition of your whole life long
- Lesson 100 · Joy, and joy, and joy—
- Lesson 101 · The land has men of worth and wisdom
- Lesson 102 · Good fortune comes, the bad has run its course
- Lesson 103 · The people delight in their work, the officials clean
- Lesson 104 · Steady as Mount Tai
- Lesson 105 · In the moon there grows the cinnabar cassia
- Lesson 106 · A lone wild goose in the open sky
- Lesson 107 · The red leaves lose their color
- Lesson 108 · Affairs tangled like hemp
- Lesson 109 · Do not roll into the old wheel-ruts
- Lesson 110 · In the night a rat alarms your dream
- Lesson 111 · Autumn frost is stern, the summer sun is fierce
- Lesson 112 · The hero's will not yet unfurled
- Lesson 113 · A deep and lingering sickness weighs you down
- Lesson 114 · The easy is not easy, the hard not hard
- Lesson 115 · The road will not go through
- Lesson 116 · Gains small as a snail's horn or a fly's head—
- Lesson 117 · Pearls and jade roll across the tray
- Lesson 118 · The moon is bright again
- Lesson 119 · The hazy autumn moon lights the vermilion gate
- Lesson 120 · The matter is not yet eased
Lessons 121 - 144
- Lesson 121 · Empty name and empty rank have long lain dim
- Lesson 122 · Stop, and stop, and stop
- Lesson 123 · The bright moon comes fully round
- Lesson 124 · The precious mirror, newly made
- Lesson 125 · Those below feel no warmth for those above
- Lesson 126 · Long in the dust you sit and bide your time
- Lesson 127 · A tiger crouches on the road
- Lesson 128 · Harmony, yet no harmony
- Lesson 129 · The matter in the east
- Lesson 130 · Affairs come round to wholeness
- Lesson 131 · In shallow water, waves arise
- Lesson 132 · When autumn's moon comes clear of cloud
- Lesson 133 · The heart is set—why fret over the matter
- Lesson 134 · The mind's confused, yet you are not lost
- Lesson 135 · Within the laughter, something falls short
- Lesson 136 · Before the eaves the magpies chatter, fluttering bright
- Lesson 137 · Brambles spring up on the level ground
- Lesson 138 · The plan is set—why fret over the matter
- Lesson 139 · Wondrous, and wondrous, and wondrous—
- Lesson 140 · Met or unmet
- Lesson 141 · In the dark you brace against the thunderbolt
- Lesson 142 · Advantage lies in going to war for the central realm
- Lesson 143 · Lamentable, the troubles out of doors
- Lesson 144 · One range of mountains, one stretch of water
Lessons 145 - 168
- Lesson 145 · Meet danger, and you need not fear
- Lesson 146 · The oars beat swift in midstream
- Lesson 147 · Worth saving, and worth storing—
- Lesson 148 · Let the child come early to the courtyard's teaching
- Lesson 149 · One heart on two affairs
- Lesson 150 · The great design will hardly be achieved
- Lesson 151 · Say not the matter holds no error
- Lesson 152 · Do not sigh that the matter is slow
- Lesson 153 · In the matter there is something to beware
- Lesson 154 · The foot uneasy, the cart uneasy
- Lesson 155 · The cauldron's leg is snapped
- Lesson 156 · Weigh and ponder all that is said
- Lesson 157 · The noble guest draws near of his own accord
- Lesson 158 · On level ground the waves arise
- Lesson 159 · The raging wind drives the ink-black clouds aloft
- Lesson 160 · One leans upon the tower
- Lesson 161 · One touch of the warm spring
- Lesson 162 · The road is long and far away
- Lesson 163 · The fish is on the hook
- Lesson 164 · Drawing each other, leading each other on
- Lesson 165 · Doubt, and doubt, and doubt—
- Lesson 166 · Above and below in no accord
- Lesson 167 · The great affair can be brought to success
- Lesson 168 · The mulberry-and-elm sun hastens to its dusk
Lessons 169 - 192
- Lesson 169 · You set down all the matters, first and last
- Lesson 170 · Sigh not over the faded flower—
- Lesson 171 · One matter comes to nothing in the end
- Lesson 172 · To win the rabbit in the moon
- Lesson 173 · The matter is achieved—so burn not with worry
- Lesson 174 · Full, and then waning
- Lesson 175 · Riding a sick horse
- Lesson 176 · Two matters now are reconciled
- Lesson 177 · White jade veiled in dust
- Lesson 178 · The link above is not secure
- Lesson 179 · Behind your back they laugh in glee
- Lesson 180 · Wasted and worn, with none to ask after you
- Lesson 181 · Amid the scent of caltrop and lotus you receive deep grace
- Lesson 182 · The flower falls just as the spring arrives
- Lesson 183 · You move to go, then halt again
- Lesson 184 · The matter on your heart is at peace
- Lesson 185 · In a dream you speak of passes and hills
- Lesson 186 · Three arrows open the road through the clouds
- Lesson 187 · Do not cling on in fond attachment
- Lesson 188 · Ten thousand miles of waves grown still
- Lesson 189 · Thirsting, you long for plums to taste
- Lesson 190 · The matter is confused, the heart is not
- Lesson 191 · At midnight you would cross, but find no boat
- Lesson 192 · If the matter is held and stalled
Lessons 193 - 216
- Lesson 193 · A single sail turns through ten thousand miles
- Lesson 194 · You have lived through the startling waves
- Lesson 195 · The crane comes forth out of the clouds
- Lesson 196 · Fish in the deep pool can be hooked
- Lesson 197 · To advance brings no peace
- Lesson 198 · Move by move you seize the lead
- Lesson 199 · Sparrows clamor on the high branch
- Lesson 200 · Cut the stone, and you find jade
- Lesson 201 · For no cause the wind and rain hurry the spring away
- Lesson 202 · In the fairy garden, spring for a season
- Lesson 203 · Beyond the gate the matters pile in layers
- Lesson 204 · The matter holds joy
- Lesson 205 · The dark departs, the bright arrives
- Lesson 206 · The precious mirror is stained by no dust
- Lesson 207 · A matter of union and accord
- Lesson 208 · The flower withered, the moon waned
- Lesson 209 · Beyond the gate the welcome news arrives
- Lesson 210 · Ten thousand miles of lovely rivers and hills
- Lesson 211 · A pair of swallows dance, a letter in their beaks
- Lesson 212 · You gaze off to the ranges, fold on fold
- Lesson 213 · If used, then act; if set aside, then hide
- Lesson 214 · Build up virtue, do good works, and have your heirs
- Lesson 215 · The road runs level, smooth, and safe
- Lesson 216 · Within the gate, the shield and spear are raised
Lessons 217 - 240
- Lesson 217 · There is a person
- Lesson 218 · For you to go brings no advantage
- Lesson 219 · The new moon for a hook
- Lesson 220 · First bar and lock the door
- Lesson 221 · Swallows murmur, orioles cry
- Lesson 222 · Toil of the heart, and toil of the heart—
- Lesson 223 · Advance, and yet you pace and pause
- Lesson 224 · Even jade and stone stay dim in the end—
- Lesson 225 · With drooping wings off into the far sky
- Lesson 226 · The fair news comes
- Lesson 227 · In vain you keep the old green felt
- Lesson 228 · Say not the brambles are so cruel—
- Lesson 229 · Above and below in harmony
- Lesson 230 · Jade comes forth from the Kunlun stone
- Lesson 231 · For now the mind can find no ease
- Lesson 232 · It may be consigned
- Lesson 233 · Fear and dread that burn the heart
- Lesson 234 · The moon is veiled among the clouds
- Lesson 235 · The road calls out to you with urgent voice
- Lesson 236 · At the brink of the deep you let down your hook
- Lesson 237 · In nothing there should yet be something true
- Lesson 238 · Creation, from birth, trusts to the natural way
- Lesson 239 · By the great might of the gods
- Lesson 240 · The Way must have a steadfast heart
Lessons 241 - 264
- Lesson 241 · One thought, and you go up to heaven
- Lesson 242 · The sheep strays from the flock
- Lesson 243 · If it be one with the affinity
- Lesson 244 · The moon climbs in the east
- Lesson 245 · If a man wins the seal of an ennobled lord
- Lesson 246 · The fox-spirit of the Heart-and-Moon mansion
- Lesson 247 · All at once a raging wind springs up
- Lesson 248 · The unreal by day appears in vigor
- Lesson 249 · Flourish and wither are fixed early—so grieve not
- Lesson 250 · The daughter is grown
- Lesson 251 · Wood gives birth to fire
- Lesson 252 · Stop, and stop, and stop
- Lesson 253 · Fire breaks out in the pen and fold
- Lesson 254 · Your heart's desire is now fulfilled
- Lesson 255 · The star of fortune shines and gleams
- Lesson 256 · East, south, and north will all become old ruins
- Lesson 257 · Death has its day
- Lesson 258 · Coming and going through a lonely place
- Lesson 259 · The Eight Gates divide the eight positions
- Lesson 260 · A whole life never striving upward
- Lesson 261 · Two children
- Lesson 262 · Within it lies a verse of hidden workings
- Lesson 263 · A few goldfish swallow the bait
- Lesson 264 · On the Mao day the child comes from the woods
Lessons 265 - 288
- Lesson 265 · By noon it is not yet decided
- Lesson 266 · The Lone Lodging is a baleful star
- Lesson 267 · The water-clock's drip hastens the cock's crow
- Lesson 268 · The person is beyond the edge of the sky
- Lesson 269 · Beneath this very tree
- Lesson 270 · You till the fields with your own hands
- Lesson 271 · Disaster comes, you meet a ghost
- Lesson 272 · Rise and go in haste, rise and go in haste
- Lesson 273 · Deep in the hills the fierce tiger holds its ground
- Lesson 274 · Three Gates of Heaven, four Doors of Earth
- Lesson 275 · Mountain, and mountain, and mountain—
- Lesson 276 · Coming and going with no fixed place
- Lesson 277 · You have a son who grows
- Lesson 278 · In the black of night
- Lesson 279 · The hibernating dragon has come into the world
- Lesson 280 · The fire's force scorches the sky
- Lesson 281 · Southward there runs a great highway
- Lesson 282 · You have a single acre of field
- Lesson 283 · Scorn not the child for having no lips
- Lesson 284 · Six oxen plow the ground
- Lesson 285 · Rouse up a will to pierce the sky
- Lesson 286 · The sunflower turns toward the sun
- Lesson 287 · If a person knows not the immortals
- Lesson 288 · Say not the words are too obscure
Lessons 289 - 312
- Lesson 289 · Though rank and renown have much that is real
- Lesson 290 · Go, and go, and go—
- Lesson 291 · You do not know the true tidings
- Lesson 292 · Where the fire blazes, do not tire
- Lesson 293 · The guest-geese's lake becomes dry land
- Lesson 294 · Wind in the heavens
- Lesson 295 · The leaf returns to the root
- Lesson 296 · You ride your horse to Chang'an
- Lesson 297 · The tree grows in spring, its roots and trunk grown old
- Lesson 298 · It calls, and calls again—
- Lesson 299 · If the medicine is true
- Lesson 300 · For three days you formed a fellowship
- Lesson 301 · Idle, you come to the master's place
- Lesson 302 · Idle cloud and wild crane gaze and go to the east
- Lesson 303 · The Han River is without feeling
- Lesson 304 · The hidden dragon is held in bonds
- Lesson 305 · Here the flavor is rich and strong
- Lesson 306 · Here there are petty, scheming folk
- Lesson 307 · The dragon grows its horns and head
- Lesson 308 · Venus appears in the southwest
- Lesson 309 · Once you have set the tree to grow
- Lesson 310 · Forty years of bitterness run deep
- Lesson 311 · Three winters spent and full
- Lesson 312 · Strange, and strange indeed—
Lessons 313 - 336
- Lesson 313 · The plow-ox lies at rest
- Lesson 314 · At your waist the famed blue blade
- Lesson 315 · The fledgling flies up high
- Lesson 316 · Lucky, lucky, lucky—
- Lesson 317 · The great fire blazes high—
- Lesson 318 · A single iron chain
- Lesson 319 · Through all the twelve hours of the day
- Lesson 320 · The wind springs up from the southwest
- Lesson 321 · In the hour when all the world is hushed
- Lesson 322 · A single kindred spirit
- Lesson 323 · A pack of dogs together gathers
- Lesson 324 · The wife in front, the husband behind, they walk together
- Lesson 325 · The rat lies hidden in its hole
- Lesson 326 · In books there is a maiden, her face like jade
- Lesson 327 · The leopard transforms to splendid markings
- Lesson 328 · The lone yang grows faint
- Lesson 329 · The dawn rain just cleared, mirrored in the jade-green creek
- Lesson 330 · The way of the world is full of brambles
- Lesson 331 · The mountains run out, the road turns and bewilders
- Lesson 332 · The times are full of hardship
- Lesson 333 · A single spray of flower, lovely and more fragrant still
- Lesson 334 · Ever since you held your course firm and sure
- Lesson 335 · Far across the surging waves in a single leaf of a boat
- Lesson 336 · Receiving the lord's salary
Lessons 337 - 360
- Lesson 337 · All things are not for a person to scheme and reckon
- Lesson 338 · A whole heart of worry will not rest
- Lesson 339 · Two women and one man
- Lesson 340 · A pair of swallows return to the southern land
- Lesson 341 · My fate runs lame, the times against me
- Lesson 342 · Gathering herbs on Tiantai, the road turns and bewilders
- Lesson 343 · Out of the warm, into the cold
- Lesson 344 · Three pecks and three piculs
- Lesson 345 · Who says the home village holds no savor
- Lesson 346 · The clouds disperse, the moon at the top of the sky
- Lesson 347 · The horse advances, walking slow, as if it had its course
- Lesson 348 · Clouds lie across the mountains' edge, the waters vast and dim
- Lesson 349 · The storms have now subsided
- Lesson 350 · At last you reach the land of peace and safety
- Lesson 351 · The eagle, come the autumn, turns mighty in its power
- Lesson 352 · The rat makes trouble—all night long there is no peace
- Lesson 353 · Two people stand beside you
- Lesson 354 · The way of the noble wanes
- Lesson 355 · Go to Chang'an
- Lesson 356 · With slow steps you enter Tiantai
- Lesson 357 · To ponder a whole night through
- Lesson 358 · A careful heart and a bold nerve
- Lesson 359 · Heaven is mindful of one who cultivates through hardship
- Lesson 360 · To hunt the wild buffalo in the deep pool
Lessons 361 - 384
- Lesson 361 · Holding a wooden fish in hand
- Lesson 362 · Water and fire in perfect interplay
- Lesson 363 · You ride the jade rabbit
- Lesson 364 · A spirit of the Way
- Lesson 365 · Fire in the furnace
- Lesson 366 · This journey is ten thousand miles
- Lesson 367 · Seeking the fragrant blooms on a spring day
- Lesson 368 · The dragon gives one cry
- Lesson 369 · The tiger comes forth on the golden roll—
- Lesson 370 · Past the winding sheep's-gut track
- Lesson 371 · The fire meets water that conquers it
- Lesson 372 · In the eastern pavilion the feast is spread
- Lesson 373 · The world seems clear and at peace
- Lesson 374 · To leap the Dragon Gate
- Lesson 375 · On the mountain stands an ancient pine
- Lesson 376 · Slanderous words—
- Lesson 377 · A single pig
- Lesson 378 · Rather than bustle and strive by day
- Lesson 379 · The east wind comes
- Lesson 380 · Coarse food and a drink of water—
- Lesson 381 · The yellow ox breaks the soil
- Lesson 382 · The snake can turn into a dragon
- Lesson 383 · On the peak of Mount Jiuhua
- Lesson 384 · Not being Confucius or Yan Hui, few can be without fault