MO DIVINATION

What is Mo (Tibetan Dice Divination)?

Mo is a form of dice divination practiced within Tibetan Buddhist culture. Before an important decision—concerning health, work, or whether to travel—the roll of the dice is received as an answer from the bodhisattva Manjushri and interpreted against a dedicated guidebook. The correspondence between dice outcomes and interpretations varies by source, and the practice has traditionally served as guidance rather than a definitive verdict.

Overview

System

Omen Reading (reads from a chance roll of dice)

Origin

Tibet

What You Need

Dice (a random number generator in the digital version)

Best For

Life, either/or decisions, timing

Time Frame

Near term, 90 days

Origins & History

Mo is a dice divination practice carried on since ancient times within Tibetan Buddhist culture. It is said to have been passed down as a custom in which monks and lay believers roll dice to seek an answer when facing an important decision, such as concerning health, work, or whether to travel. The resulting roll is understood to be received as an answer from Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom.

Successive generations of Tibetan Buddhist scholar-monks have written guidebooks compiling interpretations of the various dice outcomes. Among these, the guidebook by the Nyingma scholar Mipham Gyatso is especially well known, and it draws on teachings such as the Kalachakra Tantra. The precise correspondence between specific dice outcomes and their interpretive texts differs between sources, and some of the details are not fully documented.

How It Works

1. 01Settle on a single question to ask.
2. 02Roll the dice (or generate a random number in the digital version) multiple times.
3. 03Record the combination of outcomes and check the corresponding hexagram number.
4. 04Receive the answer from the interpretive text associated with that hexagram number.

What It Reveals

It is well suited to giving a nudge before an important decision, or to seeking an answer when torn between two options. At the same time, the correspondence between dice outcomes and interpretations varies by source, and the system as a whole cannot be said to be documented in full detail, so it is not a divination that offers definitive answers.

Related Methods

Dice Divination (Astragalomancy)Shagai (Mongolian Ankle-Bone Dice)I Ching (Zhou Yi)Chinese Character Divination (Cezi)

References

• Wikipedia: Mo (divination) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_(divination))