While siumsee is believed to have its origins in the I-ching, the Chinese "Book of Change", the texts used in Thailand are heavily influenced by the Buddhist concept of karma - that one's fortune depends on one's actions in this or previous lives.

"From this perspective, siumsee readings are helpful because they give people some kind of answer to some of life's unanswerable questions: Why are we poor? Why aren't we as beautiful as others?

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