Livingiching's Blog

The Book of History has a section with instructions on divination given as part of a speech by King Wu (son of King Wen and first emperor of the Zhou dynasty; reigned 1046 b.c.e–1043 b.c.e.).

“Using divination to examine doubts requires that we choose and appoint officers to divine with tortoise shells or yarrow stalks and train them in the methods of divination. . . . [Details of tortoise divination are given.] . . . From the trigrams there are inner symbols and outer symbols. Altogether, there are seven [kinds of omens]: the five given by the tortoise, and the two given by the yarrow stalks [ie, divination through the I Ching]. The omens indicate what is fortunate and unfortunate according to the changes.”

Then King Wu indicates a sequence of interpretation:

1. Three diviners interpret the symbols under the supervision of two other diviners.
2. If there are doubts, the king should consider the results personally and then consult with ministers, officers, and the common people.
3. If there are still doubts, consult with the keepers of the tortoise and the yarrow stalks.

He goes on to give this sequence of possible outcomes:

1. If the tortoise, yarrow stalks, the ministers, officers, and common people and the king all agree, that is called the great concord.
2. If the tortoise and yarrow stalks both agree with one another, but the ministers, officers, and common people do not agree, it is still a fortunate omen.
3. If the tortoise, yarrow stalks, the ministers, officers, and common people all agree, but the king does not agree, that is still fortunate.
4. If the king and the tortoise omens agree, but the yarrow stalks, ministers, officers, and the common people oppose it, then domestic administrative affairs will be fortunate, but affairs abroad will be unlucky.
5. When both the tortoise and the yarrow stalks are in opposition, then the king should not take that action in order to meet with fortune. If he proceeds anyway, there will be misfortune.

It’s interesting that the king includes the common people in the calculation. That means that a divination is not final in and of itself. It shows here that even in ancient times divination was a means to decide and the discussion and opinion were to be taken into account. It also allows for the king to make some decisions, even when others don’t agree, or allows for the king to oppose a decision even if the divination and all advisors are in favor of it.

That gives us more guidance, and far more flexibility to view a reading of the I Ching as just something we have to follow. It’s not a condemnation nor is it a guarantee of an outcome. We still have to involve the people close to us and we still have to make the ultimate decision.