Middle States

The Middle States are the broader political realm in which the book situates early divination and the political meanings of the I Ching. They appear both as a kingdom threatened by disorder and as the setting for decisions about whether, and under whose authority, force should be used.

Political Setting

The account describes the realm under the Yin, or Shang, dynasty as gravely disorganised. A brother of the reigning king portrays a government no longer able to rule effectively: officials imitate one another in breaking laws, crimes go unpunished, and violence and treachery spread among the people. The dynasty’s condition is compared to someone attempting to cross a great stream without finding either a ford or a bank, an image of danger without a secure way forward.

The book attributes much of this crisis to the monarch’s character and rule. In a declaration associated with the campaign against him, the king is charged with contempt for virtue, neglect of instruction and law, and failure to maintain sacrifices to Heaven and Earth and offerings in the ancestral temple. The passage presents political disorder not merely as a breakdown of administration but as a loss of moral and ritual responsibility.

Divination in the Realm

Divination is presented as an established practice in China from early historical times. The account distinguishes inquiry into whether a contemplated plan or set of circumstances would turn out auspiciously from an attempt to know future events absolutely. Tortoise shell and plant stalks served as divinatory media; the stalks used with the lineal figures were identified as those of the Siberian yarrow plant, which the author says he had seen growing near Confucius’s grave.

The described procedure used forty-nine stalks. Each of the six lines was produced through three manipulations, making eighteen manipulations for a hexagram. Numbers derived from the River Map helped determine the figures: odd numbers yielded strong, undivided lines, and even numbers weak, divided ones. Once formed, the hexagram was interpreted through King Wen’s judgments and the Duke of Zhou’s line statements. In this account, numbers enable the construction of the figure; they are not treated as the ultimate principles governing the material world.

War and Political Authority

The discussion of the seventh hexagram, Hosts, connects the realm’s population with its military force: in a feudal system, people could become an army when required. The hexagram’s image of water collected on earth is associated with assembled multitudes, while its central undivided line represents the leader to whom the other lines are expected to be obedient.

The interpretation sets limits on legitimate war. The fifth line’s image of harmful birds in the fields is read as a reference to plunderers and invaders who may rightly be destroyed. The sovereign authority is represented as weak or humble, entrusting the execution of judgment to the commander-in-chief, identified with the oldest son. By contrast, allowing younger men to share that command is said to bring evil. The distinction makes military success depend not simply on power, but on rightful purpose and a properly ordered chain of authority.

The hexagram’s concluding line turns from command to appointment: a great ruler rewards distinguished service by making some men rulers of states and others chiefs of clans, while warning against placing small men in such positions. Read alongside the account of Shang disorder, this prescription presents sound government as a matter of both restrained force and responsible selection of officials. The Middle States thus provide the political scale on which the book’s concerns with divination, military legitimacy, and the maintenance of order become concrete.