Yarrow Stalks

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="03fa11c3.gif"> <div> <IMG SRC="0af90560.jpg" border=0 width="144" height="86" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Yarrow, noted for its long straight stalks gives a numerical answer and was preferred in the Zhou Dynasty c. 300 BC.  The yarrow used in divination was the Siberian variety, <I>achillea sibirica </I>or <I>achillea mongolica.</I></div> <div> The flowers are white turning pinkish, giving off a yellow dye when boiled.  Its many medicinal properties which were respected by ancient peoples.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="45b4e810.jpg" border=0 width="78" height="129" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Dense clusters of white flowers top aromatic, fern-like foliage.  Mature plants are drought-and-heat-tolerant.  Use the easy to grow plants in borders, wildflower gardens, and meadows. Divide clumps every 2-3 years.  To dry flowers, harvest blossoms at their peak and hang upside down in a cool, dry place. - <I>Found on the back of a seed packet.</I> </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> "Because these wise men knew equally well the laws of the universe and what was needful to man, they invented the use of yarrow stalks-'those divine things."</div> <div> <I>The Great Treatise</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="2b871710.gif" border=0 width="113" height="113" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <I>"The nature of the yarrow is round and spiritual."</I></div> <div> <I>The Ta Chuan / The Great Treatise</I></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#99CC00" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Online Journal of the I Ching, Yi Jing</B></FONT>     <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#CCCC66" FACE="Arial" >|   <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Online Journal of the I Ching, Yi Ji"><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Yellow River Cultures"><U>Yellow River Cultures</U></A>   |   <A HREF="the_clan_of_fu_hsi__many_fu__anyang.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Crack Bones and Turtle Shells"><U>Crack Bones and Turtle Shells</U></A>   |   <B>Yarrow Stalks</B>   |   <A HREF="the_page_of_kan__the_middle_son.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hexagram 29"><U>Hexagram 29</U></A>   |   <A HREF="the_page_of_li__the_middle_daughter.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hexagram 30"><U>Hexagram 30</U></A>   |   <A HREF="page_of_the_eldest_son.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hexagram 51"><U>Hexagram 51</U></A>   |   <A HREF="the_page_of_ken__the_youngest_son.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hexagram 52"><U>Hexagram 52</U></A>   |   <A HREF="eldest_daughter.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hexagram 57"><U>Hexagram 57</U></A>   |   <A HREF="page_of_the_youngest_daughter.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hexagram 58"><U>Hexagram 58</U></A></div> <div> <IMG SRC="03ef4010.gif" border=0 width="500" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Yarrow Stalks</div> <div>     <IMG SRC="86b4e810.jpg" border=0 width="78" height="129" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">   Yarrow stalks, which <I>The Great Treatise</I> called "those divine things," were especially favored in divination during the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1050-771 BC ) . <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" > During  late midsummer it was traditional to pick the stalks which were growing on the graves of ancestors and renowned teachers of the <I>Changes</I> for use throughout the year.</FONT>  The late summer birthdays of  Lao Tzu (August 27th) and Confucius (September 28th) may provide a clue.   James Legge (1815-1897), the renewed <I>I Ching</I> scholar and translator of the Chinese Classics,  reported seeing yarrow growing on the grave of Confucius in the 1800's.  "I myself have seen it," he said.  </div> <div>     </div> <bR> <div>     Grave at Qufu, Shandong,  of the descendants of Confucius (below)</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="1762eec0.jpg" border=0 width="302" height="236" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> In 1684, a Kangxi emperor visited the tomb of Confucius and was  told that a set of 50 yarrow stalks growing in a clump on  the grave would ensure a divination would be fulfilled. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>      </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" > No one knows when yarrow stalks began to be used.  One problem is that the stalks, being organic, would not have lasted in the tombs.  There are two known uses of yarrow for divination in prehistory:</FONT><B> </B> The oldest known reference to the use of "stalks" in divination is c. 2285 BC where it is mentioned in the<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><I>Shu Ching, Book of History.</I><I><B>  </B></I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" > The chapter, entitled </FONT>The <I>Counsels of the Great Yu</I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" ><I>, </I>chronicles the regent's many attempts to make Yu the next king. </FONT>During these ancient times the monarch chose his successor from the person he found to be most worthy; the title was not inherited by blood.  <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" >The tradition had been carried on since the time, it is said, of Fu Hsi.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <I>     </I></div> <div>    <IMG SRC="0915b680.jpg" border=0 width="91" height="360" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">   <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" >Yu then suggested that the matter of who was to be king be put to the tortoise shell and yarrow stalks.  The sovereign replied,  "According to the rules for the regulation of divination, one should first make up his mind and afterward refer to the great tortoise shell."  The king then deliberated with all his ministers and the people themselves and they were all in one accord with the king that Yu should be the next sovereign.  "The Spirits signified their assent and the tortoise shell and the divining stalks concurred.  Divination, when fortunate, should not be repeated,"</FONT> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" > said the king. (c. 2225 BC)</FONT></div> <bR> <div>       Yu still refused the throne, however, and instead led an army against the rebellious state of  Miao. Yu roused the troops with his threats against the ruler of Miao and said that heaven would rain calamity upon him for disobeying the king.  The army set off with the intention of punishing the king but, alas, the fighting lasted three decades and the ruler of Miao still had not been defeated.  Finally one named Yi gave wise counsel to Commander Yu:  <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" ><B>"It is virtue that moves Heaven, there is no distance that it does not reach. Pride brings loss, and humility receives increase; this is the way of Heaven."</B></FONT>   Yu then withdrew his troops and the king set about "diffusing the virtuous influences of peace."  In seventy days the lord of Miao offered fealty to the king.</div> <bR> <div> Left, bamboo strips such as this recorded divinations.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>   <IMG SRC="3d5b0900.gif" border=0 width="176" height="144" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  Eventually Yu became king and founded the Xia Dynasty.  Yu was the first ruler who passed the kingship on to his son.  In the canon, <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" ><I>Tribute to Yu</I></FONT>, the many accomplishments of Yu are once again described.   The marking on the tortoise's shell, revealed to the Great Yu in prehistory became the inspiration for the treatise known as <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" ><I>The</I> <I>Great Plan</I></FONT><I>.  </I>Modern students of China lore know the River Lo markings as the "five element" theory of feng shui and Chinese medicine.  However, <I>The Great Plan</I><I>, </I>a document of the much later Zhou Dynasty (c. 1050-771 BC ) consisted of<I> </I>many other mysteries hinted at by the markings on the turtle:  Proper virtues, government conduct, and the conduct of sovereigns.  It also was a manual on the proper methods for turtle and yarrow stalk divination:  <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" >Three diviners, after being carefully chosen, were to use the tortoise shell and the yarrow stalks and <I><B>study the inner and outer trigrams</B></I><B>.</B>  When there were doubts among the diviners, the consent of two out of three was to be followed.</FONT>  There were further instructions if the diviners and the king and the various high ministers, and the people disagreed as to the meaning of a divination. <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" ><I>The</I></FONT> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" ><I>Book of Odes</I> of the Western Zhou, also mentions divination by yarrow stalks</FONT>.  Again yarrow  was consulted only after the turtle shell had been cracked.  In this way, <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" >yarrow served as a backup or complimentary function as it did in the Xia Dynasty over 1,800 years earlier</FONT>. </div> <bR> <div>           Gradually turtle shell divination began to fall out of favor.  Certainly yarrow stalks were easier to prepare and count.  Turtle shells had to be imported; the under-shell had to be exhaustively prepared;  and the cracking process took up many hours.  Yarrow has a way of growing wild in well-drained areas.  No doubt someone took notice that yarrow with its long, straight stalks was growing on an esteemed ancestor's grave! </div> <div>  By the time of the  Western Zhou  it seems that the Royal Family was no longer intimately involved with turtle shell divination and the lower-rank diviners of yarrow were scribes, the <I>shizhe.  </I>The patricharial Zhou peoples were less inclined to give women status in their society.  For this reason it appears that during the 1500 years of their reign, the contributions of earlier women diviners were mostly forgotten although the Fu Hao of Wu Ting's era, c. 1200 BC became a protector deity of the king.</div> <bR> <div>         A set of bamboo strips with divinations on them were found in the tomb of Zuoyin Tuo, a high-ranking court official.  The divinations were an attempt to find the cause of the serious illness that eventually killed him in 316 BC.  The bamboo strips were held together by embroidery thread and together formed a flat writing surface.</div> <div>  </div> <bR> <div> <B>Modern Yarrow Divination</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <IMG SRC="86a7b960.gif" border=0 width="123" height="150" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Today's yarrow diviners base their ritual on Zhu Xi's <I>Zhouyi benyi:  </I>The oracle book was kept wrapped in a <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" >yellow cloth, the color of Li (Hexagram 30) and signifying a diviner</FONT>.  In those days the oracle book would have been the bamboo strips (left) held together with silk bindings holding the strips together with a sacred set of knots.  The table faces south, also the direction of Li.  The diviner faces north and prostrates to the book 3 times.  He would light incense while kneeling and allow the upward spiraling scent to reach the abode of the ancestors and deities.  Yarrow stalks would be passed through the incense three times while being rotated clockwise.  On the altar would be the ritual implements and  symbols of the clan:  Perhaps a turtle shell, a statue of Quan Yin, the protector-deity of diviners or Shang Ti, the lord of heaven.</div> <bR> <div> Thus centered, he would begin the ritual "May it be the will of heaven..."  The diviner is asking above all to be centered and receptive to the meaning of the hexagrams that will come from the reading. He is remembering that he must approach the Great Mystery with sincerity and a pure heart. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>The Mystery's Mystery</B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="80391960.jpg" border=0 width="145" height="150" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>       O<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" >f the </FONT><I>T'ai Hsuan Ching</I>, an ancient Chinese work of mysterious origins, Michael Nylan writes:  "...The sacred efficacy of the divination tool is easily impaired if the user's mind lacks moral integrity (ch'eng), since <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" >moral integrity is the single quality that unites the individual with the cosmic order.</FONT> In consequence, <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF80" FACE="Arial" ><I>The Mystery</I></FONT>, like other famous Chinese classics, makes no promises about the accuracy of its predictions unless the divination is carried out when the inquirer is in the correct spiritual state. After all, <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" >divination represents a true communication between Man and the divine impulses operating in Heaven and Earth, which the coins or yarrow stalks only facilitate." </FONT>  On the surface this seems quite unscientific but according to ancient Chinese thought, <I>ch'eng </I> or moral integrity is the prerequisite for true communion with the cosmos. </div> <bR> <div> Above, phoenix, symbol of Hexagram 30.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Contributed by Thomas Hood of Midaughter's List</div> <bR> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" >The Mystery's mystery is how the individual of moral integrity communicates with the divine and receives the "</FONT><A HREF="the_page_of_ken__the_youngest_son_echo.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hexagram 52"><U>divine echo</U></A>.<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" >"  I myself would be content to watch those who have this wondrous moral integrity harvest the yarrow on the graves of the ancestors on the full moon in  August. </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>The Zhouyi Commentary</B></div> <bR> <div>      This commentary preserves the earliest descriptions of  Zhouyi divination. The oldest known Zhouyi manuscript was found a Mawangdui in 1973, in Tomb 3 belonging to the son of the Marquis of Da, c. 200 BC.  The manuscript, written on silk, was well preserved.  Five Zhouyi commentaries were also found with the manuscript.  All five commentaries treat the Zhouyi as a book of wisdom rather than a divination manual.</div> <bR> <div>       One diviner, in 656 BC said the famous saying "<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF66" FACE="Arial" >Yarrow wands are short, whereas tortoise shells are long</FONT>."  The usual interpretation of  this is that tortoise shell divination is more accurate that yarrow.  Some divinations inquired about intended action while others sought to know the destiny of someone, such as a newborn child:  Duke Huan inquired about the destiny of child of his that was not yet born.  First, he consulted the tortoise shells.  The diviner predicted that the child was a male:</div> <bR> <div>                                      <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF66" FACE="Arial" > "His name will be Yu:</FONT></div> <div>                                        At your right hand he'll go,</div> <div>                                        And between your two altars,</div> <div>                                        Serve the house from below.</div> <div>                                        When the Ji die away,</div> <div>                                        Then Lu will decay."</div> <div>                                                                  - <I>Zhouyi</I>, by Richard Rutt</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF66" FACE="Arial" >     The Duke then put the matter to the yarrow wands and obtained the very favorable Hexagram 14, Great Harvest.  The diviner said, "He will share his father's grace, With honor in a prince's place."</FONT> <I>ibid, p 179</I>.  The child was indeed a male and was born with the character <I>yu </I>on his hand which means "friend."  The child was thus named Yu.  He founded the Xia Dynasty.   Hexagram Fourteen, Fire in Heaven, is a most auspicious hexagram!.  The diviner shows great skill here plus poetic flair and a knowledge of politics.  </div> <bR> <div>       <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF80" FACE="Arial" >One  yarrow diviner failed to see disaster in a proposed marriage that ended in the destruction of the entire family of a noble named Wuzi</FONT>.  Wuzi desired to marry the beautiful widow, Lady Jiang.  The diviner received the Hexagram 47 (Oppression) changing to Hexagram 28 (Instability and Collapse).  The diviner, who was either incompetent or ambitious, declared the proposed match was auspicious.  The minister to Wuzi rightfully pointed out that the line statements were an augury of great misfortune:</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> "Beset by stones, clutching thorny boughs, </div> <div> entering his house, sees not his spouse. Disaster." </div> <bR> <div>      To Wuzi's  trusted minister the reading meant the marriage would end in injury and the husband would have "nowhere to turn. " Wuzi himself interpreted the divination as meaning the misfortune belonged to the dead husband<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" >.  He married her.  His new wife soon began an affair with the Duke of Qi, whom Wuzi had assassinated.  This caused the destruction of his entire family and Wuzi, having no place to turn, then killed himself.</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Confucius and Millifoil Divination</B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" ><B>    <IMG SRC="51879b80.jpg" border=0 width="121" height="184" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> </B></FONT>One disciple, Zi Gong, asked Confucius if the master believed in millifoil (yarrow) divination. Confucius replied that he was right in only seventy out of a hundred divinations.  As for the <I>Changes </I>Confucius considered its'  prayers and divinations to be "last."  "I seek its virtue and nothing more."  The superior man "divines but rarely."  He taught that the <I>Changes</I> was a repository of ancient wisdom and history and a guide to improving the character of the individual, the family, and the state rather than an oracle. </div> <bR> <div>       Sentiments such these gave rise to the philosophical school of I Ching theory. Later writers such as Wang Bi would base their I Ching writings on the Confucian idea that the Changes was<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" > a guide to behavior rather than prognostication:  </FONT></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>    <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" ><B>Good behavior was seen as being in compliance with the way of heaven:  </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>"...They complied with the way of heaven, below they were </B></div> <div> <B>centered on the pattern of the earth, and in the middle they arrived </B></div> <div> <B>at the heart of man."  from </B><I><B>The Classic of Changes</B></I><B> by Edward Shaunessey.  </B></div> <bR> <div>        John Blofeld, in his 1963 edition of the<I> I Ching</I> said, "Confucius quite possibly did not understand the I Ching."   Blofeld has the opinion that the Book of Changes could also forsee the future which to him was just as significant as creating persons of moral virtue.  Later writers have commented that Confucius was merely stating that he did not want the Yi to become solely a fortune-telling medium.   In modern times, Carol K. Anthony and perhaps Brian Browne Walker seem to be in accord with the Confucian model that the Yi is principally of  teacher of virtue and a guide to personal conduct.  </div> <div>      </div> <bR> <div> <B>James Legge (1815-1897)</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>   <IMG SRC="4a173730.jpg" border=0 width="115" height="115" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" >Born in Huntly,  in the far north of Scotland, James Legge became a scholar of Chinese Classics.  He was born  into a wealthy merchant family and graduated from King's College, Oxford in 1835.   In China, while still in his twenties, he began publishing his many translations of Chinese classic works which were mostly underwritten by his wealthy brothers. In 1876 he became a don at Oxford, holding the Chair of Chinese Language and Literature until his death in 1897. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Legge translated the version of the I Ching known as the <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" ><I><B>Zhouyi</B></I></FONT>. Legge was the first western scholar to understand that the <I>Zhouyi</I> was a book of divination rather than a philosophical work.  He translated the<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><I>Zhouyi </I>with the assistance of the Chinese scholar <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" >Wang T'ao </FONT>(1828-1897). <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT>Wang, an eclectic scholar,  had earlier assisted Legge in translating the<I> Book of Odes</I> and the<I> Book of Documents. </I>Wang was an intellectual of many talents:  He was a journalist, political commentator, and scholar who had passed the imperial examinations required in those days of men seeking appointments in the imperial service. The imperial examinations were rigorous tests in the Five Classics of Confucius: <I>The Book of History, The I Ching, The Book of Li or Rites,  the Book of Odes or Poetry </I>and <I>the Book of Documents.</I>   At the time, Wang was in exile from Peking because he was suspected of supporting the Taiping rebellion.  This rebellion is almost unknown to westerners yet it is said that over 35 million died in this civil war fomented largely by the inept and corrupt rule of the foreign Manchu.</div> <div>   <IMG SRC="80f95900.jpg" border=0 width="149" height="144" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">   Yarrow or millifoil was the predominate method of divination during the reign of the Zhou which Legge studied so assiduously.  In his preface to the<I> I Ching</I>, Legge describes his own understanding of the <I>I Ching</I> as coming from the mind of  Wang into his own, or "mind to mind."   To understand yarrow completely he made journeys to the graves of famous spiritual teachers such as Confucius and attended lectures on the Yi given by Chinese scholars to serious Chinese students of the Yi.  One can imagine the scholar from Scotland overcoming his difficulty of understanding the I Ching and its complexities finding common ground with Chinese scholars in their shared enthusiasm for the subject matter.</div> <bR> <div> Above, imperial procession probably Manchu.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>It Takes James Legge 27 Years to Translate the Zhouyi</B></div> <bR> <div>            Legge is noted for his scrupulous and scholarly determination to translate the documents as closely to the original as possible without embellishment.   Legge, who had once worked for the London Missionary Society, never let his strict Protestant leanings stand in the way of  his scholarship.  Still, Legge himself was dissatisfied with his early works on the <I>Zhouyi </I> because he felt he had not mastered the symbols, imagery, or the text itself.  His translation  would take twenty seven years of determined and patient mastery of each hexagram and commentary.  Much of Legge's dated, Victorian wording has been modernized by Clae Waltham in the <I>Book of History</I> (and other Chinese classics).  James Legge's <A HREF="http://www.sacred-texts.com/ich/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.sacred-texts.com/ich/"><U>Zhouyi </U></A>is available online.  Thank you sacred texts.org!</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="3dad5970.jpg" border=0 width="213" height="151" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" >      </FONT>Unfortunately James Legge died two years before the first discovery of oracle bones in 1899.  The discovery of  those bones gave the world the first concrete evidence of the existence of the Shang Dynasty.   Legge, in his translation of the <I>Book of History</I>, had already given the world the history of the Shang Dynasty at a time that few in the world believed the Shang Dynasty had ever existed.  Even more astonishing in a way is Legge's translation of the<I> Book of  History </I>which spoke of an earlier dynasty, the Xia <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFF66" FACE="Arial" >(2205-1766 BC)</FONT><B>.</B>  Archeological evidence, found in the 1960's, confirmed the existence of the Xia Dynasty but in many text books even today one will often see mention of the "mythical" Xia Dynasty.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="the_page_of_kan__the_middle_son.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hexagram 29"><U><B>Next</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="midaughter_s_i_ching.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Online Journal of the I Ching"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>