Yarrow / Source Notes / 2026-07-17
Yarrow source note · 2026-07-17
A source-first reading note for Hexagram 43, Guai (Breakthrough), with a reference translation, trigram frame, and one reversible observation practice.
Breakthrough
The lower trigram is 乾 (天), associated in the bundled corpus with 健; the upper trigram is 兑 (泽), associated with 悦. Read the lower trigram as the inner or starting field and the upper trigram as the outward field before turning the pattern into advice.
The Image says: The waters of the marsh rise as vapor to heaven — the image of Breakthrough. Thus the superior man dispenses bounty downward, as the marsh pours rain from heaven. To let men of virtue dwell at home unrewarded by the prince's emolument — this the superior man holds in dread.
See the original-text and authority layers in the complete catalog entry.
The Image and the Judgment of the hexagram Guai differ considerably in their elaboration of the hexagram's meaning, as the Zhengyi states: "Guai has two senses. The Image speaks of the marsh coming down to moisten what is below, while the Judgment clarifies the law and renders decisions." The Image moistens those below with virtue, whereas the Judgment exercises firm decision from above. Yet both the Image and the Judgment derive from the hexagram statement itself. As far as the hexagram statement is concerned, the Image's account comes closer to the hexagram's meaning.
The lower trigram is 乾 (天), associated in the bundled corpus with 健; the upper trigram is 兑 (泽), associated with 悦. Read the lower trigram as the inner or starting field and the upper trigram as the outward field before turning the pattern into advice.
Copy one concrete verb, condition, or image from the reference translation for Hexagram 43. Name one place where it is observable in the situation you are examining. Then choose one small step you can reverse and write the condition that would make you review it.
Do not turn Breakthrough into a personality label, a guaranteed event, or a verdict about another person. The translation and trigram frame are source layers to examine, not an instruction to surrender judgment.
The reference translation and context are drawn from Yarrow's bundled structured Zhouyi authority layer. Yarrow keeps that layer separate from optional modern reflection. This page does not claim that Hexagram 43 was cast for your question.