Yarrow / Source Notes / 2026-07-17
Yarrow source note · 2026-07-17
A source-first reading note for Hexagram 58, Dui (The Joyous Lake), with a reference translation, trigram frame, and one reversible observation practice.
The Joyous Lake
The lower trigram is 兑 (泽), associated in the bundled corpus with 悦; 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 Joyous. Success. Perseverance is favorable. The Commentary says: Tui means joy. Firm within and yielding without—joyous, and favorable to perseverance. Thus one accords with heaven and answers to men. When one leads the people with joy, they forget their toil; when one faces danger with joy, they forget death. Great indeed is the power of joy, whereby the people are roused.
See the original-text and authority layers in the complete catalog entry.
In nature, dui manifests as the marsh, which possesses the virtue of moistening and nourishing all things; in human life, it manifests as the young maiden, who has a countenance pleasing to others; in the human body, it manifests as the mouth, which has the capacity for speech and instruction. The sage and the noble person observe this hexagram image and grasp the great meaning of "joy," using the spirit of "leading the people through joy" and "facing peril through joy" to encourage the people to "forget their toil" and "forget their death.
The lower trigram is 兑 (泽), associated in the bundled corpus with 悦; 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 58. 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 The Joyous Lake 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 58 was cast for your question.