Yarrow paired source note · 2026-07-17

Sui and Gu: Read an Opposite Pair Without Ranking It

Compare Hexagram 17 Sui (Following) with Hexagram 18 Gu (Work on the Decayed) as a line-by-line opposite pair, without turning contrast into prediction.

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17 · Sui · Following

Following. Supreme success. It furthers one to undertake great deeds. No blame. The Commentary on the Judgment says: In Following, the firm comes and places itself beneath the yielding. Movement and joy: thus Following. Great success through perseverance, without blame, and all under heaven follows the time. Great indeed is the meaning of following the time. The Image says: Thunder within the lake — the image of Following. Thus the superior man, at nightfall, goes within for rest and repose.

The reason Sui carries the meaning of "following" lies in its hexagram image of inner movement and outer joy.

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18 · Gu · Work on the Decayed

GU signifies decay and its remedy: supreme success. It furthers one to cross the great water. Three days before the day jia, three days after the day jia. The Tuan says: In Gu the firm rises above and the yielding lies below; gentle and arrested—thus Gu. Decay corrected brings supreme success, and the world is set in order. "It furthers one to cross the great water"—going forward, there is work to be done.

The Tuanzhuan states: "Gentle and stopping, this is Gu." Most scholars interpret this as "gentle and able to stop Gu," mistakenly reading it as if "gentle" could "stop...

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What the structural contrast actually says

The local structured corpus records Hexagram 17's opposite as Hexagram 18, and Hexagram 18's opposite as Hexagram 17. Every line changes polarity across this pair. Use that structural fact to compare conditions, not to label one side good and the other bad.

Two-column comparison practice

Make two columns headed Sui and Gu. Under each, copy one phrase from its reference translation and one observable condition from the situation you are studying. Circle the condition that would have to change before the other column became more relevant. Choose one reversible step and a review date.

Common misread to avoid

An opposite pair is not a before-and-after promise. Sui does not automatically become Gu, and the pair does not decide which person or outcome is correct. It is a disciplined contrast for closer observation.

Source boundary

The two reference translations and context notes come from Yarrow's bundled structured Zhouyi authority layer. The opposite-pair relation comes from the same local corpus. This comparison is not a fresh cast or a forecast.