Yarrow paired source note · 2026-07-17

Bi and Kun: Read an Opposite Pair Without Ranking It

Compare Hexagram 22 Bi (Grace) with Hexagram 47 Kun (Oppression) as a line-by-line opposite pair, without turning contrast into prediction.

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22 · Bi · Grace

Grace: success. In small matters it is favorable to undertake something. The Commentary says: Grace has success. The yielding comes and adorns the firm, therefore there is success. The firm divides, ascends, and adorns the yielding, therefore in small matters it is favorable to undertake something. The interplay of firm and yielding—this is the adornment of heaven. Brightness held within bounds—this is the adornment of man.

The hexagram image of "fire beneath the mountain" allows one to perceive both pattern and brilliance within the firelight.

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47 · Kun · Oppression

KUN signifies Oppression: yet there is progress and success. For the great man, firm and virtuous, there is good fortune; he incurs no blame. In times of distress, words spoken may not find belief. The Tuan says: In Oppression, the strong is veiled by the weak. Meeting peril, yet inwardly glad, he loses not that whereby he attains success—this surely is the way of the superior man alone. "For the great man, good fortune"—because the firm holds the central place.

The hexagram Kun teaches that hardship and poverty do not bring all things to a dead end, but rather offer people an opportunity to test their will.

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What the structural contrast actually says

The local structured corpus records Hexagram 22's opposite as Hexagram 47, and Hexagram 47's opposite as Hexagram 22. 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 Bi and Kun. 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. Bi does not automatically become Kun, 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.