Yarrow paired source note · 2026-07-17

Wu Wang and Sheng: Read an Opposite Pair Without Ranking It

Compare Hexagram 25 Wu Wang (Innocence) with Hexagram 46 Sheng (Pushing Upward) as a line-by-line opposite pair, without turning contrast into prediction.

Cast one source-first reading Browse all 2026-07-17 notes

25 · Wu Wang · Innocence

INNOCENCE. Supreme success. Furtherance through perseverance. He who departs from the right way meets with misfortune; it does not further him to undertake anything. Commentary on the Decision: In Innocence, the firm comes from without and becomes ruler within. Movement joined with strength; the firm is central and finds response. Supreme success through rectitude — such is the decree of heaven. "He who departs from the right meets misfortune; nothing furthers him.

Wu Wang depicts for us such a scene: thunder rumbles, clouds drift and rain falls, and along with the thunder and rain, all things flourish joyfully upon the earth.

Complete source entry

46 · Sheng · Pushing Upward

Ascending: Sublime success. It furthers one to see the great man. Fear not. Setting forth toward the bright South brings good fortune. The Tuan says: The yielding ascends in its due season. Gentle and devoted, the firm holds the center and finds response — thus great success. "It furthers one to see the great man, fear not" — there is cause for rejoicing. "Setting forth toward the South brings good fortune" — the will is carried through.

"Entering" is the basic premise of the Sheng hexagram, and "compliance" is its favorable condition.

Complete source entry

What the structural contrast actually says

The local structured corpus records Hexagram 25's opposite as Hexagram 46, and Hexagram 46's opposite as Hexagram 25. 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 Wu Wang and Sheng. 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. Wu Wang does not automatically become Sheng, 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.