Yarrow paired source note · 2026-07-17

Da Xu and Cui: Read an Opposite Pair Without Ranking It

Compare Hexagram 26 Da Xu (Great Taming) with Hexagram 45 Cui (Gathering Together) as a line-by-line opposite pair, without turning contrast into prediction.

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

26 · Da Xu · Great Taming

THE GREAT TAMING. Furtherance through perseverance. Not eating at home brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water. The Commentary on the Decision says: The Great Taming. Firm strength and genuine substance; its radiance shines forth and renews itself day by day. Its virtue is firm above and honors the worthy. It can hold strength in check — herein lies great rectitude. "Not eating at home brings good fortune" — thus are the worthy nourished.

Mountains possess the nature of storing things, and Heaven possesses the virtue of strength and vigor, the beauty of the sun and moon's radiance, and the nourishment of...

Complete source entry

45 · Cui · Gathering Together

Cui signifies Gathering. The king approaches his ancestral temple to offer sacrifice to forebears, to heaven and earth. It is advantageous to see the great man; there will be progress and success through perseverance. The use of great victims brings good fortune; it is advantageous to undertake whither one would go. The Tuan says: Cui denotes gathering together. Docile and joyous, the strong line holds the central place and finds response — thus all things gather.

Where there is a marsh there is water, where there is earth there are things; water moistens the earth and the myriad things are born, and once born they gather...

Complete source entry

What the structural contrast actually says

The local structured corpus records Hexagram 26's opposite as Hexagram 45, and Hexagram 45's opposite as Hexagram 26. 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 Da Xu and Cui. 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. Da Xu does not automatically become Cui, 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.