Yarrow paired source note · 2026-07-17

Kan and Li: Read an Opposite Pair Without Ranking It

Compare Hexagram 29 Kan (The Abysmal Water) with Hexagram 30 Li (The Clinging Fire) as a line-by-line opposite pair, without turning contrast into prediction.

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29 · Kan · The Abysmal Water

The Abyss, repeated: peril upon peril. With sincerity held in the heart, there is success. Going forward brings esteem and merit. The Commentary on the Judgment says: "The Repeated Pit" — peril doubled. Water flows on, yet fills not the depths. It moves through danger without losing its truth. "Hold fast the heart, and success comes" — for the firm dwells in the center. "Going forward brings esteem" — to advance is to achieve. The peril of heaven cannot be scaled.

According to the standard convention of the Yijing, no additional character is placed before a hexagram's name.

Complete source entry

30 · Li · The Clinging Fire

Li signifies that which clings, attached to brightness. It is favorable to undertake great affairs; success. To rear a docile cow brings good fortune. The Commentary on the Judgment says: Li means clinging. Sun and moon cling to the heavens; the hundred grains, grass, and trees cling to the earth. Doubled brightness cleaves to what is correct, and thereby transforms and perfects all under heaven.

The hexagram Li carries the image of "doubled brightness"—an image that refers both to the form of the hexagram and to its inherent virtue.

Complete source entry

What the structural contrast actually says

The local structured corpus records Hexagram 29's opposite as Hexagram 30, and Hexagram 30's opposite as Hexagram 29. 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 Kan and Li. 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. Kan does not automatically become Li, 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.