Yarrow paired source note · 2026-07-17

Gen and Dui: Read an Opposite Pair Without Ranking It

Compare Hexagram 52 Gen (Keeping Still Mountain) with Hexagram 58 Dui (The Joyous Lake) as a line-by-line opposite pair, without turning contrast into prediction.

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52 · Gen · Keeping Still Mountain

KEEPING STILL signifies arrest. He keeps his back still, so that he no longer feels his body. He walks in his courtyard and does not see his people. No blame. The Commentary on the Image says: Ken means stopping. When it is time to stop, then stop; when it is time to act, then act. When movement and rest each occur in their proper season, the way is bright and clear. Keeping still means resting in one's appointed place.

The hexagram Gen reveals two distinctive features: first, no line corresponds with another; second, the lines in their proper positions (Six in the Second, Nine in the...

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58 · Dui · The Joyous Lake

The Joyous. Success. Perseverance is favorable. The Commentary says: Tui means joy. Firm within and yielding without—joyous, and favorable to perseverance. Thus one accords with heaven and answers to men. When one leads the people with joy, they forget their toil; when one faces danger with joy, they forget death. Great indeed is the power of joy, whereby the people are roused.

In nature, dui manifests as the marsh, which possesses the virtue of moistening and nourishing all things; in human life, it manifests as the young maiden, who has a...

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What the structural contrast actually says

The local structured corpus records Hexagram 52's opposite as Hexagram 58, and Hexagram 58's opposite as Hexagram 52. 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 Gen and Dui. 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. Gen does not automatically become Dui, 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.