Yarrow 综卦 source note · 2026-07-17

Xiao Xu and Lu: What a Zong Gua Inverse Pair Shows

Compare Hexagram 9 Xiao Xu (Small Taming) and Hexagram 10 Lu (Treading) as a zong gua inverse pair: reversed line order changes viewing direction without forecasting a transition.

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9 · Xiao Xu · Small Taming

The Small Taming: success. Dense clouds, no rain, rising from our western outskirts. The Tuan says: In Small Taming, the yielding line attains its place, and those above and below respond to it; hence it is called Small Taming. Strong and yet pliant, firm in the center and its will prevails — therefore success.

Everything that can come into being arises from the union of yin and yang. In the hexagram Xiao Xu, the yin energy is insufficient to match the yang energy, and so although there are "dense clouds," the sky still...

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10 · Lu · Treading

Treading upon the tail of the tiger. It does not bite the man. Success. The Tuan says: Treading. The weak treads upon the strong. With joyousness they respond to the Creative. Therefore, "He treads upon the tail of the tiger; it does not bite him." There is progress and success. The firm is in the central and correct place.

According to the Xugua, it says: "Once things have been accumulated, there must be propriety, therefore it is received by Lü." Cui Jing said: "Lü means propriety.

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What the 综卦 relation actually says

The local structured corpus records Hexagram 9's 综卦 (zong gua, inverse) as Hexagram 10, and Hexagram 10's inverse as Hexagram 9. In the corpus's stored six-line sequence, 011111 becomes 111110 when the order is reversed. Turning the figure end for end changes line positions while preserving each line's yin or yang polarity.

Reverse, compare, then test

Draw 011111 and 111110 in two columns, reverse the first sequence, and verify the match. Then copy one concrete phrase from the reference layer for Xiao Xu and one from Lu; name one observable condition supporting each lens, choose one reversible check, and write what evidence would make you review the choice.

Common misread to avoid

A zong gua pair is not a before-and-after promise. Xiao Xu does not automatically become Lu; reversed structure neither ranks the two figures nor says which one must follow.

Source boundary

The reference layers and the zong-gua relationship come from Yarrow's bundled structured Zhouyi corpus. The English wording is an editorial explanation of that stored relation. This note is not a fresh cast, a forecast, or a claim that one hexagram must turn into the other.