Yarrow 综卦 source note · 2026-07-17

Tai and Pi: What a Zong Gua Inverse Pair Shows

Compare Hexagram 11 Tai (Peace) and Hexagram 12 Pi (Standstill) as a zong gua inverse pair: reversed line order changes viewing direction without forecasting a transition.

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11 · Tai · Peace

Tai signifies peaceful prevailing: the small departs, the great approaches. Good fortune. Success. The Tuan says: "Tai. The small departs, the great approaches. Good fortune. Success." Heaven and earth commune, and the ten thousand things flow freely; above and below commune, and their wills are joined as one.

The Rites of Zhou: Records of Examination of Craftsmen states: "Heaven has its seasons, earth has its vital force." Zhu Xi, in his Original Meaning of the Book of Changes, says: "When heaven and earth interact, the two...

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12 · Pi · Standstill

Obstruction: there is a standstill of evil men. It does not further the perseverance of the superior man. The great departs; the small approaches. Heaven and earth do not commingle, and the myriad things find no passage. Superiors and inferiors do not commune, and within the realm no true states arise.

The Xugua commentary says: "Things cannot remain forever in a state of openness, therefore Pi follows." The Pi hexagram symbolizes the transition from a state of harmonious flow to one of obstruction and closure.

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What the 综卦 relation actually says

The local structured corpus records Hexagram 11's 综卦 (zong gua, inverse) as Hexagram 12, and Hexagram 12's inverse as Hexagram 11. In the corpus's stored six-line sequence, 000111 becomes 111000 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 000111 and 111000 in two columns, reverse the first sequence, and verify the match. Then copy one concrete phrase from the reference layer for Tai and one from Pi; 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. Tai does not automatically become Pi; 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.