Yarrow / Source Notes / 2026-07-17
Yarrow 综卦 source note · 2026-07-17
Compare Hexagram 15 Qian (Modesty) and Hexagram 16 Yu (Enthusiasm) as a zong gua inverse pair: reversed line order changes viewing direction without forecasting a transition.
Modesty: success. The superior man who holds fast to modesty brings things to a good end. The Tuan says: Modesty creates success. The way of heaven sends its light downward and shines forth; the way of earth lies low, yet its breath rises upward.
"Reduce what is excessive and increase what is insufficient, weigh things and distribute them evenly" — the thought emphasized in the Qian hexagram reflects the ancient people's ardent longing for social fairness.
YU, Enthusiasm: it is favorable to install feudal lords and to set armies marching. The Tuan says: In Yu, the firm finds response, and its will is carried out; there is movement in accord with devotion — this is Yu.
The Erya states: "Yu means peace and joy." The Book of Songs, Xiaoya, Baiju says: "You dukes and you lords, your ease and joy know no end." Yu thus means joy.
The local structured corpus records Hexagram 15's 综卦 (zong gua, inverse) as Hexagram 16, and Hexagram 16's inverse as Hexagram 15. In the corpus's stored six-line sequence, 000001 becomes 100000 when the order is reversed. Turning the figure end for end changes line positions while preserving each line's yin or yang polarity.
Draw 000001 and 100000 in two columns, reverse the first sequence, and verify the match. Then copy one concrete phrase from the reference layer for Qian and one from Yu; name one observable condition supporting each lens, choose one reversible check, and write what evidence would make you review the choice.
A zong gua pair is not a before-and-after promise. Qian does not automatically become Yu; reversed structure neither ranks the two figures nor says which one must follow.
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.