Yarrow 综卦 source note · 2026-07-17

Bo and Fu: What a Zong Gua Inverse Pair Shows

Compare Hexagram 23 Bo (Splitting Apart) and Hexagram 24 Fu (Return) as a zong gua inverse pair: reversed line order changes viewing direction without forecasting a transition.

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23 · Bo · Splitting Apart

Splitting Apart. It does not further one to go anywhere. The Commentary on the Judgment says: Splitting Apart means stripping away. The yielding alters the firm. "It does not further one to go anywhere," for the inferior men are growing. To yield and arrest it — this is seen in the image.

Yin flourishes while yang wanes—this is the overall character of the Bo hexagram. In nature, yang energy is on the verge of being stripped away entirely by yin: autumn winds turn harsh and severe, and the grasses and...

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24 · Fu · Return

Return: success and progress. The firm returns; movement follows the way of docility. Thus going out and coming in are without harm, and friends arrive without blame. The way reverses upon itself; in seven days comes the return — such is the course of Heaven. It is favorable to have somewhere to go, for the firm is growing.

The Way of Heaven moves in cycles, generating life endlessly. After the yang force has been stripped away to its utmost, it turns back and returns again, and this return always comes in its proper time—necessarily on...

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What the 综卦 relation actually says

The local structured corpus records Hexagram 23's 综卦 (zong gua, inverse) as Hexagram 24, and Hexagram 24's inverse as Hexagram 23. In the corpus's stored six-line sequence, 001000 becomes 000100 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 001000 and 000100 in two columns, reverse the first sequence, and verify the match. Then copy one concrete phrase from the reference layer for Bo and one from Fu; 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. Bo does not automatically become Fu; 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.