Yarrow self-inverse source note · 2026-07-17

Zhong Fu: What a Self-Inverse Hexagram Does—and Does Not—Mean

Read Hexagram 61 Zhong Fu (Inner Truth) as a self-inverse zong gua: reversing its six-line order preserves the pattern without fixing the meaning, context, or outcome.

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61 · Zhong Fu · Inner Truth

Inmost Sincerity. When sincerity reaches even to pigs and fishes, there is good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water. It furthers one to be persevering. The Commentary says: In Inmost Sincerity, the yielding lines are within and the firm hold the central places. Joyousness met with gentleness — sincerity thus transforms the land. "Pigs and fishes, good fortune": the truth reaches even to pigs and fishes. "It furthers one to cross the great water": one rides upon wood, and the boat is hollow.

The hexagram image of "the soft within and the firm attaining the center" gives Zhongfu its virtue of sincerity and trustworthiness. However, this is by no means due solely to the "firm at the center" feature, nor can it be adequately explained by what the Zhengyi calls "trustworthiness issuing from the center.

Complete source entry

Structural symmetry

Stored sequence: 011110

Reversed sequence: 011110

The equality is a property of the line arrangement. It is not a result forecast.

What self-inverse actually says

The local structured corpus records Hexagram 61's 综卦 (zong gua, inverse) as itself. Its stored six-line sequence is 011110; reversing the order still gives 011110. This is structural symmetry under a change of viewing direction, not evidence that the situation or its outcome is fixed.

Hold the pattern, vary the context

Write 011110 twice, reverse the second copy, and verify that the sequences still match. Copy one concrete phrase from the reference layer, list two different observable contexts in which it might matter, and choose one reversible check that could distinguish those contexts.

Common misread to avoid

Self-inverse does not mean predetermined, unchanging, or identical from every human viewpoint. It says only that reversing the six line positions leaves this structural pattern unchanged.

Source boundary

The reference layer and the self-inverse relationship come from Yarrow's bundled structured Zhouyi corpus. The English wording is an editorial explanation. This note is not a fresh cast, a prediction, or a promise that every direction leads to the same result.