A Classic Read Through Its Opposites

This flow traces the book's recurring use of opposition—strength and weakness, order and disorder, advance and retreat—as a means of interpretation.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

Whole and Divided Lines Differ

Two Kinds of Line Strength and weakness Whole lines are treated as strong and divided lines as weak. Legge explains that the distinction shapes the meaning assigned to each position in a hexagram. The lines become a compact grammar of action and response. Qualities are relational A line's significance changes with its place and with the lines around it. The system relies on contrast rather than a fixed meaning independent of context. Opposition provides the basis for interpretation.

Positions Make Strength Appropriate or Not

Correctness Depends on Place Odd and even positions Legge explains that odd positions suit strong lines and even positions suit weak ones. A line may be powerful in itself yet inappropriate where it stands. The figure judges action by both character and situation. The center matters The second and fifth positions, at the centers of their trigrams, carry special weight. A suitable relation between these places can represent a capable officer serving a ruler. Opposition between strength and weakness becomes a model for social roles.

Corresponding Lines Seek Balance

Relation Changes the Outcome Paired places The first and fourth, second and fifth, and third and sixth lines correspond across the two trigrams. Legge says the relation is considered complete when one line is strong and the other weak. Contrast makes cooperation possible. A rule with exceptions Legge notes that some hexagrams depart from this scheme and that commentators sometimes adapt it to a particular interpretation. The rule helps but does not explain every image. The theme shows interpretation as a structured practice that still requires judgment.

Opposite Hexagrams Reverse a Condition

Order Has Its Reverse Two figures face opposite ways Peace and Obstruction have opposite line arrangements. Legge uses their contrast to show how the same social world can move from communication to alienation. A political state cannot be understood by looking at one condition alone. Reversal is built into change The movement from one figure to its opposite reveals the instability of success. The paired forms make political decline and renewal legible as relations, not isolated events. Opposition becomes a method for seeing change.

The Whole Book Moves Through Contrast

Contrasts Make a History Each condition points onward Legge notes that the hexagrams often follow one another through a contrast or consequence: following leads to decay, union to separation, and decline eventually to return. The sequence is not a smooth, unbroken chain, but change is never far away. Reading through relations The reader must see not only what a figure says but what its position and opposite make possible. The text's meaning accumulates through comparison across changing conditions. The theme resolves in a relational view of the whole book.

At the beginning of Legge's account of line symbolism

During Legge's explanation of the line rules

During Legge's discussion of line correspondence

Across the paired Peace and Obstruction figures

At the end of Legge's account of the hexagram sequence