The Contrary Structure (Fan Ju)

Four reversals worth knowing

Where the previous chapter follows the flow, this one names the four places where the ordinary direction reverses. A ruler who depends on his minister to live (a strong officer star kept alive by resource), a child who rescues its mother (output draining what is smothering the day master), a mother whose kindness destroys her child (too much resource drowning the self), and a healthy husband who nonetheless fears his wife (a strong self that in fact needs what it cannot control). Each is a structural paradox with a practical reading.