困 → 比
Hexagram 47: Oppression → Hexagram 8: Holding Together
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 4).
Line 2
九二 困于酒食。朱紱方來。利用享祀。征凶无咎。
Nine in the second place means: One is oppressed while at meat and drink. The man with the scarlet knee bands is just coming. It furthers one to offer sacrifice. To set forth brings misfortune. No blame.
Line 4
九四 來徐徐。困于金車。吝。有終。
Nine in the fourth place means: He comes very quietly, oppressed in a golden carriage. Humiliation, but the end is reached.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
望尚阿衡，太宰周公。藩屏湯武，立為侯王。
The fine horse awaits its Bo Le; cold iron awaits the master smith. Once meeting the one who understands — a thousand li of road opens.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lake without water, yet the original verse gazes upward toward deliverance. Yi Yin, the Aheng, rose from cook to chief minister under King Tang; the Duke of Zhou served as regent to young King Cheng. Both men became 'fence and shield' to their respective founders, Tang and Wu, who thereby established their royal houses. The verse names the supreme model of minister-patron union: the worthy man finds his sovereign, and together they build an enduring dynasty. From Oppression to Holding Together, water rests upon earth, and the former kings use this image to establish myriad states and bind the feudal lords. Oppression dissolves the moment the right patron appears, transforming isolation into the foundational bond of political order.
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