需 → 比
Hexagram 5: Waiting → Hexagram 8: Holding Together
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3).
Line 1
初九 需于郊。利用恆。无咎。
Nine at the beginning means: Waiting in the meadow. It furthers one to abide in what endures. No blame.
Line 2
九二 需于沙。小有言。終吉。
Nine in the second place means: Waiting on the sand. There is some gossip. The end brings good fortune.
Line 3
九三 需于泥。致寇至。
Nine in the third place means: Waiting in the mud Brings about the arrival of the enemy.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
太乙駕騮，從天上來。徵君叔季，封為魯侯。無有凶憂。
The Great Unity rides a bay horse, coming down from heaven. He summons my younger uncles and enfeoffs them as Marquis of Lu. Without ill omen or sorrow.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds above heaven part to reveal the Supreme One descending on a black-maned steed. Taiyi, the highest celestial deity of the Han cosmos, rides down from heaven itself, summoning a worthy gentleman of the youngest branch to be enfeoffed as Marquis of Lu — free from all misfortune. The verse likely alludes to the Duke of Zhou's line receiving the fief of Lu after the Zhou conquest, a reward for supreme loyalty and service. 'Youngest branch' (叔季) fits the Duke of Zhou as a younger brother of King Wu. From Waiting to Holding Together, the nourishing clouds condense into the waters that bond people to earth: divine mandate descends and the bonds of feudal loyalty are sealed.
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