鼎 → 比
Hexagram 50: The Cauldron → Hexagram 8: Holding Together
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 2
九二 鼎有實。我仇有疾。不我能即。吉。
Nine in the second place means: There is food in the ting. My comrades are envious, But they cannot harm me. Good fortune.
Line 3
九三 鼎耳革。其行塞。雉膏不食。方雨虧悔。終吉。
Nine in the third place means: The handle of the ting is altered. One is impeded in his way of life. The fat of the pheasant is not eaten. Once rain falls, remorse is spent. Good fortune comes in the end.
Line 4
九四 鼎折足。覆公餗。其形渥。凶。
Nine in the fourth place means: The legs of the ting are broken. The prince's meal is spilled And his person is soiled. Misfortune. A man has a difficult and responsible task to which he is not adequate. Moreover, he does not devote himself to it with all his strength but goes about with inferior people; therefore the execution of the work fails. In this way he also incurs personal opprobrium. Confucius says about this line: "Weak character coupled with honored place, meager knowledge with large plans, limited powers with heavy responsibility, will seldom escape disaster. "
Line 5
六五 鼎黃耳金鉉。利貞。
Six in the fifth place means: The ting has yellow handles, golden carrying rings. Perseverance furthers.
Line 6
上九 鼎玉鉉。大吉。无不利。
Nine at the top means: The ting has rings of jade. Great good fortune. Nothing that would not act to further.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
陸居少泉，高山无雲。車行千里，塗污爾輪，亦為我患。
Dwelling inland, springs are few; high mountains bear no clouds. The cart travels a thousand li; mud fouls its wheels and becomes our affliction too.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire over wind heats the cauldron, but water upon earth pools into uncertain alliances. Dwelling on high ground where springs are scarce, beneath a tall mountain where clouds refuse to form — aridity rules this landscape. A cart travels a thousand li only to have its wheels caked in mud, and that mud becomes 'our trouble too.' Distance and depletion define this verse: resources dwindle, the journey fouls itself, and contamination spreads. From The Cauldron to Holding Together, the transformation warns that seeking alliance from a position of scarcity yields only shared hardship. The cauldron's fire cannot cook without water; the cart's wheels cannot turn in mire. Unity forged under drought brings mutual affliction rather than mutual aid.
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