師 → 比
Hexagram 7: The Army → Hexagram 8: Holding Together
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 5).
Line 2
九二 在師中吉。无咎。王三錫命。
Nine in the second place means: In the midst of the army. Good fortune. No blame. The king bestows a triple decoration.
Line 5
六五 田有禽。利執言。无咎。長子帥師。弟子輿尸。貞凶。
Six in the fifth place means: There is game in the field. It furthers one to catch it. Without blame. Let the eldest lead the army. The younger transports corpses; Then perseverance brings misfortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
削樹無枝，與子分離。飢寒莫食，獨泣哀悲。
Pruning the tree bare of branches; parted from the child. Hungry, cold, with nothing to eat; weeping alone in sorrow.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water hidden within the earth musters the multitude, but here all support is stripped away. A tree shorn of its branches stands bare — and with it comes separation from one's child. Hungry and cold with nothing to eat, one weeps alone in grief. The stripped tree is a powerful image of total deprivation: no shelter, no sustenance, no companionship. From The Army to Holding Together, the transformation is bitterly ironic. Water upon the earth should draw people into alliance, yet the speaker has lost everything that makes bonding possible. The verse implies that unity requires something to share; the destitute can only stand outside the circle of belonging.
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