Hexagram 8
比
Bǐ
Holding Together
Upper Trigram
坎 Kǎn
Water — Abysmal
Lower Trigram
坤 Kūn
Earth — Receptive
Classical Texts
The Judgment
吉。原筮元永貞。无咎。不寧方來。後夫凶。
The Image
地上有水，比。先王以建萬國，親諸侯。
The Lines
Line 1
初六 有孚比之。无咎。有孚盈缶。終來有它吉。
Line 2
六二 比之自內。貞吉。
Line 3
六三 比之匪人。
Line 4
六四 外比之。貞吉。
Line 5
九五 顯比。王用三驅。失前禽。邑人不誡。吉。
Line 6
上六 比之无首。凶。
Luncheon of the Boating Party
Renoir, Unknown
Holding Together
Renoir's balcony overlooks the Seine at Chatou, where friends gather for lunch on a late summer afternoon in 1881. Luncheon of the Boating Party depicts the Maison Fournaise restaurant, a popular spot for Parisian rowers and their companions. Men in straw boaters lean toward women in elegant dresses; wine bottles crowd the white tablecloth; a small dog perches on a chair beside its owner. Striped awnings filter the sunlight into warm, dappled patterns across faces and fabric. Everyone talks, drinks, leans in—no single figure dominates the composition. Renoir painted fourteen people arranged in natural clusters, each group self-organizing around shared conversation, shared food, shared pleasure in the afternoon. The painting captures voluntary gathering, people drawn together by affinity rather than obligation.
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This is Bǐ (比), which combines Water (☵) above and Earth (☷) below. The character 比 shows two people standing side by side, the closeness of alliance and companionship. Water rests upon earth, spreading to fill all spaces—natural cohesion rather than imposed structure. Renoir's composition embodies this principle: no hierarchy, no command, just individuals who have chosen to occupy the same sunlit balcony on the same afternoon, finding pleasure in proximity. Renoir's 1881 Impressionist painting depicts friends gathering for lunch on a balcony overlooking the Seine. The convivial scene shows people coming together in harmony, representing the theme of holding together or union. The Judgment addresses the question of how people come together without coercion: "Holding together brings good fortune. Inquire of the oracle once again whether you possess sublimity, constancy, and perseverance; then there is no blame." The text suggests that sustained union requires something beyond momentary attraction—some quality in those gathered that makes their cohesion endure. Renoir painted an afternoon; the question becomes whether these friendships will persist beyond the meal, beyond the season. Ancient diviners distinguished between unions built on fleeting circumstance and those built on genuine complementarity. The warning remains stark: "Those who are uncertain gradually join. Whoever comes too late meets with misfortune." The Image Text shifts scale from friendship to governance: "On the earth is water: the image of holding together. Thus the kings of antiquity bestowed the different states as fiefs and cultivated friendly relations with the feudal lords." Political organization through alliance rather than direct control, through cultivated relationship rather than imposed hierarchy. In the I-Ching's sequence, Bǐ follows Shī: after organized military force comes the transition to peaceful social cohesion. Renoir's balcony shows what happens when people gather not because commanded but because drawn together—the complementary opposite of hexagram 7's hierarchy, union through natural attraction rather than organized purpose.
Yilin: Forest of Changes
From Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — the verse for Hexagram 8 in its unchanging form. A Han dynasty collection of four-character verses interpreting every hexagram transformation.
鹿得美草，鳴呼其友。九族和睦，不憂飢乏。長子入獄，霜降族哭。
The deer finds fine grass, calling out to its friends. The nine clans live in harmony; no worry of hunger or want. The eldest son enters prison; when frost falls, the clan weeps.
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Water upon earth, doubled — Holding Together transforming into itself. A deer finds sweet grass and calls out to its companions, echoing the Shijing ode 'Luming': the nine clans gather in harmony, free from hunger and want. Yet the verse pivots sharply: the eldest son enters prison, and when frost descends, the clan weeps together. The frost-descent execution season signals judicial punishment at autumn's appointed time. Both halves are expressions of Bi: the deer calling friends is alliance in joy; the clan weeping for a condemned kinsman is alliance in grief. Holding Together does not dissolve when fortune turns — it deepens. The same bonds that share abundance must also bear collective sorrow.
中文注释
地上有水，比之自比——親附之卦化為自身。鹿得美草，鳴呼其友——此即《詩經·小雅·鹿鳴》之象：呦呦鹿鳴，食野之苹。九族和睦，不憂飢乏，太平之景也。然詩意驟轉：長子入獄，霜降族哭。霜降為古代行刑之季，秋冬肅殺之氣應乎刑殺。詩之兩半皆為比之表現：鹿鳴呼友，樂中之盟也；全族哀哭，悲中之盟也。親附之道不因厄運而解——反而更深。共享豐饒之同一紐帶，亦須共擔哀慟。
Related Hexagrams
Same upper trigram: Water (坎)
Same lower trigram: Earth (坤)