比 → 大有
Hexagram 8: Holding Together → Hexagram 14: Great Possession
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 6 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 1
初六 有孚比之。无咎。有孚盈缶。終來有它吉。
Six at the beginning means: Hold to him in truth and loyalty; This is without blame. Truth, like a full earthen bowl: Thus in the end Good fortune comes from without.
Line 2
六二 比之自內。貞吉。
Six in the second place means: Hold to him inwardly. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Line 3
六三 比之匪人。
Six in the third place means: You hold together with the wrong people.
Line 4
六四 外比之。貞吉。
Six in the fourth place means: Hold to him outwardly also. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Line 5
九五 顯比。王用三驅。失前禽。邑人不誡。吉。
Nine in the fifth place means: Manifestation of holding together. In the hunt the king uses beaters on three sides only And forgoes game that runs off in front. The citizens need no warning. Good fortune.
Line 6
上六 比之无首。凶。
Six at the top means: He finds no head for holding together. Misfortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
挒絜累累，締結難解。嫫母衒嫁，媒不得坐，自為身禍。
Tangled and knotted, hard to undo. The ugly woman Momo parades herself for marriage; the matchmaker cannot even sit down -- she brings calamity upon herself.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water upon earth draws things together, but not every union is welcome. Tangles knot upon themselves, bindings that cannot be undone. Mo Mu — the legendarily ugly consort of the Yellow Emperor — parades herself for marriage, yet no matchmaker will even sit down to negotiate. Her self-promotion becomes her own misfortune. Mo Mu in the classical canon represents inner virtue disguised by outward ugliness; but here the verse focuses on the futility of forcing a match where none is wanted. From Holding Together to Great Possession, the paradox intensifies: Dayou's fire in heaven promises supreme abundance, yet the verse delivers only frustrated entanglement. Alliance misapplied — pushing bonds onto the unwilling — transforms potential wealth into self-inflicted disgrace.
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