比 → 賁
Hexagram 8: Holding Together → Hexagram 22: Grace
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 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 3
六三 比之匪人。
Six in the third place means: You hold together with the wrong people.
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
兩火爭明，雖鬭不傷。分離且忍，全我弟兄。
Two fires vie for brightness; though they compete, neither is harmed. Parting yet enduring; keeping my brothers whole.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water upon earth mediates between competing forces. Two fires blaze and vie for brightness, yet despite their contest they do no harm. The verse counsels separation with forbearance: endure the parting, and both brothers survive whole. Two fires in one space must consume each other — unless they agree to burn in separate hearths. This is not defeat but wisdom: yielding space preserves the bond. From Holding Together to Grace, fire at the mountain's base illuminates without consuming the peak. Bi's image of grace through restraint transforms rivalry into complementary radiance. The brothers who separate voluntarily maintain a more durable alliance than those who cling together and burn.
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