比 → 无妄
Hexagram 8: Holding Together → Hexagram 25: Innocence
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 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 4
六四 外比之。貞吉。
Six in the fourth place means: Hold to him outwardly also. Perseverance brings 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
百足俱行，相輔為強。三聖翼事，王室寵光。
Wild geese fly together in formation, arranged in the character 人. The north wind does not scatter them; together they return to the warm valley.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water upon earth unifies the many-footed into common cause. The original verse reads: 'The hundred-footed creature moves as one, each leg reinforcing the others. Three sages lend their wings to the enterprise, and the royal house shines with favor.' The centipede, despite its countless limbs, advances without stumbling because every part supports the whole — a vivid image of coordinated alliance. The three sages likely allude to the Duke of Zhou, Taigong, and the Duke of Shao, who jointly sustained the young Zhou dynasty. From Holding Together to Innocence, heaven's thunder moves without contrivance: the alliance of sages produces an order so natural it appears spontaneous, free from calculation or guile.
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