比 → 頤
Hexagram 8: Holding Together → Hexagram 27: Nourishment
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 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 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
滕蛇乘龍，年歲飢凶，民食草蓬。
The serpent coils around the dragon; the year brings famine and disaster. The people eat grass and weeds.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water upon earth turns hostile when a serpent usurps the dragon's authority. The teng-serpent rides the dragon — a lesser creature commandeering a greater one's power — and the result is famine. The year turns to disaster; the people are reduced to eating wild wormwood. The teng-serpent (滕蛇) in Han divination lore represents deception and illegitimate authority. When it 'rides' the dragon, the natural hierarchy inverts, and the earth's nourishment fails. From Holding Together to Nourishment, the irony is stark: Yi's mountain over thunder governs what nourishes and what starves, cautioning to 'be careful in speech and moderate in food.' The corrupted alliance of Bi produces a perverse Yi — mouths that cannot be fed because the wrong power controls the granary.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store