比 → 大壯
Hexagram 8: Holding Together → Hexagram 34: Great Power
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
適戍失期，患生無聊。懼以發憂，發藏閉塞，邦國騷愁。
Missing the garrison deadline, trouble rises without recourse. Fear gives birth to worry; stores sealed and blocked -- the state is filled with anxious grief.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water upon earth organizes conscription, but here the garrison misses its deployment date. Anxiety breeds despair; fear gives rise to sorrow. Granaries are sealed shut, and the entire state sinks into gloom. Missing a military deadline was a capital offense in ancient China — the Shiji records that the Dazexiang uprising of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang began precisely because conscripts missed their reporting date. The verse captures institutional paralysis: the system designed to protect the state instead terrorizes it. From Holding Together to Great Power, thunder above heaven should unleash decisive force. Yet the verse shows that power, when mismanaged, generates not strength but collective dread.
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