比 → 蒙
Hexagram 8: Holding Together → Hexagram 4: Youthful Folly
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 5, 6).
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 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
彭生為娛，白虎行菑。盜堯衣裳，桀跖荷兵。青禽照火，三日夷傷。
Peng Sheng provides entertainment; the white tiger walks in disaster. Stealing Yao's robes; Jie and Zhi bear arms. The blue bird lights the fire; three days of ruin and harm.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water upon earth becomes treacherous when malign forces infiltrate the alliance. Peng Sheng, the strongman of Qi, was used by Duke Xiang to murder Duke Huan of Lu in 694 BC; according to tradition, his vengeful ghost later appeared as a wild boar during a hunt, terrifying Duke Xiang to death. The White Tiger — celestial guardian of the west, associated with war and destruction — spreads calamity. Bandits don the sage-king Yao's robes, and figures like Jie and Robber Zhi bear arms: virtue is stolen and violence legitimized. The blue bird illuminates by firelight, yet within three days, devastation follows. From Holding Together to Youthful Folly, corrupted bonds breed danger under a veil of ignorance — mountain over water conceals what flows beneath.
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