比 → 損
Hexagram 8: Holding Together → Hexagram 41: Decrease
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 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 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
二人異路，東趍西步。千里之行，不相知處。
Two men take different roads; one heads east, the other west. On a journey of a thousand li; neither knows the other is whereabouts.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water upon earth should draw companions together, but two travelers walk separate roads. One hurries east, the other paces west. A thousand li of journey separate them, and neither knows where the other has gone. The verse is a study in divergence within what should be union: both are walking, both are covering ground, but their paths lead in opposite directions. From Holding Together to Decrease, mountain sits above lake, draining what lies below to build what rises above. The verse embodies Decrease's core truth: when bonds are severed, what one gains the other loses. Separation is itself a form of diminishment — not of goods but of the relational fabric that made both travelers whole.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store