比 → 益
Hexagram 8: Holding Together → Hexagram 42: Increase
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 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 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
純服黃裳，載土以興。德義茂生，天下歸仁。
Wearing plain yellow robes, carrying earth to build. Virtue and righteousness flourish; all under heaven turns to benevolence.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water upon earth dresses in the yellow skirt of Kun and carries soil to build the foundations. The 'yellow skirt' (黃裳) directly quotes the Kun hexagram's fifth line — the sign of pure, centered receptive virtue. Virtue and righteousness flourish like growing plants, and all under heaven return to benevolence. The verse traces a complete arc: from the humble act of carrying earth to the cosmic vision of universal virtue. From Holding Together to Increase, wind and thunder energize each other in mutual reinforcement. Bi's alliance, when rooted in Kun's earthy devotion, generates the multiplicative power of Yi: goodness moving in both directions at once, each act of virtue stimulating another.
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