比 → 萃
Hexagram 8: Holding Together → Hexagram 45: Gathering Together
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 4).
Line 4
六四 外比之。貞吉。
Six in the fourth place means: Hold to him outwardly also. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
團團白日，為月所食。損上毀下，鄭昭出走。
The round white sun, devoured by the moon. Damaging above, destroying below; Duke Zhao of Zheng flees.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water upon earth darkens as the round white sun is devoured by the moon — a solar eclipse, the most feared omen of Han-dynasty political thought. The upper is damaged, the lower harmed, and Duke Zhao of Zheng is forced to flee. Solar eclipses in classical cosmology signaled that yin had overpowered yang: ministers usurping rulers, the subordinate swallowing the sovereign. Duke Zhao of Zheng was ousted around 697 BC when court factions conspired against him. From Holding Together to Gathering, the transformation is ironic: Cui's lake upon earth should collect the people in unity, yet the verse depicts a ruler expelled from the very community he should lead. Gathering turns against its center.
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