比 → 需
Hexagram 8: Holding Together → Hexagram 5: Waiting
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
黍稷醇醴，敬奉山宗。神嗜飲食，甘雨嘉降。黎庶蕃殖，獨蒙福祉。
Millet and pure wine, reverently offered to the mountain ancestors. The spirits relish the food and drink; sweet rain descends in blessing. The people multiply and flourish; alone receiving fortune's favor.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water upon earth gathers abundance, and here the community channels it upward in sacrifice. Millet and pure ale are offered reverently to the mountain shrine; the spirits savor the feast and respond with sweet rain descending in season. The common folk multiply and prosper, each one blessed. This is the reciprocal economy of ancient agrarian religion: the people give their finest grain, the gods return fertility. From Holding Together to Waiting, the transformation mirrors this exchange precisely. Xu's image — clouds gathered above heaven, not yet raining — becomes the moment of faithful anticipation before the blessing falls. Alliance provides the offering; heaven provides the response. The key is patient trust in the cycle.
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