比 → 震
Hexagram 8: Holding Together → Hexagram 51: The Arousing Thunder
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 5).
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 4
六四 外比之。貞吉。
Six in the fourth place means: Hold to him outwardly also. 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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
出值凶災，逢五赤頭，跳言死格。扶杖伏聽，不敢動搖。
Going out, he meets fierce calamity; encountering five red-headed ones who shout of death and violence. Leaning on his staff, he crouches and listens; not daring to stir.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water upon earth offers no shelter from sudden calamity. Venturing out, one encounters violent disaster — five red-headed figures who leap forward crying 'death!' The traveler can only lean on a staff and crouch in submission, not daring to stir. The 'five red heads' suggest bandits or malign spirits; the number five and the color red intensify the sense of overwhelming menace. From Holding Together to The Arousing, doubled thunder shakes the world. Zhen's image calls for 'fearful self-examination' — exactly what the verse depicts. The traveler's frozen submission is not cowardice but the only appropriate response when thunder strikes: hold still, survive the shock, and reflect on what brought you into the storm.
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