比 → 小過
Hexagram 8: Holding Together → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 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 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
歡悅以喜，子孫俱在；守發能忍，不見殃咎。
Joyful and delighted; sons and grandsons all present. Patient and able to endure; no calamity or fault appears.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water upon earth gathers the family in gladness. Joy and delight fill the air; children and grandchildren are all present and accounted for. The one who guards what has been achieved with patience sees no disaster or blame. The verse celebrates multi-generational wholeness: the family intact, the elders content, the young ones thriving. 'Guarding and enduring' (守發能忍) suggests that this happiness was not effortless but required restraint and forbearance. From Holding Together to Small Exceeding, thunder atop the mountain slightly overshoots — but in matters of reverence, grief, and frugality, a small excess is appropriate. The verse's disciplined contentment embodies Xiaoguo's lesson: exceed slightly in caution and care, never in ambition.
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