比 → 小畜
Hexagram 8: Holding Together → Hexagram 9: Small Taming
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 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 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.
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
公子王孫，把彈挕丸。發輒有得，室家饒足。
Princes and lords's sons, grasping slingshot and pellet. Every shot finds its mark; the household is well supplied.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water upon earth gathers resources, and noble sons put them to skillful use. Princes and lords' heirs take up pellet bows, and every shot finds its mark; their households overflow with plenty. The pellet bow (弹丸) was a gentleman's hunting instrument in Han times, used for fowling — a sport combining leisure with provision. The verse celebrates effortless abundance achieved through skill and good birth. From Holding Together to Small Taming, the gentle wind of Xun courses across heaven's strength, refining rather than overpowering. Alliance produces not brute accumulation but the cultivated elegance of sufficiency — the small restraint that lets natural abundance flow without forcing it.
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