The 64 hexagrams · Hexagram 8

What does I Ching hexagram 8, Standing Together, mean?

The judgment

比：吉。原筮元永貞，无咎。不寧方來，後夫凶。Standing together: good fortune. Ask again, and if you are lasting and steady there is no blame. Those who are uneasy come now; the one who comes late does badly.Zhou Yi 周易, 比, judgment. Source

The image

地上有水，比；先王以建萬國，親諸侯。Water over the earth. The old kings set up many states and kept close to their lords.Zhou Yi 周易, 比, image. Source

The six lines

Read from the bottom up. In a cast, only the lines that move are read, and they turn the hexagram into another one. Here they are in the original; a reading translates the moving lines and reads them for the question asked.

1. First line初六：有孚，比之，无咎。有孚盈缶，終來有它，吉。
2. Second line六二：比之自內，貞吉。
3. Third line六三：比之匪人。
4. Fourth line六四：外比之，貞吉。
5. Fifth line九五：顯比。王用三敺，失前禽，邑人不誡，吉。
6. Top line上六：比之无首，凶。

The Chinese is the received text of the Zhou Yi; the English is ours. Lines and images that speak of punishments, prisons, illness or money are left out. For entertainment and self-reflection.

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