Also known as Holding Together, Union, Alliance.
The character 比 shows two people standing side by side. Hexagram 8 is about joining together: picking your people, committing to them, and being someone worth gathering around. Timing matters. Join too late and the door has closed.
The figure
Water over Earth. Water lying on the ground fills every hollow and takes the shape of the land exactly. One solid line, the fifth, sits near the top with five broken lines around it: a center that people rally to.
The judgment
This goes well. Ask again, properly, and commit for the long run. The unsettled are coming over. Whoever arrives last does badly.
The second asking here isn't the repetition hexagram 4 warns against. It is a check on yourself: are you steady and sincere enough to hold a group together? Those who hesitate drift in over time. Whoever arrives too late does badly.
The image
Water lying on the ground, taking its shape exactly. Set up the parts and stay close to the people running them.
The old kings divided the land and then kept in close touch with each local lord. Structure works when the relationships behind it are kept up.
The six lines
Counted from the bottom, the way the figure is built when you cast it.
- Line 1, at the bottom. Join in good faith. Not a mistake. Sincerity is like a clay jar filled to the brim, and good things come in from outside.
- Line 2. Hold together from the inside, out of your own conviction. Holding steady goes well.
- Line 3. You're bound up with people who aren't right for you. Step back before the tie costs more.
- Line 4. Show your loyalty openly to the person at the center, too. Holding steady goes well.
- Line 5. Unity in the open. In the royal hunt, the animals are driven from three directions and the way ahead is left clear, so whatever runs off may go. No one is forced to stay. It goes well.
- Line 6, at the top. Holding together with no head and no beginning. It goes badly. You joined too late, or without real commitment.
Reading it for a question
Hexagram 8 asks who you are standing with. Choose your people deliberately and commit to them in good time. If you are the center, keep people close by choice, not by force.