Hexagram 8 比 changing to hexagram 4 蒙
Changing lines (counted from the bottom): 2, 5, 6.
What to read
Three changing lines: read the judgments of the original and the resulting hexagram; the original is the main one. (Rule set out by Zhu Xi in the Yixue qimeng.)
Judgment of hexagram 8 比
吉。原筮元永貞，无咎。不寧方來，後夫凶。
Pî indicates that (under the conditions which it supposes) there is good fortune. But let (the principal party intended in it) re-examine himself, (as if) by divination, whether his virtue be great, unintermitting, and firm. If it be so, there will be no error. Those who have not rest will then come to him; and with those who are (too) late in coming it will be ill.
Judgment of hexagram 4 蒙
亨。匪我求童蒙，童蒙求我。初筮告，再三瀆，瀆則不告。利貞。
Măng (indicates that in the case which it presupposes) there will be progress and success. I do not (go and) seek the youthful and inexperienced, but he comes and seeks me. When he shows (the sincerity that marks) the first recourse to divination, I instruct him. If he apply a second and third time, that is troublesome; and I do not instruct the troublesome. There will be advantage in being firm and correct.
The two hexagrams
Hexagram 8 比 — judgment
吉。原筮元永貞，无咎。不寧方來，後夫凶。
Pî indicates that (under the conditions which it supposes) there is good fortune. But let (the principal party intended in it) re-examine himself, (as if) by divination, whether his virtue be great, unintermitting, and firm. If it be so, there will be no error. Those who have not rest will then come to him; and with those who are (too) late in coming it will be ill.
Hexagram 4 蒙 — judgment
亨。匪我求童蒙，童蒙求我。初筮告，再三瀆，瀆則不告。利貞。
Măng (indicates that in the case which it presupposes) there will be progress and success. I do not (go and) seek the youthful and inexperienced, but he comes and seeks me. When he shows (the sincerity that marks) the first recourse to divination, I instruct him. If he apply a second and third time, that is troublesome; and I do not instruct the troublesome. There will be advantage in being firm and correct.
The changing lines of hexagram 8
| Line | Chinese | Legge |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 比之自內，貞吉。 | In the second line, divided, we see the movement towards union and attachment proceeding from the inward (mind). With firm correctness there will be good fortune. |
| 5 | 顯比。王用三敺，失前禽，邑人不誡，吉。 | The fifth line, undivided, affords the most illustrious instance of seeking union and attachment. (We seem to see in it) the king urging his pursuit of the game (only) in three directions, and allowing the escape of all the animals before him, while the people of his towns do not warn one another (to prevent it). There will be good fortune. |
| 6 | 比之无首，凶。 | In the topmost line, divided, we see one seeking union and attachment without having taken the first step (to such an end). There will be evil. |
English: James Legge (1882), public domain. Chinese: Zhou Yi.
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0); Chinese Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.