Hexagram 8 比 changing to hexagram 50 鼎
Changing lines (counted from the bottom): 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
What to read
Five changing lines: read the one unchanged line of the resulting hexagram. (Rule set out by Zhu Xi in the Yixue qimeng.)
Hexagram 50 鼎, line 1
鼎顛趾，利出否，得妾以其子，无咎。
The first line, divided, shows the caldron overthrown and its feet turned up. (But) there will be advantage in its getting rid of what was bad in it. (Or it shows us) the concubine (whose position is improved) by means of her son. There will be no error.
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 50 鼎 — judgment
元吉，亨。
Ting gives the intimation of great progress and success.
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. |
| 3 | 比之匪人。 | In the third line, divided, we see its subject seeking for union with such as ought not to be associated with. |
| 4 | 外比之，貞吉。 | In the fourth line, divided, we see its subject seeking for union with the one beyond himself. 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.