Hexagram 9 小畜 changing to hexagram 8 比
Changing lines (counted from the bottom): 1, 2, 3, 6.
What to read
Four changing lines: read the two unchanged lines of the resulting hexagram; the lower one is the main one. (Rule set out by Zhu Xi in the Yixue qimeng.)
Hexagram 8 比, line 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.
Hexagram 8 比, line 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.
The two hexagrams
Hexagram 9 小畜 — judgment
亨。密雲不雨，自我西郊。
Hsiâo Khû indicates that (under its conditions) there will be progress and success. (We see) dense clouds, but no rain coming from our borders in the west.
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.
The changing lines of hexagram 9
| Line | Chinese | Legge |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 復自道，何其咎，吉。 | The first line, undivided, shows its subject returning and pursuing his own course. What mistake should he fall into? There will be good fortune. |
| 2 | 牽復，吉。 | The second line, undivided, shows its subject, by the attraction (of the former line), returning (to the proper course). There will be good fortune. |
| 3 | 車說輹，夫妻反目。 | The third line, undivided, suggests the idea of a carriage, the strap beneath which has been removed, or of a husband and wife looking on each other with averted eyes. |
| 6 | 既雨既處，尚得載，婦貞厲，月幾望，君子征凶。 | The topmost line, undivided, shows how the rain has fallen, and the (onward progress) is stayed;—(so) must we value the full accumulation of the virtue (represented by the upper trigram). But a wife (exercising restraint), however firm and correct she may be, is in a position of peril, (and like) the moon approaching to the full. If the superior man prosecute his measures (in such circumstances), 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.