Hexagram 8 for love
Hexagram 8 Alliance in love and relationships
Bi is water lying on the earth, flowing into every hollow: the hexagram of closeness, of things that belong together finding each other. Five yielding lines gather around one strong centre, and the judgment says good fortune — with a condition and a warning. The condition is to examine whether the bond is 'original, lasting and correct' (元永貞); the warning is that 'the one who comes late meets misfortune'. In a relationship this is the question of whether to commit, and the answer is that commitment made sincerely and in time is right, and commitment delayed past the moment is not.
The lines are ways of belonging. The first joins with plain sincerity and is rewarded beyond expectation; the second is already in the right bond and only needs to stay steady; the fourth goes toward someone genuinely worthy. The third attaches to the wrong people for want of anyone better. The fifth, the centre, keeps the relationship open and uncompelled, letting the unwilling go. The top line arrives after the bond has closed, with no head and no beginning.
The hexagram in brief
Water on the earth, flowing together: alliance and mutual support. Favourable to unite around a worthy centre; latecomers who hesitate lose their chance.
Choose alliances by character and sincerity, join early, and let those who want to leave go freely.
The judgment
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.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 比 Alliance has its own page:
- 初六Six at the beginningsincerity · a full jar · unexpected good
- 六二Six in the second placefrom within · steadfast · not losing oneself
- 六三Six in the third placethe wrong people · misplaced loyalty · harm
- 六四Six in the fourth placefrom without · following the worthy · upward
- 九五Nine in the fifth placeopen alliance · three-sided hunt · letting the game go
- 上六Six at the topno head · too late · nowhere to end
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Is hexagram 8, Alliance, a good sign for love?
- Bi is water lying on the earth, flowing into every hollow: the hexagram of closeness, of things that belong together finding each other. Five yielding lines gather around one strong centre, and the judgment says good fortune — with a condition and a warning. The condition is to examine whether the bond is 'original, lasting and correct' (元永貞); the warning is that 'the one who comes late meets misfortune'. In a relationship this is the question of whether to commit, and the answer is that commitment made sincerely and in time is right, and commitment delayed past the moment is not.
- What does Hexagram 8, 比 Alliance, mean?
- Water on the earth, flowing together: alliance and mutual support. Favourable to unite around a worthy centre; latecomers who hesitate lose their chance.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).