Hexagram 8 of 64
比 bǐ
Union
坎 (kǎn, Water) above · 坤 (kūn, Earth) below
The Judgment 卦辞
Hold together. Those who come to you in good faith should be received; those who arrive late, after weighing options, bring less fortune. Choose your allies well.
The Image 大象
Water on the earth: union. Kings of old gave out realms to princes and kept friendly relations with all their people.
The six lines 爻辞
Each line of 比 has its own classical text. If a line in your cast is changing, its text is the heart of your reading.
Line 1 · 初六
Unite in good faith from the start. Trust is the glue — no blame.
「有孚比之，无咎」
Line 2 · 六二
Alliance from within, from your own sincerity. What is genuine holds.
「比之自内，贞吉」
Line 3 · 六三
You are allying with the wrong people. Look again at who surrounds you.
「比之匪人」
Line 4 · 六四
Reaching outward to unite with the worthy. Good fortune follows.
「外比之，贞吉」
Line 5 · 九五
Open-handed union: the king hunts on three sides and lets the game before him escape. Forcing closeness loses it; freedom keeps it.
「显比，王用三驱，失前禽，邑人不诫，吉」
Line 6 · 上六
Alliance without a head, a bond with no center. It cannot hold — misfortune.
「比之无首，凶」
If you drew this in a reading
A favorable pattern. Among the sixty-four patterns, this one belongs to the favorable family: its core movement supports what you would do with it. Favorable does not mean automatic — the hexagram still asks you to hold up your end with steadiness and good faith.
In yes/no questions this hexagram leans yes — the pattern supports proceeding.
The trigrams give the flavor: 坎 (Water) above — the abysmal — depth, danger, flow through difficulty — over 坤 (Earth) below — receptive devotion — nourishment, patience, carrying others. Where those two energies meet, 比 is born.
Ask Bu Gua — cast the coins for your question →