Hexagram 8: Alliance
Outer trigram (upper)
Khảm
Water · Water
Inner trigram (lower)
Khôn
Earth · Earth
Judgment
比吉．原筮，元永貞，无咎．不寧方來，後夫凶.
Tỉ cát. Nguyên phệ, nguyên vĩnh trinh, vô cứu. Bất ninh phương lai, hậu phu hung.
Translation
Closeness and mutual support bring good fortune. If a second divination confirms the first, and the result shows the qualities of greatness, endurance, and uprightness, there is no blame. Those who are still unsettled or troubled will come to join, but whoever arrives late meets misfortune.
Commentary
In this hexagram, water lies above the earth: water soaks down into the earth, and the earth draws the water in, and so the meaning is closeness, intimacy, and mutual support. There is also a single firm, balanced, and rightly placed yang line (Line 5) that all five yin lines rally around — the image of a ruler (or anyone in a position above others) trusted and followed by the whole people (those below). This is why the hexagram is named for closeness and union. But Line 5, holding the position of highest honor, must remain careful and examine itself thoroughly; only when it truly possesses greatness, endurance, and uprightness is it genuinely free of blame.
Line Readings
Line 1 (yin)
初六：有孚，比之，无咎．有孚盈缶，終來有他吉.
Translation
Line 1, yin: At the very start, joining together in genuine trust brings no blame. If that trust is as full as a jar filled to the brim, further good fortune will follow.
Commentary
Line 1 is soft yin, yet it is balanced and rightly placed within the lower trigram, and it corresponds with firm yang Line 5, likewise balanced and rightly placed, in the upper trigram — hence the sense of reaching out from within toward what lies outside. The two are drawn together because they share the same principles, both balanced and upright, not because the lower party is courting favor with someone above for the sake of wealth and status. Because the closeness is genuine, nothing is compromised, and so the result is good.
Line 2 (yin)
六二：比之自內，貞吉.
Translation
Line 2, yin: Reaching from within toward what lies outside, in a proper and upright way, brings good fortune.
Commentary
This line is soft yin, balanced and rightly placed, in the lower trigram, and it corresponds with firm yang Line 5, also balanced and rightly placed, in the upper trigram — hence the sense of joining from within toward what lies outside. The two are close because they follow the same principles (both balanced, both upright), not because the lower is currying favor with the one above for wealth and status. Being genuine in this way, nothing is compromised, and so the result is good.
Line 3 (yin)
六三：比之匪人.
Translation
Line 3, yin: Drawing close to people who are not worthy of it.
Commentary
This line is soft yin, neither balanced nor properly placed, and everything around it is likewise soft yin — hence the comparison to keeping company with unworthy, unfit people.
Line 4 (yin)
六四：外比之，貞吉.
Translation
Line 4, yin: Drawing close to what lies outside (Line 5), while holding to the proper path, brings good fortune.
Commentary
As a yin line in the fourth position, it is properly placed — better off than Line 3 — and it sits close to Line 5. In this way it draws near to a worthy person (Line 5, balanced and upright) and submits to the one above, and so the result is good.
Line 5 (yang)
九五：顯比，王用三驅.
Translation
Line 5, yang: Closeness that is open and shown in the light of day. The ruler hunts by driving beaters in from three sides only, leaving one side open for the animals to escape.
Commentary
This line holds the position of highest honor: firm yang, balanced and upright, so that all five yin lines — standing for the whole realm — submit to it. Closeness built on such a foundation is open and entirely without concealment. Whoever wishes to follow the ruler is free to come; whoever does not, and wishes to turn away, is free to withdraw — no one is forced. Everyone is left free to come and go, just as in the hunt where beaters close in from only three sides, leaving one side open for the animals to escape. In this way those around the ruler are won over by influence rather than coercion, and come to hold the same balance and uprightness as the ruler does.
Line 6 (yin)
上六：比之无首，凶.
Translation
Line 6 (top), yin: There is no thread left to draw close by — misfortune.
Commentary
This yin line sits at the very top, off balance, unable to form any bond with the yin lines below. It has no beginning point to build closeness from — and without a beginning there can be no proper end, and so the outcome is misfortune.