Holding together — union and alliance, many gathering around a center.
This is the time to join with others and seek genuine belonging. Bonds form around sincerity and a worthy center. Hesitate too long and you arrive once union has already closed.
unionalliancebelongingcooperation
Holding Together places Water (abysmal, dangerous) above Earth (receptive, devoted). The interplay of these two trigrams gives the hexagram its character.
The Classical Textoriginal Chinese
The Judgment · 卦辞
吉。原筮元永贞，无咎。不宁方来，后夫凶。
The Image · 大象
地上有水，比；先王以建万国，亲诸侯。
The Six Lines · 爻辞
- 初六有孚比之，无咎。有孚盈缶，终来有他吉。象曰：比之初六，有他吉也。
- 六二比之自内，贞吉。象曰：比之自内，不自失也。
- 六三比之匪人。象曰：比之匪人，不亦伤乎。
- 六四外比之，贞吉。象曰：外比于贤，以从上也。
- 九五显比，王用三驱，失前禽。邑人不诫，吉。象曰：显比之吉，位正中也。舍逆取顺，失前禽也。邑人不诫，上使中也。
- 上六比之无首，凶。象曰：比之无首，无所终也。
The judgment, image and line texts above are quoted from the original Zhou Yi. A modern Chinese translation of the full classic is available on the original-text page.