I Ching Oracle Lookup - Hexagram 8: Holding Together

Yin-Yang symbol

Welcome to Hexagram 8, Holding Together. The table below maps every combination of changing lines to its resulting hexagram — 63 transformations plus the unchanging reading. The notation reads from the bottom line upward: 8.1.5 means Hexagram 8 with lines 1 and 5 changing.

䷇
8
 		 ䷇
8.1
3		 ䷇
8.2
29		 ䷇
8.3
39		 ䷇
8.4
45		 ䷇
8.5
2		 ䷇
8.6
20		 ䷇
8.1.2
60
䷇
8.1.3
63		 ䷇
8.1.4
17		 ䷇
8.1.5
24		 ䷇
8.1.6
42		 ䷇
8.2.3
48		 ䷇
8.2.4
47		 ䷇
8.2.5
7		 ䷇
8.2.6
59
䷇
8.3.4
31		 ䷇
8.3.5
15		 ䷇
8.3.6
53		 ䷇
8.4.5
16		 ䷇
8.4.6
12		 ䷇
8.5.6
23		 ䷇
8.1.2.3
5		 ䷇
8.1.2.4
58
䷇
8.1.2.5
19		 ䷇
8.1.2.6
61		 ䷇
8.1.3.4
49		 ䷇
8.1.3.5
36		 ䷇
8.1.3.6
37		 ䷇
8.1.4.5
51		 ䷇
8.1.4.6
25		 ䷇
8.1.5.6
27
䷇
8.2.3.4
28		 ䷇
8.2.3.5
46		 ䷇
8.2.3.6
57		 ䷇
8.2.4.5
40		 ䷇
8.2.4.6
6		 ䷇
8.2.5.6
4		 ䷇
8.3.4.5
62		 ䷇
8.3.4.6
33
䷇
8.3.5.6
52		 ䷇
8.4.5.6
35		 ䷇
8.1.2.3.4
43		 ䷇
8.1.2.3.5
11		 ䷇
8.1.2.3.6
9		 ䷇
8.1.2.4.5
54		 ䷇
8.1.2.4.6
10		 ䷇
8.1.2.5.6
41
䷇
8.1.3.4.5
55		 ䷇
8.1.3.4.6
13		 ䷇
8.1.3.5.6
22		 ䷇
8.1.4.5.6
21		 ䷇
8.2.3.4.5
32		 ䷇
8.2.3.4.6
44		 ䷇
8.2.3.5.6
18		 ䷇
8.2.4.5.6
64
䷇
8.3.4.5.6
56		 ䷇
8.1.2.3.4.5
34		 ䷇
8.1.2.3.4.6
1		 ䷇
8.1.2.3.5.6
26		 ䷇
8.1.2.4.5.6
38		 ䷇
8.1.3.4.5.6
30		 ䷇
8.2.3.4.5.6
50		 ䷇
8.1.2.3.4.5.6
14

About the Transformations of Hexagram 8

Hexagram 8, Holding Together (比 Bǐ), locates Earth below and Water above. The lower trigram supplies a fully yin, receptive base, while Water introduces a centered yang line into the upper field. Movement in lines 1–3 differentiates Earth from below; movement in lines 4–6 reconstructs Water above. Combinations that include both ranges change not merely a trigram but the structural relation between an open foundation and a concentrated upper center.

To calculate any mapped result, each changing line is inverted and the figure formed by all six final line values is matched to its resulting hexagram. The table contains six single-line transformations and fifty-seven outcomes involving multiple changing lines. Its additional unchanging entry marks the absence of inversion: the original hexagram remains the sole figure, and the Judgment of Hexagram 8 alone governs.

With all six lines moving, Holding Together resolves into Hexagram 14, Great Possession, its complete complement. Its King Wen neighbor and pair partner is Hexagram 7, The Army. The mechanism joining them is inversion, since turning Hexagram 8 upside down produces the line pattern of Hexagram 7. Thus its sequence partner derives from vertical reversal, whereas Great Possession derives from changing the polarity of every position.

For the full Judgment, Image, and line texts, see Hexagram 8: Holding Together →