Hexagram 8 — Grouping
King Wen #8 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Holding together. People unite around a trusted center; choose your alliances early and clearly.
What Hexagram 8 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 8 places earth (坤) beneath water (坎) — receptive ground holding all things below, water finding its way through hard gaps above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Grouping”: holding together. People unite around a trusted center; choose your alliances early and clearly. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
地上有水，比；先王以建萬國，親諸侯。
(The trigram representing) the earth, and over it (that representing) water, form Pî. The ancient kings, in accordance with this, established the various states and maintained an affectionate relation to their princes.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Water spreads over the ground: union. Ancient kings made alliances and drew close to their allies.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 8 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Grouping describes holding together. People unite around a trusted center; choose your alliances early and clearly — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: receptive ground holding all things, held inside a larger setting of water finding its way through hard gaps. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Grouping about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: holding together. People unite around a trusted center; choose your alliances early and clearly. When lines move in your cast, read them against this base — the moving lines show which part of the figure is awake for you, and the changed hexagram shows where it is heading.
Questions About Hexagram 8
What does 比 (bǐ) mean?
Hexagram 8 of the I Ching is named 比 (bǐ), usually rendered "Grouping" in English editions. Its figure is built from earth (坤) below and water (坎) above — receptive ground holding all things beneath water finding its way through hard gaps.
Is hexagram 8 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 8 is warm: it contains 5 occurrences of 吉 (good fortune), 2 of 凶 (misfortune), and 2 of 無咎 (no blame). The classical verdict is broadly favourable — with the lines' own conditions attached.
What does hexagram 8 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Grouping points to holding together. People unite around a trusted center; choose your alliances early and clearly. The figure pairs earth (坤) beneath water (坎) — receptive ground holding all things meeting water finding its way through hard gaps — which is the traditional picture of how this energy behaves between two people. For how to phrase a love question before casting, see our guide to asking the I Ching about love.
What does hexagram 8 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Grouping through the figure itself: earth (坤) below, water (坎) above — receptive ground holding all things held inside water finding its way through hard gaps. The plain reading: Holding together. People unite around a trusted center; choose your alliances early and clearly. The text carries 5 mentions of 吉 (good fortune) and 2 of 凶 (misfortune), so it is read as workable — provided the conduct the lines describe is kept.
What do the changing lines of hexagram 8 mean?
A cast of hexagram 8 can produce moving lines. Each of the six lines has its own statement (爻辭) in the classical text below, read from the bottom up, and a moving line is read as the part of the figure that is awake for your question. When a line moves it turns into its opposite, and the whole figure becomes a second hexagram: changing every line of 8 gives hexagram 14, 大有 (Great Possessing). Every line also has a page of its own on this site — Line 1 through Line 6 under this hexagram — with the classical Chinese and Legge's translation side by side.
How is hexagram 8 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 8 gives hexagram 14 — 大有 (Great Possessing). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 7 — 師 (Leading). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 23 — 剝 (Stripping).
Cast it yourself
Shake the tube, watch your own coins fall.
- The hexagram's classical meaning — judgment and all six lines
- Moving lines marked — but not read for you
- No account, no email, nothing to pay
Get the reading, not just the text
Same cast, read all the way through:
- Every line read for you — what each moving line means inside your question
- The changed hexagram — where your situation is heading, and how to read the turn
- A closing that answers you directly — act, wait, or say it out loud
New to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
The Classical Text 經文
吉。原筮，元永貞，無咎。不寧方來，後夫凶。
Bi 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.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
有孚比之，無咎；有孚盈缶，終來有它，吉。
The first SIX, divided, shows its subject seeking by his sincerity to win the attachment of his object. There will be no error. Let (the breast) be full of sincerity as an earthenware vessel is of its contents, and it will in the end bring other advantages.
比之自內，貞吉。
In the second SIX, divided, we see the movement towards union and attachment proceeding from the inward (mind). With firm correctness there will be good fortune.
比之匪人。
In the third SIX, divided, we see its subject seeking for union with such as ought not to be associated with.
外比之，貞吉。
In the fourth SIX, divided, we see its subject seeking for union with the one beyond himself. With firm correctness there will be good fortune.
顯比；王用三驅，失前禽。邑人不誡，吉。
The fifth NINE, undivided, affords the most illustrious instance of seeking union and attachment. (We seem to see in it) the king urging his pursuit of the game (only) in three directions, and allowing the escape of all the animals before him, while the people of his towns do not warn one another (to prevent it). There will be good fortune.
比之無首，凶。
In the topmost SIX, divided, we see one seeking union and attachment without having taken the first step (to such an end). There will be evil.
Line by Line 逐爻细读
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text.2 The Image (象傳) is an ancient text in the public domain; its plain-English gloss here is original to The Hexagrams, not a quotation from any copyrighted edition. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.