Hexagram 8, Bǐ (Holding Together): Line 5
比卦九五 · 水地比 · 中文版
九五:显比,王用三驱,失前禽。邑人不诫,吉。
The line (Legge)
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.
Small Image commentary
'The good fortune belonging to the most illustrious instance of seeking union and attachment' appears in the correct and central position (of the fifth line, undivided). (The king's) neglecting (the animals) confronting him (and then fleeing), and (only) taking those who present themselves as it were obediently, is seen in his allowing the escape of those in front of him.' 'That the people of his towns do not warn one another (to prevent such escape),' shows how he, in his high eminence, has made them pursue the due course.
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。
In plain words
Drawing close openly. The king hunts with beaters on three sides only, leaving one side open and letting the game ahead escape; the townspeople need not be on guard: good fortune. The fifth line is strong, central and correct, the ruler of the hexagram: it turns no one away and pursues no one who leaves. The Small Image says the good fortune of open closeness lies in its central, correct position; letting the game ahead go means releasing those who turn away and accepting those who come; and the townspeople need not be on guard because the one above acts from the middle.
Applying it to your situation
If you are in a position that draws others to you, this line suggests treating people openly and honestly, leaving them free to leave. In your relationships, have you left the other person "that open side"?
Position
A solid (yang) line in the fifth place, which is a yang (odd) place, so it is in its proper place. It holds the centre of the upper trigram. Its partner is line 2; one is yin and the other yang, so they respond to each other.
If this line moves
With this line moving alone, Bǐ changes into Hexagram 2 Kūn (The Receptive). The Jiaoshi Yilin verse for this change (Chinese): 焦氏易林·比之坤.
The hexagram
Hexagram 8 Bǐ (Holding Together). The Judgment: 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.
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English text: James Legge, The Yi King (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16, 1882), public domain, as transcribed by the Chinese Text Project. Chinese: the received text. Offered for study and reflection, not as prediction. Plain-English readings and position notes by this site.