The I Ching, Legge tr.

The Yî King Text: Section I: VIII. The Pî Hexagram

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This is a dual-layered classical Chinese text: the received reading of Hexagram 8 (Pî/比, "Union" or "Holding Together") from the *I Ching* (*Yi Jing*), followed by a scholarly commentary in the tradition of James Legge's 19th-century English translation. The hexagram's central argument is that social and political cohesion within a state depends on the sovereign authority of a virtuous ruler, toward whom all subjects ought to freely and promptly incline — delay in submitting is treated as a misfortune. Each of the six line positions is read as describing a different mode or quality of seeking union: sincere but plain (line 1), inwardly motivated (line 2), ill-chosen association (line 3), correct submission to the ruler (line 4), the king's benevolent example illustrated through a hunting metaphor (line 5), and a failed late attempt at union (line 6). The commentary is notably critical in places — the scholar explicitly flags that some symbolic attributions feel contrived or "made for the occasion," particularly the claim that line 1's "sincerity" can be derived from the line's structural position. The hunting image in line 5 is given the most developed treatment: the king's practice of leaving one side of the hunt open is read as a model of benevolence that generates mutual trust, making it the hexagram's emblem of ideal governance. Readers interested in I Ching hermeneutics, classical Chinese political philosophy, or the history of Western sinology will find both the primary text and the meta-commentary useful.

The Yî King Text: Section I: VIII. The Pî Hexagram

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