Fellowship
- In Chinese
- 同人 tóngrén
- Above
- The Creative, heaven
- Below
- The Clinging, fire
Did you get this hexagram?
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Mark my castWhat hexagram 13 means
Hexagram 13 is about union among people. Fire is below and heaven is above, and a single broken line in the second place sits among five whole lines.
The judgment is favorable. In Legge it speaks of “progress and success” and adds that “It will be advantageous to cross the great stream”.
Legge sets one condition on it. The union “must be based entirely on public considerations, without taint of selfishness”.
The judgment closes with a requirement of its own. Wilhelm has “The perseverance of the superior man furthers.”
The judgment and the image
The judgment
同人同人于野，亨。利涉大川。利君子貞。
FELLOWSHIP WITH MEN in the open. Success. It furthers one to cross the great water. The perseverance of the superior man furthers.
success things flow and come throughit furthers it is favorable
The image
天與火、《同人》。君子以類族辨物。
Heaven together with fire: The image of FELLOWSHIP WITH MEN. Thus the superior man organizes the clans And makes distinctions between things.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment takes the name from the one broken line. In its words “the weak (line) has the place (of influence), the central place”, and it answers to the line that matches it in the trigram above.
The same commentary reads the two trigrams together. It finds “elegance and intelligence, supported by (that indicating) strength”, and it ends with a high demand. “It is only the superior man who can comprehend and affect the minds of all under the sky.”
Legge explains why the lines suit the idea of union. The strong fifth line “occupies the most important position”, and the weak second line is its correlate. He writes that “The one divided line is naturally sought after by all the strong lines”. Heaven is above, and fire is a thing “whose tendency is to mount upwards”.
He also explains why the judgment places the union in the remote districts of the country. Those are the places “where people are unsophisticated, and free from the depraving effects incident to large societies”.
The image is heaven together with fire. The commentary draws from it a rule of order. The superior man “distinguishes things according to their kinds and classes”, and in Wilhelm he “organizes the clans”.
Legge sets this hexagram against a state of distress and obstruction. He puts the contrast in a few words. “There was distress and obstruction; here is union.”
The six lines
First line
同人于門，无咎。
Fellowship with men at the gate. No blame.
no blame there is no mistake in it
Union begins at the gate, and the text finds no error in it. Legge reads the line as “the first attempts at union” and adds that “There is, however, no intermixture of selfishness in it”.
The commentary on the line answers with a question. It asks “who will blame him?”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 33, Retreat
Second line
同人于宗，吝。
Fellowship with men in the clan. Humiliation.
humiliation it leads to embarrassment
This is the one broken line, and here the union stays among kindred. The text says “There will be occasion for regret”, and the commentary calls it “the path to regret”.
Legge gives the reason. Lines 2 and 5 match each other, and in this hexagram that suggests a union “limited and partial, and such as may afford ground for blame”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 1, The Creative
Third line
伏戎于莽，升其高陵，三歲不興。
He hides weapons in the thicket; He climbs the high hill in front of it. For three years he does not rise up.
no verdict
The subject hides his arms, stands at the top of a high mound and for three years “makes no demonstration”. The commentary says he hides them “because of the strength of his opponent” and asks “how can he do anything?”
Legge explains the hiding. The subject wants to unite with line 2, but line 2 belongs with line 5, whose strength he fears. The long wait has its use, since “His abstaining so long, however, from any active attempt, will save him from misfortune”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 25, Innocence
Fourth line
乘其墉，弗克攻，吉。
He climbs up on his wall; he cannot attack. Good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
He is up on the city wall and does not attack. This is the one line with good fortune. The commentary says that he “feels the strait he is in, and returns to the rule of law”.
Legge is plainer about the motive. The subject of this line also has line 2 in view, but “he is afraid, and does not carry his purpose into effect”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 37, The Family
Fifth line
同人先號咷而後笑，大師克，相遇。
Men bound in fellowship first weep and lament, But afterward they laugh. After great struggles they succeed in meeting.
no verdict
Grief comes first and laughter after. The subject of this line seeks line 2, its proper match, and Legge says that lines 3 and 4 stand in the way as “powerful foes that oppose the union”.
The line ends in a meeting. Wilhelm has “After great struggles they succeed in meeting.” The commentary says the first wailing arises from a “central position and straightforward character”.
Both readings say how the meeting is won. The commentary says that “the opponents of it have been overcome”, and Legge writes that “he collects his forces, defeats them, and effects his purpose”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 30, The Clinging
Sixth line
同人于郊，无悔。
Fellowship with men in the meadow. No remorse.
no remorse there is nothing to regret
The union now stands in the suburbs. The text says “There will be no occasion for repentance”, and the commentary marks the limit, since “his object has not yet been attained”.
Legge reads it the same way. The union reaches those within the suburbs and does not yet take in everyone, yet nothing here calls for repentance.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 49, Revolution
Hexagram 13 unchanging
If none of your six lines is moving, you read the hexagram as a whole. That is the judgment and the image above, without any of the line texts.
The book gives the reason. Lines that do not move are “non-moving lines, which serve only as structural matter in the hexagram, without intrinsic meaning of their own”.
For hexagram 13 unchanging, what remains is the judgment, which finds success in a union formed out in the open and asks for the firmness of the superior man. With it stays the image, which sorts things by their kinds.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 13 mean?
It stands for union among people, formed in the open and free of private aims. The judgment speaks of “progress and success”, and Legge asks that the union be “without taint of selfishness”.
What does hexagram 13 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 13 that is success in a union formed out in the open, the firmness asked of the superior man, and the rule of telling things apart by their kinds.
What does hexagram 13 changing to 1 mean?
It is hexagram 13 with its second line moving. That line shows union kept among kindred, with “occasion for regret”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 1.
What does hexagram 13 changing to 37 mean?
It is hexagram 13 with its fourth line moving. That line shows a man on the city wall who gives up his attack, and the text adds “There will be good fortune”. When it changes the hexagram becomes number 37.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Thung Zăn in James Legge. Fellowship with Men in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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