HEXAGRAM 13 · tóng rén

Fellowship with Men

Fellowship beyond the private circle: public principles that let differences cooperate

天火同人Classical Chinese included

Translation approach

The Chinese source stays visible. Where an editorial close rendering is available, it stays near the wording before Astro I Ching expands into cultural interpretation. Why we separate these layers →

CLASSICAL CHINESE

The source anchor

Read the source first. The English layer below remains accountable to these passages rather than replacing them with a simplified verdict.

卦辞 · Judgment

同人：同人于野，亨。利涉大川，利君子贞。

Close rendering

Fellowship with People: fellowship in the open country. Success. Favorable to cross the great river; favorable for the noble person to remain correct.

《大象》 · Image

天与火，同人；君子以类族辨物。

Close rendering

Heaven together with Fire: Fellowship with People. The noble person therefore distinguishes groups and kinds of things.

How to read the middle layer

Close rendering stays near wording and sequence. It is not presented as the only possible translation; the cultural reading below is where Astro I Ching explains image, structure, and practical logic in fuller English.

ASTRO I CHING · CULTURAL READING

Why this hexagram says what it says

Cultural reading of the image

Fire rises beneath Heaven; both move upward and illuminate. Tong Ren points toward openness, discernment, and a shared direction larger than private affiliation.

Cultural reading of the judgment

Real fellowship does not require sameness. It asks whether people can meet in an open field around principles they are willing to carry together rather than around a closed faction.

SIX LINES · ONE STORY

How the hexagram develops from bottom to top

Line 1 · 初九

Classical Chinese

同人于门，无咎。

Close rendering

Fellowship at the gate. No blame.

Cultural reading

Beginning outside the gate gives fellowship an open entrance instead of making it exclusive from the start.

Line 2 · 六二

Classical Chinese

同人于宗，吝。

Close rendering

Fellowship only within the clan. Regret.

Cultural reading

Agreement confined to kin and insiders can shrink cooperation into faction.

Line 3 · 九三

Classical Chinese

伏戎于莽，升其高陵，三岁不兴。

Close rendering

Weapons hidden in the brush; one climbs a high hill and for three years does not rise to attack.

Cultural reading

When partners are treated as possible enemies, defense replaces fellowship and common purpose cannot form.

Line 4 · 九四

Classical Chinese

乘其墉，弗克攻，吉。

Close rendering

One climbs the wall but cannot bring oneself to attack. Good fortune.

Cultural reading

Having the power to attack but choosing not to can show that shared rules have become stronger than impulse.

Line 5 · 九五

Classical Chinese

同人，先号咷而后笑，大师克相遇。

Close rendering

People in fellowship first cry out and weep, then laugh. After great forces are overcome, they meet.

Cultural reading

True fellowship may need to cross large barriers before people can finally meet; meaningful agreement is not always easy to form.

Line 6 · 上九

Classical Chinese

同人于郊，无悔。

Close rendering

Fellowship in the outskirts. No regret.

Cultural reading

At the edge of the group, basic common ground can survive without intense intimacy.

BRING IT BACK TO LIFE

What this can help you notice

Useful when cooperation has to extend beyond familiarity and rely on principles that can survive public difference.

A common misreading

Fellowship is not sameness or loyalty to an in-group. Its stronger form is public enough to include difference.

Keep the classical text and the interpretive layer separate: one is the source, the other is Astro I Ching's explanation of how the source can be read.

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