同人Tongren · Fellowship
In one sentence
Find like-minded people and do it together. This can succeed.
A situation of being of one heart with others. The condition is openness and selflessness: form your bonds out in open ground, rather than huddling only with your own little circle. Put aside factional prejudice and work with others frankly. Face the hard crossing together, and you will get through.
Asking about work, love or money
- Work
- It is a good time to work with people who share your aims; the thing can succeed, and hard passages can be crossed together. The condition is openness and having no private agenda: being able to work freely with people from other departments and other backgrounds, rather than huddling with your own small circle. Put the goal out in the open, and go by the right way.
- Love
- Love should walk in the open. If the two of you share interests and are heading the same way, be together openly and frankly, with nothing hidden. If you are single, go to open, wide places to meet people, and do not just circle within the small group you already know. A relationship built on private motives and small calculations does not go far.
- Money
- It suits you to go into partnership with people of one mind; together you go farther than alone, and big difficulties can be crossed together. But the accounts must be open, and interests must be laid on the table and made clear; you cannot look after only your own people. Once private motives come in and a small circle forms, that unity falls apart.
This is the hexagram as a whole. If your cast has changing lines, the line text governs; each line's page has its own reading for work, love and money.
The judgment
In plain wordsBeing of one heart with others out in the open country — in public, with no private motive. Things go through. You can cross the great river, and the advantage lies in joining with others on the noble one's right course.
The Tuan commentary
同人，柔得位得中，而應乎乾，曰同人。同人曰，同人于野，亨。利涉大川，乾行也。文明以健，中正而應，君子正也。唯君子為能通天下之志。
Tongren: the yielding gains its place and holds the center, and responds to Qian. This is called Tongren. Tongren says: "Fellowship in the open country. Success. It is favorable to cross the great river": this is Qian in action. Refined and bright, and so strong; in the center, correct, and responding: this is the correctness of the noble one. Only the noble one is able to connect the purposes of all under heaven.
The Tuan (“judgment”) commentary is one of the Ten Wings. It explains the hexagram name and the judgment from the two trigrams and the positions of the lines.
The image
天與火，同人。君子以類族辨物。
Heaven together with fire: Tongren (Fellowship). The noble one sorts the clans and distinguishes things.
The lines
Nine at the beginning
Text同人于門，无咎。Fellowship at the gate. No blame.In plain wordsThe moment you step out of the gate you are of one heart with others, with no private motive and no favoritism. No blame. More on this line →
Six in the second place
Text同人于宗，吝。Fellowship within the clan. Humiliation.In plain wordsYou are of one heart only with those of your own clan. The circle is too small and there is partiality in it. A pity. More on this line →
Nine in the third place
Text伏戎于莽，升其高陵，三歲不興。He hides troops in the thicket and climbs the high hill. For three years he does not rise.In plain wordsYou hide your troops in the undergrowth and climb the high slope to look out, and for three years you dare not move. What you want is not rightfully yours, and you fear being dealt with, so all you can do is wear the time away. More on this line →
Nine in the fourth place
Text乘其墉，弗克攻，吉。He mounts the wall but does not carry out the attack. Good fortune.In plain wordsYou have already climbed astride the city wall, yet you do not press the attack. Good fortune. Knowing you are in the wrong and being able to turn back is exactly what mending your ways means. More on this line →
Nine in the fifth place
Text同人先號咷而後笑，大師克相遇。Those in fellowship first wail and weep, then laugh. Only after the great army prevails do they meet.In plain wordsFirst loud wailing, later tears turning to laughter. Two people of one heart have been cut off from each other by those in between, and it takes great effort before they can meet — but those who are truly of one heart cannot be kept apart by anyone. More on this line →
Nine at the top
Text同人于郊，无悔。Fellowship on the outskirts. No regret.In plain wordsBeing of one heart with others out on the remote outskirts. Hardly anyone comes to respond, but there is nothing to regret either. More on this line →
Lines are counted from the bottom. “Nine” is a yang (solid) line, “six” a yin (broken) line. A line applies to your reading only when it is a changing line.
Related hexagrams
Primary, resulting, nuclear, opposite and inverted hexagrams explained →
In the hexagram calendar
In the Tang monk Yixing’s Dayan calendar, Tongren belongs to the third pentad of Start of Autumn, “Autumn cicadas sing” (August 18 to August 22, 2027).