同人 → 坤
Hexagram 13: Fellowship → Hexagram 2: The Receptive
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 1
初九 同人于門。无咎。
Nine at the beginning means: Fellowship with men at the gate. No blame.
Line 3
九三 伏戎于莽。升其高陵。三歲不興。
Nine in the third place means: He hides weapons in the thicket; He climbs the high hill in front of it. For three years he does not rise up.
Line 4
九四 乘其墉。弗克攻。吉。
Nine in the fourth place means: He climbs up on his wall; he cannot attack. Good fortune.
Line 5
九五 同人先號咷而後笑。大師克相遇。
Nine in the fifth place means: Men bound in fellowship first weep and lament, But afterward they laugh. After great struggles they succeed in meeting.
Line 6
上九 同人于郊。无悔。
Nine at the top means: Fellowship with men in the meadow. No remorse.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
獐鹿逐牧，飽歸其居。安寧無悔。
Deer and antelope follow the pasture, sated, they return to their abode. Peaceful and without regret.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven and fire unite in Fellowship as deer follow their herd to pasture. Deer and roe graze contentedly, then return full-bellied to their dens — peaceful, secure, free of regret. The scene is purely pastoral: animals that move together, feed together, and rest together without anxiety. From Fellowship to the Receptive, the transformation distills community into its gentlest form. Where the Creative strives, the Receptive receives; where fire blazes upward, earth absorbs and sustains. The deer need no ambition, only the thick virtue of the earth that carries all things. Fellowship here finds its quietest expression — not heroic alliance but the simple contentment of creatures sharing ground.
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