同人 → 坎
Hexagram 13: Fellowship → Hexagram 29: The Abysmal Water
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 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 2
六二 同人于宗。吝。
Six in the second place means: Fellowship with men in the clan. Humiliation.
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 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
孔德如玉，出於幽谷；飛上喬木，鼓其羽翼，大光照國。
Virtue like fine jade, rising from the shadowed valley. Flying up to the tall tree; spreading its wings in great radiance that illumines the realm.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven and fire form Fellowship as a bird of extraordinary virtue emerges from darkness into brilliance. Virtue luminous as jade rises from the deep valley, soars up to the tall tree, and spreads its wings — a great light shining across the nation. The imagery draws on the Shijing ode of the bird leaving the dark valley for the high wood, a metaphor for talent ascending from obscurity. From Fellowship to the Abysmal, the transformation seems to invert the verse's trajectory. Doubled water, repeated danger — yet the noble man practices constant virtue. The bird's ascent is not negated but contextualized: brilliance that has passed through the abyss carries a different authority than brilliance that has known only light.
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