同人 → 晉
Hexagram 13: Fellowship → Hexagram 35: Progress
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 5).
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 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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
植璧秉珪，請命于河；周公剋敏，沖人瘳愈。
Setting jade discs on the altar, holding jade tablets to the heart; one prays for the king's life by the river. The Duke of Zhou is earnest and devoted; the young king recovers from illness.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven and fire form Fellowship as the Duke of Zhou performs the most selfless act in Chinese political tradition. He plants jade discs and grasps ritual scepters, offering his own life to heaven in place of the ailing King Wu. According to the Shangshu chapter 'Jinteng' (Golden Coffer), Zhou Gong built three altars, stood facing north, and beseeched the ancestors to take him instead. King Wu recovered; the young heir was saved. From Fellowship to Progress, the transformation illuminates the aftermath. Fire rises above the earth in Progress as the noble man brightens his own virtue. Zhou Gong's sacrifice, sealed in a golden coffer, eventually came to light — virtue hidden in darkness advancing into full recognition.
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