同人 → 蹇
Hexagram 13: Fellowship → Hexagram 39: Obstruction
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 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 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
鹿得美草，鳴呼其友；九族和穆，不離邦域。
The deer finds sweet grass and calls to its companions. The nine clans are harmonious and reverent; they do not leave the homeland.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven and fire form Fellowship as a deer finds sweet grass and calls to its companions. The image comes from the Shijing ode 'Luming' — 'The deer cries, feeding on wild grass; I have excellent guests, and the lute and reed-organ play.' The nine clans live in harmony, never leaving the borders of their domain. Fellowship here is natural, generous, and self-contained: the deer that finds abundance shares it instinctively. From Fellowship to Obstruction, the transformation introduces the obstacle that makes such fellowship precious. Water perched atop the mountain in Obstruction; the noble man turns inward to cultivate virtue. The deer's community, secure within its boundaries, is the answer to obstruction — solidarity that does not need to cross the mountain because everything needful lies within.
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