Hexagram 13 for work
Hexagram 13 People United for work and career
At work Tong Ren is alliance across lines: a coalition, a cross-team effort, a partnership between organisations. The judgment's 'fellowship in the open field' means it works when public and principled; the Great Image has the superior person 'sort things by kind and class' — fellowship is not blurring differences but knowing who belongs where and uniting on that basis. The Tuan says only such a person can 'reach the aims of all under heaven.'
The lines sort the alliances. One joins openly at the gate; two unites only with its own department, the road to regret; three is the rival hiding in the grass for years; four reaches the wall and wisely does not attack; five is the leader who fights through to the partner that was always meant; six withdraws from all factions, blameless but with nothing achieved. A changing line in the lower trigram asks how wide your circle is; in the upper trigram, what you will do to reach the people you should be working with.
The hexagram in brief
Fire rising to heaven: people gathering in the open field. Fellowship succeeds when it is public and principled rather than clannish, and it makes great undertakings possible.
Unite around shared aims rather than factions; openness makes the great river crossable.
The judgment
同人于野，亨。利涉大川，利君子貞。Thung Zăn (or 'Union of men') appears here (as we find it) in the (remote districts of the) country, indicating progress and success. It will be advantageous to cross the great stream. It will be advantageous to maintain the firm correctness of the superior man.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 同人 People United has its own page:
- 初九Nine at the beginningat the gate · open fellowship · no partiality
- 六二Six in the second placefellowship with kin · clannishness · regret
- 九三Nine in the third placearms hidden in the grass · spying from the hill · three years
- 九四Nine in the fourth placeon the wall · does not attack · returns to the rule
- 九五Nine in the fifth placeweeping then laughing · the great army · they meet
- 上九Nine at the topin the outskirts · no regret · aim unfulfilled
The same hexagram for
Questions
- What does hexagram 13, People United, mean for a career question?
- At work Tong Ren is alliance across lines: a coalition, a cross-team effort, a partnership between organisations. The judgment's 'fellowship in the open field' means it works when public and principled; the Great Image has the superior person 'sort things by kind and class' — fellowship is not blurring differences but knowing who belongs where and uniting on that basis. The Tuan says only such a person can 'reach the aims of all under heaven.'
- What does Hexagram 13, 同人 People United, mean?
- Fire rising to heaven: people gathering in the open field. Fellowship succeeds when it is public and principled rather than clannish, and it makes great undertakings possible.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).