I Ching / Hexagram 13

Hexagram 13: T'ung Jen, Fellowship with Men

Speaks of joining with others in plain sight and for shared goals: the community that brings different people together above clans and factions.

Fire rises toward heaven, and both head upward

The situation

It’s the moment to join with others in broad daylight, for shared goals and in open spaces. True community brings people together above clans and factions. For it to work, someone must provide inner clarity and a purpose everyone recognizes.

The advice

You’d do well to seek broad, transparent, and fair agreements, and to distinguish wisely between things and people. Avoid forming closed cliques; a union that excludes others for private interests ends in conflict.

The judgement

The Judgment promises success to fellowship formed in the open, declares it favorable to cross the great water, and counsels the perseverance of the noble person. The open refers to the space outside the city, far from the houses and from each family’s interests: there, union happens in the light, without secret pacts. Crossing the great water means undertaking something difficult that can only be achieved by many. The perseverance of the noble person supplies the standard that holds the group together, a purpose everyone recognizes and no one uses for their own benefit. Read today, the Judgment speaks of diverse teams, of alliances between people who did not choose each other, of movements that bring strangers together around a common cause. It also warns of the shadow of every community, the clique, which closes in on itself and turns union into a form of exclusion.

Heaven over Fire: the two trigrams

Above is Heaven, strength; below is Fire, clarity. Fire tends to rise and heaven is on high, so both move in the same direction. That shared direction is the basis of community: different people oriented toward the same goal. Fire also brings light and adherence, the power to illuminate and to bind whatever it touches. In the figure, a single broken line in the second place occupies the center of the lower trigram and gathers the five firm lines around it. It is the clear, receptive person who summons the strong. From the meeting of an inner clarity and a shared outer strength comes the meaning of the hexagram.

The six lines

  1. First line. Fellowship begins at the gate, in full view of everyone. Joining openly, without hidden pacts, leaves you blameless.
  2. Second line. The union stays within your own clan. Favoring only your own narrows your vision and ends up shaming you.
  3. Third line. You hide weapons in the undergrowth and keep watch from the hill. Distrust paralyzes the union for a long time; rethink your suspicions.
  4. Fourth line. You climb the wall but give up on attacking. Realizing that the confrontation makes no sense brings you good fortune.
  5. Fifth line. First you weep and then you laugh. People who love each other end up finding each other after overcoming obstacles and great efforts.
  6. Sixth line. You join with others in the open country, far from the center. The communion is partial yet free of regret: you’ve done what you could.

The archetype: The Standard-Bearer

The Standard-Bearer raises a cause in full view and gathers beneath it people who would never have come together: peasants and soldiers, elves and dwarves, neighbors who had not spoken in years. His desire is to achieve something none of them could manage alone: defend a village, overthrow a tyrant, get a venture off the ground. His strength lies in the banner, a purpose each newcomer recognizes as their own, and in his fairness toward all. His conflict arises within the group: clan loyalties, suspicions, weapons hidden in the thicket, as the third line says. His risk is twofold. He may plant the banner only for his own people and turn the community into a clique, or lower it in the face of distrust and let the group dissolve before crossing the river.

In literature

  • Lord of the Flies (William Golding, 1954). On a desert island, after a plane crash, Ralph finds a conch and blows it. The scattered boys answer the call, elect him chief, and agree that only whoever holds the conch may speak at the assembly. For a while that visible rule unites the littluns, Piggy, and Jack’s choir. When Jack breaks away with his hunters and the conch shatters, the hexagram’s open fellowship splinters into factions.
  • Lysistrata (Aristophanes, 411 BC). Lysistrata brings together the women of Athens with those of Sparta, Boeotia, and Corinth, enemy cities, to force their husbands to make peace through a sex strike. She has them swear an oath over a cup of wine, and the older women seize the Acropolis and its treasury. Soon some try to slip away with excuses, one faking a pregnancy with a helmet under her clothes, and she holds them back by reminding them of the common purpose that binds them.
  • Journey to the West (Wu Cheng'en, 1592). The monk Tang Sanzang travels to India in search of the sutras with an unlikely band: the Monkey King Sun Wukong, the gluttonous Zhu Bajie, the river ogre Sha Wujing, and a dragon prince turned into a white horse. When Wukong kills the White Bone Demon and Bajie sows doubt, the master banishes him. Only the monkey’s return, called back by his companions, saves the shared pilgrimage.

In history

The Christmas Truce on the Western Front (1914). On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1914, along several stretches of the Western Front, British and German soldiers climbed out of their trenches without orders. They sang carols, swapped tobacco and food, buried their dead together, and in some places played soccer in no man’s land. The commanders made sure it did not happen again. It echoes the sixth line of hexagram 13: a partial fellowship, in the open and far from the center, that did what it could.

For writers

Ideal for assembling a mismatched group: a crew, a resistance, a found family. Conflict stems from clan loyalties and from distrust among members.

Hexagram 13 works for the story of a group taking shape. In the setup, a clear purpose, a threat or a mission, forces people who distrust one another to band together, and someone gathers them in plain sight. In the development, each member brings their clan: prior loyalties, prejudices, secrets. The turn comes with the third line, when the hidden weapons come to light, a past betrayal or a secret pact, and the group is on the verge of breaking apart. The fourth line offers the way out: someone climbs the wall and gives up the attack. The resolution corresponds to the fifth, the weeping that turns to laughter when those who love each other meet after the struggle. The mistake to avoid is a group of interchangeable characters; a community holds interest when its differences carry weight.

Frequently asked questions

What does hexagram 13 of the I Ching mean?

Hexagram 13, T'ung Jen, Fellowship with Men, speaks of joining with others openly and for shared goals. Fire rises toward heaven and both move in the same direction. The Judgment promises success and favors great collective undertakings, provided the union is transparent and fair and steers clear of cliques.

What does hexagram 13 mean for work?

In a work context it favors collaboration, broad alliances, and team projects. It advises bringing diverse people together around a clear goal and treating them fairly. It warns against favoritism, closed groups, and distrust among colleagues, which, according to the third line, can paralyze a project for a long time.

Is hexagram 13 favorable?

Yes. The Judgment promises success and declares it favorable to cross the great water, that is, to take on difficult undertakings. The condition is that the community form in the light, with a shared purpose and no hidden interests. The lines warn of the risks of the closed clan and of suspicion, but the hexagram as a whole is clearly positive.

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Published on October 4, 2026 · updated on October 18, 2026.