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Hexagram 61 — Tong Ren, Fellowship with Men
Chronological no. 61 (binary-weight order) · King Wen no. (traditional) 13 · 同人
By Anibal Edelberto Amiot — Updated October 1, 2026
the father
the middle daughter
Heaven and Fire join together: the image of fellowship with others. The flame rises toward heaven, seeking its own nature, and in this shared movement a kinship appears between things that nonetheless remain distinct. This is the figure of brotherhood founded on a shared direction rather than on uniformity. Thus the noble one distinguishes species and classifies categories: true community does not deny differences, it recognizes them in order to better bring them into harmony.
The brotherhood that opens to the world finds its footing. A community is solid only if it does not close in on itself: it is by opening to others, by seeking what connects rather than what divides, that it finds a lasting foundation. This line teaches that the strongest belonging is often born in contact with the outside, not in withdrawal.
The six lines
At the base of the earth, fullness stirs: the yang onset that carried the whole figure now yields its place.
The receptive earth reaches its fullness: the silent welcome that carried the lower figure is about to assert itself.
At the threshold between earth and man, force wavers: what acted through firmness hesitates before turning.
In the action of man, fullness meets its limit: the initiative that led the figure folds back upon itself.
At the sage's seat, fullness hollows out: the force that governed the figure from its center is about to invert.
At the summit, fullness completes its course and breaks: what had culminated cannot go further without turning back.
Source: La Livrée d'Hermès, Anibal Amiot — chapter 7.1 (pp. 63–68). French version of this page.
For the notions used here — magic square, layer and casting, the Yi Jing — see the project lexicon.
The patterns of this hexagram
This hexagram is the binary complement of hexagram 2 — Shi, The Army (63 − 61 = 2): its patterns have exactly the same shape, only their colours are permuted. Here are the eight patterns of hexagram 2, one for each admissible family.
Bases — YANG mutant
Bases — YANG
Pair of two — YANG + YIN mutant
Pair of two — YIN mutant + YANG mutant
Pair of two — YIN + YANG
Pair of two — YIN + YANG mutant
Triple — without YANG
Triple — without YANG mutant
Neighbouring hexagrams
60 — Dun, Retreat · 62 — Gou, Coming to Meet
Hexagrams sharing a trigram
Same upper trigram (☰ Qian): 56 — Pi, Standstill · 57 — Wu Wang, Innocence · 58 — Song, Conflict · 59 — Lu, Treading · 60 — Dun, Retreat · 62 — Gou, Coming to Meet · 63 — Qian, The Creative
Same lower trigram (☲ Li): 5 — Ming Yi, Darkening of the Light · 13 — Feng, Abundance · 21 — Ji Ji, After Completion · 29 — Ge, Revolution · 37 — Bi, Grace · 45 — Li, That Which Clings, Fire · 53 — Jia Ren, The Family
