A while ago, there was a thing about the word tong on this blog right here. It's a word that can mean "similar" or "a society" or "a gathering place" (as well as "gang"), and a tong ren -- a tong person -- can be a business associate, or a member of the same society, or it can mean a gathering together of like-minded people. That's what this hexagram is about.

So, let's dissect it systematically.

What's on the top?
The outer trigram is qian, HEAVEN, the expansive skies, the ultimate expression of yang.

What's on the bottom?
The inner trigram is li, FIRE, brilliant and energetic -- the component of yang that interacts with yin to create, well, everything.

What's in the guts?
The nuclear trigrams are qian, HEAVEN, and xun, the gentle but penetrating WIND.

What's it like from far away?
The Judgement and Image verses show this hexagram as echoing the old sentiment "as above, so below." When things are in accord, human activities (as in a campfire, or the fires of progress) spread across the earth like the heavens -- and also, the heavenly order is reflected in earth-bound organizations. The patterns repeat profoundly.

From the Judgement commentary:

That is why it is said that fellowship with men in the open succeeds. If unity of this kind prevails, even difficult and dangerous tasks, such as crossing the great water, can be accomplished. But in order to bring about this sort of fellowship, a persevering and enlightened leader is needed - a man with clear, convincing, and inspiring aims and the strength to carry them out. (The inner trigram means clarity; the outer, strength.)

And from the Image commentary:

Fellowship should not be a mere mingling of individuals or of things - that would be chaos, not fellowship. If fellowship is to lead to order, there must be organisation within diversity.

See how all that orderly yang energy lends itself to the reading? This is also seen as the complement to , or mirror image of, The Army, Hexagram 7, made from Water under Earth, which was another way of looking at organized groups of people.

What's it saying up close?
The Line verses depict a successful diplomatic mission, in a way. They start with "fellowship at the gate," a description of meeting like-minded people in an appropriately neutral site, and continue on to "fellowship with the clan" (building factions, not a good thing), "hiding weapons, climbing hills" (turning fellowship to mistrust by not being open), "climbing on the wall, he cannot attack," (turning mistrust to fellowship by rising above security and into openness), followed by fellowship turning weeping into joy through a reunion, and "fellowship with men in the meadow."

The commentary on that last one is kind of interesting. Often, it's tempting to read the final line as the ultimate goal of the hexagram -- if each hexagram is a "change," then the final form of the change would be the last line. But I'm not so sure it's all that "ultimate" or "last," just a different kind of expression of the same theme. Check out what Mr. Wilhelm says about that sixth line:

We are by this time actually outside of fellowship with others. However, we ally ourselves with them. The fellowship does not include all, but only those who happen to dwell near one another. The meadow is the pasture at the entrance to the town. At this stage, the ultimate goal of the union of mankind has not yet been attained, but we need not reproach ourselves. We join the community without separate aims of our own.

I'm still digesting that one.

I'm more fond of what he says about the fifth line -- the "ruling" line, or the "head" of the hexagram's body. This one is about the joy of reunion. Wilhelm quotes a pleasant bit of Chinese philosophy:

...[A]lthough it costs them a severe struggle to overcome the obstacles, they will succeed. When they come together their sadness will change to joy. Confucius says of this:

"Life leads the thoughtful man on a path of many windings. Now the course is checked, now it runs straight again. Here winged thoughts may pour freely forth in words, There the heavy burden of knowledge must be shut away in silence. But when two people are at one in the inmost hearts, They shatter even the strength of iron or of bronze. And when two people understand each other in their inmost hearts, Their words are sweet and strong, like the fragrance of orchids."

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_{I'm using the Wilhelm/Baynes translation from the comprehensive Wengu collection or the user-friendly Eclectic Energies site. Feel like going deeper? Check out Hong Kong's Taoist Culture & Information Centre's I Ching page, and the essays & reviews on Ma Xia's Yijing Page}