Chapter One: Introduction --- The Question of Tong Ren

Section 1: What Is "Tong Ren" --- A Fundamental Inquiry

The two characters tong ren ("fellowship with others") appear plain enough, yet they harbor the deepest concerns of the pre-Qin intellectual world. What is tong ("sameness," "togetherness")$1 What is ren ("person," "people")$2 When tong and ren are joined as one, what mode of existence and spiritual horizon do they point toward$3 These questions are not over-interpretations imposed by later commentators; they are the problematic consciousness inherent in the Yijing itself.

We must first return to the text of the Yijing. The judgment of the Tong Ren hexagram reads:

"Fellowship with others in the open field --- success. It is favorable to cross the great river. Favorable for the perseverance of the noble person." (Tong ren yu ye, heng. Li she da chuan, li junzi zhen.)

These thirteen characters already raise a series of questions worth pondering deeply. Why must "fellowship" take place "in the open field" (yu ye)$4 Why does "fellowship in the open field" lead to "success" (heng)$5 What inner connection does "favorable to cross the great river" have with "fellowship"$6 Why is "favorable for the noble person's perseverance" singled out --- does this imply that the Way of Fellowship is not for everyone, but only for the noble person (junzi) to practice$7

Consider next the Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan Zhuan):

"Tong Ren: the yielding obtains its position and attains the center, and responds to Qian --- hence it is called Tong Ren. The Judgment says: 'Fellowship in the open field --- success. Favorable to cross the great river' --- this is the movement of Qian. Civilized yet strong, centered and correct in its response --- this is the correctness of the noble person. Only the noble person is able to penetrate the aspirations of all under Heaven."

The final line --- "Only the noble person is able to penetrate the aspirations of all under Heaven" (wei junzi wei neng tong tianxia zhi zhi) --- is truly stirring. "To penetrate the aspirations of all under Heaven" --- what breadth of spirit and magnanimity this implies! Why can only the noble person achieve this$8 What exactly is the relationship between "fellowship" and "penetrating the aspirations of all under Heaven"$9

And now the Commentary on the Great Image (Da Xiang Zhuan):

"Heaven together with Fire: Fellowship. The noble person thereby classifies clans and distinguishes things."

"Heaven together with Fire: Fellowship" --- Heaven is above, and fire likewise flames upward; the two travel together, hence the name Fellowship. But why does this lead to the noble person's practice of "classifying clans and distinguishing things" (lei zu bian wu)$10 Classifying and distinguishing is the work of differentiation; fellowship is the work of unification. Between the one dividing and the other uniting, why does the Great Image regard them as a unity$11

These questions constitute the point of departure for this article. We shall follow the threads of hexagram image, judgment, and line statements layer by layer, taking pre-Qin Confucian and Daoist thought and archaic myth and custom as our frame of reference, striving to understand the deep import of the Tong Ren hexagram within the most ancient cultural context.

Section 2: The Position of Tong Ren in the Yijing --- The Logic of the Sequence

To understand the Tong Ren hexagram, we cannot strip it from the overall structure of the Yijing. The Xu Gua Zhuan (Commentary on the Sequence of Hexagrams) says:

"Things cannot remain forever in obstruction; hence they are followed by Tong Ren (Fellowship). One who is in fellowship with others will inevitably have things return to him; hence it is followed by Da You (Great Possession)."

This tells us that Tong Ren (Hexagram 13) follows immediately after Pi (Obstruction, Hexagram 12). Pi is the image of Heaven and Earth failing to interact, of the myriad things blocked. The Tuan Zhuan of Pi states: "Heaven and Earth do not interact, and the myriad things do not communicate; upper and lower do not interact, and there are no states under Heaven." In a world at its nadir of obstruction, Heaven and Earth are sealed shut, human hearts are scattered, and the realm is without peace. Why does Fellowship follow immediately upon the extreme of obstruction$12

The Xu Gua Zhuan's answer: "Things cannot remain forever in obstruction." When obstruction reaches its extreme, openness must come. And the first step toward openness is precisely "fellowship" --- the renewed gathering of people, the renewed communication of hearts.

This is an arrangement of remarkable insight. Why is "fellowship" --- and not something else --- the key to the passage from obstruction to openness$13 We may consider the historical experience of the pre-Qin period. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States eras, the realm was fractured, feudal lords vied for supremacy, and ritual and music collapsed --- this was precisely an age of "obstruction." The reason the Hundred Schools of the pre-Qin period competed in writing and traveled about persuading rulers was nothing other than this central concern: how to restore the realm to "unity"$14 How to re-gather scattered human hearts$15 When the Master traveled from state to state, what was his aspiration$16 Was it not precisely to rebuild the Way of Fellowship in an obstructed world$17

The Xu Gua Zhuan further says: "One who is in fellowship with others will inevitably have things return to him; hence it is followed by Da You (Great Possession)." This reveals the causal relationship between Fellowship and Great Possession (Hexagram 14): one who can find common ground with others, who can harmonize with them, will naturally attract all things. How similar this is to the Master's words: "Virtue is not solitary; it will always have neighbors" (Lunyu, "Li Ren").

Why does "being in fellowship with others" cause "things to return"$18 Herein lies a profound truth: in the pre-Qin intellectual world, tong (unity/fellowship) was not coercive uniformity but a natural magnetism born of inner virtue. As the Master said in the Lunyu ("Wei Zheng"):

"He who exercises government by means of virtue may be compared to the North Star, which keeps its place while all the other stars turn toward it."

One who acts by virtue naturally attracts the allegiance of all under Heaven. The Way of Fellowship is precisely the way of moving others through virtue, stirring them through sincerity, and gathering them through righteousness.

Section 3: The Tong of "Tong Ren" --- Tracing the Original Meaning

To understand the Tong Ren hexagram in depth, we must trace the character tong back to its origins.

The character tong has rich usages in pre-Qin texts. The Shuowen Jiezi, although composed by Xu Shen of the Han dynasty (cited here only for philological reference), reflects etymological currents traceable to the pre-Qin. "Tong: to join and meet." Tong means joining, meeting. The joining of person with person, the meeting of person with person --- this is "tong ren."

Yet in pre-Qin texts, the connotation of tong is far richer than "joining and meeting."

The Guoyu ("Zheng Yu") records the words of Historian Bo (Shi Bo) to Duke Huan of Zheng, including a classic disquisition on "harmony" (he) and "sameness" (tong):

"It is harmony that truly generates things; sameness alone cannot sustain. To balance one thing against another of a different kind --- that is called harmony, and through it things can flourish and all things return. But if one supplements the same with the same, when it is exhausted it is discarded."

Historian Bo clearly distinguishes "harmony" from "sameness": harmony is the mutual tempering of different things, which alone can beget endless creation; "sameness," if it is merely the simple addition of like things, cannot continue to develop. This seems to create a certain tension with the spirit of the Tong Ren hexagram --- is the tong of Tong Ren the kind of tong that Historian Bo criticizes, or a tong that contains he (harmony)$19

This question received further elaboration from Yan Ying (Yanzi). The Zuo Zhuan (Duke Zhao, Year 20) records Yanzi's words:

"Harmony is like making broth. Water, fire, vinegar, sauce, salt, and plum are used to cook fish and meat, simmered over firewood. The cook harmonizes them, balancing the flavors, supplementing what is lacking and reducing what is excessive... The noble person eats it and thereby calms his heart." "When the lord says 'possible,' his minister Ju also says 'possible'; when the lord says 'impossible,' Ju also says 'impossible.' If one tries to season water with water, who could eat it$20 If the zither and lute play only a single note, who could listen$21 That sameness cannot work is just like this."

Yanzi uses cooking and music as metaphors: "harmony" requires the combination of different elements, while "sameness" --- seasoning water with water, playing a single note --- is utterly bland.

Is the tong of the Tong Ren hexagram, then, the same as the tong that Yanzi and Historian Bo criticize$22 We believe not. On the contrary, the tong of Tong Ren is precisely a higher-order "harmonious unity" achieved on the basis of difference. How do we know$23

First, from the hexagram image. Tong Ren has Qian (Heaven) above and Li (Fire) below. Heaven and Fire are by nature different --- Heaven is lofty and distant above; Fire is bright and beautiful below. They are not a simple stacking of like things but two forces of different natures reaching tong because they share the same upward tendency (Qian, the Creative, moves vigorously upward; the flame of Li rises upward). This is precisely the he of "balancing one thing against another," not the tong of "supplementing the same with the same."

Second, from the Great Image commentary. "The noble person thereby classifies clans and distinguishes things" --- classifying and distinguishing is precisely seeking commonality on the basis of recognized difference. Without distinguishing things one cannot know their differences; without classifying clans one cannot unite their commonalities. First differentiate, then unite --- this is precisely the spirit of he.

Third, from the six lines. The process of "fellowship" depicted across the six lines is by no means a smooth and simple harmony, but is fraught with contradiction, conflict, and struggle --- Nine in the Third Place "hides troops in the thicket"; Nine in the Fourth "mounts the wall but cannot attack"; Nine in the Fifth "first cries out in anguish, then laughs." All these indicate that true fellowship must undergo the tempering of difference and conflict before the deepest unity can be achieved.

Therefore, the tong of the Tong Ren hexagram is by no means a homogenization that eliminates difference, but a genuine "Great Unity" (da tong) achieved after acknowledging difference and enduring conflict. This resonates with the ideal of "Great Unity" described in the Liji ("Li Yun"):

"When the Great Way prevailed, the world was shared by all. The worthy and the able were selected; faithfulness was cultivated and harmony practiced. Thus people did not love only their own parents, nor did they nurture only their own children. The aged found security in their final years, the able-bodied found employment, and the young were nurtured as they grew. Widowers, widows, orphans, the childless elderly, the disabled, and the sick --- all were cared for. Men had their proper roles and women had their proper homes. Goods were not to be wasted on the ground, yet they need not be stored for oneself; strength was not to remain unexpended, yet it need not be expended for oneself. Thus schemes and intrigues were not hatched, thieves and robbers did not arise, and outer gates were never shut. This was called the Great Unity."

The world of Great Unity is not one in which everyone is the same and there is no difference. Rather, "the worthy and the able were selected" --- the unique qualities and talents of each person are respected; "men had their proper roles and women had their proper homes" --- each one finds his or her proper place. This is precisely the highest tong realized within difference.

Section 4: Research Method and Perspective

The research method of this article may be summarized in four words: "inquiry" and "resonance."

By "inquiry," we mean that for every character, every sentence, every image of the Tong Ren hexagram, we press the question "why." Why "Heaven-Fire" and not "Fire-Heaven"$24 Why must fellowship be "in the open field"$25 Why is "fellowship at the gate" for the initial Nine blameless, while "fellowship within the clan" for Six in the Second is stingy$26 Why does Nine in the Third suddenly introduce the war-imagery of "hiding troops in the thicket"$27 These inquiries are not for the display of dialectical virtuosity but to penetrate the core of the hexagram's meaning.

By "resonance," we mean that we cite original passages from pre-Qin texts in abundance --- not for facile comparison ("see how this sentence resembles that one") but to let different texts illuminate and clarify each other in dialogue. A passage from the Lunyu may answer precisely a question latent in a line statement of Tong Ren; a concept from the Laozi may provide a new angle for understanding the hexagram image. This resonance is the self-dialogue internal to the pre-Qin intellectual world.

Our perspective operates on two levels:

First, the perspective of pre-Qin Confucian and Daoist thought. The Confucian school takes ren (benevolence) as its core; the Daoist school takes "naturalness" as its guiding principle. Each has its own profound and distinctive reflections on such fundamental questions as "how should people relate to one another" and "how do humans communicate with Heaven." The Tong Ren hexagram sits at the intersection of these questions.

Second, the perspective of archaic myth and folk custom. The lower trigram of Tong Ren is Li --- fire. What significance did fire hold in the lives of the earliest ancestors$28 Fire-worship, bonfire gatherings, sacrificial fires offered to Heaven --- are these far-ancient memories deposited in the symbolic system of the Tong Ren hexagram$29 We shall attempt to understand its primordial spirit from this even more ancient stratum.

It should be noted that this article strictly maintains the temporal boundary of the pre-Qin and archaic periods, touching nothing from the Han dynasty onward. This is not because later interpretations lack value, but because we wish to return to the earliest context and listen to the most ancient voices.