Conflict
- In Chinese
- 訟 sòng
- Above
- The Creative, heaven
- Below
- The Abysmal, water
Did you get this hexagram?
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Mark my castWhat hexagram 6 means
Hexagram 6 is heaven above water, two things that move away from each other. Legge writes that the figure is meant “to give the idea of contention or strife”.
The judgment grants that the one who contends is sincere, and still it does not advise seeing the dispute through. In Wilhelm's words “A cautious halt halfway brings good fortune. Going through to the end brings misfortune.”
It adds two pieces of advice. Legge has “It will be advantageous to see the great man; it will not be advantageous to cross the great stream.”
Four of the six lines end in good fortune. Three of them get there by not contending, and only the fifth contends and prospers.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
訟有孚窒，惕，中吉，終凶。利見大人。不利涉大川。
CONFLICT. You are sincere And are being obstructed. A cautious halt halfway brings good fortune. Going through to the end brings misfortune. It furthers one to see the great man. It does not further one to cross the great water.
good fortune it goes wellmisfortune it goes badlyit furthers it is favorableit does not further it is not favorable
The image
天與水違行，《訟》。君子以作事謀始。
Heaven and water go their opposite ways: The image of CONFLICT. Thus in all his transactions the superior man Carefully considers the beginning.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment starts from the two trigrams. It says “The upper portion of Sung is (the trigram representing) strength, and the lower (that representing) peril”.
The same commentary gives the reason for stopping short. It is that “contention is not a thing to be carried on to extremity”.
It also explains the two pieces of advice. Of the great man it says “what he sets a value on is the due mean, and the correct place”. One who tried to cross the great stream “would find himself in an abyss”.
The image is heaven and water moving apart. From it the commentary draws a rule for a person, who “in the transaction of affairs takes good counsel about his first steps”. Wilhelm has the same rule in fewer words. The superior man “Carefully considers the beginning”.
Legge finds the sincerity of the judgment in the whole line at the middle of the lower trigram. That line, he writes, “is emblematic of sincerity, and gives a character to the whole figure”. He does not let sincerity excuse the quarrel. In his note “strife is bad, and if persevered in even by such a one, the effect will be evil”.
Legge also weighs how far the sayings can be tied to history, and he concludes that some cannot. Of those he writes “They are general protests against all contention and strife.”
The six lines
First line
不永所事，小有言，終吉。
If one does not perpetuate the affair, There is a little gossip. In the end, good fortune comes.
good fortune it goes well
The bottom line lets the matter go while it is still small. Legge notes that its subject “may suffer a little in the nascent strife, but will let it drop”.
The commentary states the principle, “contention should not be prolonged”. The cost is small. Wilhelm has “There is a little gossip.” The commentary adds that even so “his argument is clear”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 10, Treading
Second line
不克訟，歸而逋其邑，人三百戶无眚。
One cannot engage in conflict; One returns home, gives way. The people of his town, Three hundred households, Remain free of guilt.
no verdict
This is a strong line that would be expected to fight, and it withdraws. Legge explains that “he is no match for his correlate in line 5, and therefore retreats”.
The commentary says what the other course would bring. To contend from a lower place with the stronger one above “would be to (invite) calamity”. The line carries no word of good fortune. Its promise, if he retires, is that “he will fall into no mistake”.
The text sends him to a city of three hundred families. Legge notes that such a town “is said to be very small”, and that retiring to so insignificant a place “is further proof of his humility”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 12, Standstill
Third line
食舊德，貞厲，終吉。或從王事无成。
To nourish oneself on ancient virtue induces perseverance. Danger. In the end, good fortune comes. If by chance you are in the service of a king, Seek not works.
danger there is dangergood fortune it goes well
The third line stays with what it already has. Legge gives the literal sense of the words as “He eats his old virtue”, and Wilhelm keeps it close with “To nourish oneself on ancient virtue induces perseverance.”
The place is called perilous and the end is good. Its subject withdraws from the strife, and Legge notes that even if forced into it “he will keep himself in the background”.
Legge explains the old virtue as a living. The subject “lives in and on the appanage assigned to him for his services”. If he does serve the king, the text adds that “he will not (claim the merit of) achievement”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 44, Coming to Meet
Fourth line
不克訟，復即命，渝。安貞吉。
One cannot engage in conflict. One turns back and submits to fate, Changes one’s attitude, And finds peace in perseverance. Good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
This line has a mind to strive, and Legge shows why it does not. Above it stands the fifth line, the ruler, “and with him it is hopeless to strive”. Its correlate is the weak line at the bottom, “from whom little help can come”.
So the subject turns back. The text says he “changes (his wish to contend), and rests in being firm and correct”, and Wilhelm says he “finds peace in perseverance”. The commentary approves, since “he does not fail (in doing what is right)”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 59, Dispersion
Fifth line
訟元吉。
To contend before him Brings supreme good fortune.
supreme good fortune it goes very well, from the root
This is the one line that contends and prospers, and the text gives it “great good fortune”. The commentary puts the reason in “his holding the due mean and being in the correct place”.
Legge reads the line as “a representative of 'the great man,' whose agency is sure to be good”. Wilhelm's verse speaks of contending before someone. It reads “To contend before him Brings supreme good fortune.” Legge's own note on the line is one sentence. “Line 5 has every circumstance in favour of its subject.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 64, Before Completion
Sixth line
或錫之鞶、帶，終朝三褫之。
Even if by chance a leather belt is bestowed on one, By the end of a morning It will have been snatched away three times.
no verdict
The top line wins and cannot keep what it wins. Legge asks “is there to be no end of striving?” and answers that “Persistence in it is sure to end in defeat and disgrace.”
The belt is a reward gained through the dispute. The commentary judges its wearer “not deserving of respect”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 47, Oppression
Hexagram 6 unchanging
If none of your six lines is moving, you read the hexagram as a whole. That is the judgment and the image above, without any of the line texts.
The book gives the reason. Lines that do not move are “non-moving lines, which serve only as structural matter in the hexagram, without intrinsic meaning of their own”.
For hexagram 6 unchanging, what remains is the judgment, which sets caution above pressing a dispute to its end, and the image, which asks for good counsel at the first steps.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 6 mean?
It stands for contention, and it advises against carrying a dispute to its end. The judgment says “A cautious halt halfway brings good fortune. Going through to the end brings misfortune.”
What does hexagram 6 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 6 that is caution in a dispute, the advice to see the great man and not to cross the great stream, and care at the first steps.
What does hexagram 6 changing to 10 mean?
It is hexagram 6 with its first line moving. That line shows its subject “not perpetuating the matter about which (the contention is)”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 10.
What does hexagram 6 changing to 64 mean?
It is hexagram 6 with its fifth line moving. That line shows its subject contending “with great good fortune”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 64.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Sung in James Legge. Conflict in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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