Hexagram 6 · 訟 · sòng
Hexagram 6. Sòng · Conflict
☰☵ Heaven over water: Qián above, Kǎn below.
Sung intimates how, though there is sincerity in one’s contention, he will yet meet with opposition and obstruction; but if he cherish an apprehensive caution, there will be good fortune, while, if he must prosecute the contention to the (bitter) end, there will be evil. It will be advantageous to see the great man; it will not be advantageous to cross the great stream.
Sung intimates how, though there is sincerity in one’s contention, he will yet meet with opposition and obstruction; but if he cherish an apprehensive caution, there will be good fortune, while, if he must prosecute the contention to the (bitter) end, there will be evil. It will be advantageous to see the great man; it will not be advantageous to cross the great stream.
A dispute in which even being right guarantees nothing. To litigate to the end is to lose even in winning. Stop halfway, seek a mediator and an honest compromise. Great undertakings must not be launched in the heat of conflict.
The Image
Heaven pulls upward, water strains downward: two motions that cannot meet. Conflict is built into the very structure of the situation, so winning the argument will not remove its causes. Reckon soberly: do you want vindication or results? Seek an arbiter, settle for the middle, launch no long projects amid litigation. To fight to the end is to lose even in winning.
Interpretation of hexagram 6
VI. The Sung Hexagram. x. The first line, divided, shows its subject not perpetuating the matter about which (the contention is). He will suffer the small (injury) of being spoken against, but the end will be fortunate.
The lines of hexagram 6
First line
The second line, undivided, shows its subject unequal to the contention. If he retire and keep concealed (where) the inhabitants of his city are (only) three hundred families, he will fall into no mistake.
strong line 3 below, which comes with its two companions to his help. If they are respectfully received, that help will prove effectual. P. Regis tries to find out a reference in these ‘ three guests ’ to three princes who distinguished themselves by taking part with Kin in its struggle with Yin or Shang; see vol. i, pp. 279-282. I dare not be so confident of any historical reference.
Second line
The third line, divided, shows its subject keeping in the old place assigned for his support, and firmly correct. Perilous as the position is, there will be good fortune in the end. Should he per-
chance engage in the king’s business, he will not (claim the merit of) achievement.
Third line
The fourth line, undivided, shows its subject unequal to the contention. He returns to (the study of Heaven’s) ordinances, changes (his wish to contend), and rests in being firm and correct. There will be good fortune.
VI. We have strength in the upper trigram, as if to regulate and control the lower, and peril in that lower as if looking out for an opportunity to assail the upper; or, as it may be represented, we have one’s self in a state of peril matched against strength from without. All this is supposed to give the idea of contention or strife. But the undivided line in the centre of KhSn is emblematic of sincerity, and gives a character to the whole figure. An individual, so represented, will be very wary, and have good fortune; Tut strife is bad, and if persevered in even by such a one, the effect will be evil. The fifth line, undivided, in an odd place, and central, serves as a representative of ‘ the great man,’ whose agency is sure to be good; but the topmost line being also strong, and with its two companions, riding as it were, on the trigram of peril, its action is likely to be too rash for a great enterprise. See the treatise on the Thwan, in loc.
Fourth line
The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject contending;—and with great good fortune.
The subject of line 1 is weak and at the bottom of the figure. He may suffer a little in the nascent strife, but will let it drop; and the effect will be good.
Fifth line
The topmost line, undivided, shows how its subject may have the leathern belt conferred on him (by the sovereign), and thrice it shall be taken from him in a morning.
Line 2 represents one who is strong, and has the rale of the lower trigram;—he has the mind for strife, and might be expected to engage in it. But his strength is weakened by being in an even place, and he is no match for his correlate in line 5, and therefore retreats. A town or city with only three hundred families is said
Top line
THE SZE HEXAGRAM.
Did hexagram 6 come up in your reading? The oracle itself gives the full reading, with changing lines and the second hexagram.
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