Hexagram 6 as yes or no
Hexagram 6 Dispute as a yes-or-no answer
As an answer to a yes-or-no question Song says no to pressing the matter through, and yes to stopping partway. The judgment is explicit: caution midway brings good fortune, the end brings misfortune. If the question is whether to pursue a disagreement, make a claim, or force a resolution, the hexagram's answer is to go only as far as a fair third party can take it, and not to the finish. If the question is whether to start a large venture while the dispute is open, the answer is no.
A changing line in the lower trigram, the water, says you are the weaker or lower party: stop early (line one), withdraw to safety (line two), or live on what you have and stay out (line three). A changing line in the upper trigram, heaven, says you have the strength to win and asks whether you should: line four says turn back and change your mind, line five says yes if the matter goes before someone impartial, and line six says that winning is the mistake.
The hexagram in brief
Heaven above and water below, moving apart: contention. Sincerity is obstructed; a dispute may be won partway but ends badly if pushed to the finish.
Stop halfway, seek a fair arbiter, and don't attempt big ventures while in conflict.
The judgment
訟：有孚，窒。惕中吉。終凶。利見大人，不利涉大川。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.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 訟 Dispute has its own page:
- 初六Six at the beginningnot prolonging · a little talk · clear in the end
- 九二Nine in the second placecannot win · going home · the town is spared
- 六三Six in the third placeliving on old merit · steadfast but perilous · no credit
- 九四Nine in the fourth placecannot win · turning back · changing one's mind
- 九五Nine in the fifth placethe judge · supreme good fortune · central and correct
- 上九Nine at the topthe belt of honour · stripped three times · won by litigation
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Does hexagram 6, Dispute, mean yes or no?
- As an answer to a yes-or-no question Song says no to pressing the matter through, and yes to stopping partway. The judgment is explicit: caution midway brings good fortune, the end brings misfortune. If the question is whether to pursue a disagreement, make a claim, or force a resolution, the hexagram's answer is to go only as far as a fair third party can take it, and not to the finish. If the question is whether to start a large venture while the dispute is open, the answer is no.
- What does Hexagram 6, 訟 Dispute, mean?
- Heaven above and water below, moving apart: contention. Sincerity is obstructed; a dispute may be won partway but ends badly if pushed to the finish.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).