Is line 2 of Dispute in its correct place?

It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning. It is central (中): the middle line of its trigram, the position the commentaries read as balanced and most favourable.

Hexagram 6, line 2

九二Line 2 of Dispute

Nine in the second place · 訟 sòng

cannot wingoing homethe town is spared

爻辭 The line text

不克訟，歸而逋，其邑人三百戶，无眚。

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.

Its symbolism

不克訟，歸逋竄也。自下訟上，患至掇也。

'He is unequal to the contention; he retires and keeps concealed, stealthily withdrawing from it:'—for him from his lower place to contend with (the stronger one) above, would be to (invite) calamity, as if he brought it with his hand to himself.

In plain words

'Unable to win the dispute, one goes home and withdraws; the three hundred households of one's town escape calamity.' Line two is yang in the middle of Kan, strong and central, and it is contending with the ruler at five, its correspondent — the one line in the hexagram it cannot beat. The text does not call retreat shameful: it is 'going home', and because the person withdraws, their whole community is spared. The small Image spells out the structural fault: 'a subordinate disputing with a superior, the trouble arrives to be picked up by hand' (自下訟上，患至掇也) — as easy to gather as fallen fruit. Zhu Xi reads the three hundred households as a small fief, modest enough to be left alone.

If this line is changing

You are contending with someone above you, and you will not win; withdraw to your own ground before the people who depend on you are drawn into the cost.

Where the line stands

A solid line, yang — written 九 (nine), the number of an old yang line that moves when cast.
It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
It is central (中): the middle line of its trigram, the position the commentaries read as balanced and most favourable.
It belongs to the lower trigram 坎 Kan (the Abysmal) (water).
It has no correspondence (無應) with line 5: both lines are yang, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.

之卦 When this line moves

訟 Dispute becomes ䷋ 12 否 Blockage

Heaven and earth pulling apart: nothing communicates. The great departs, the small arrives; the unworthy prosper while the worthy keep still.

What it becomes12 · 否 Blockagepǐ

The six lines of 訟 Dispute

Read 訟 Dispute for a question about

Love and relationships Work and career A yes-or-no decision

Questions about this line

What does Nine in the second place of hexagram 6, Dispute, mean?: 'Unable to win the dispute, one goes home and withdraws; the three hundred households of one's town escape calamity.' Line two is yang in the middle of Kan, strong and central, and it is contending with the ruler at five, its correspondent — the one line in the hexagram it cannot beat. The text does not call retreat shameful: it is 'going home', and because the person withdraws, their whole community is spared. The small Image spells out the structural fault: 'a subordinate disputing with a superior, the trouble arrives to be picked up by hand' (自下訟上，患至掇也) — as easy to gather as fallen fruit. Zhu Xi reads the three hundred households as a small fief, modest enough to be left alone.
What does hexagram 6 become when line 2 changes?: Dispute becomes hexagram 12, 否 Blockage: Heaven and earth pulling apart: nothing communicates. The great departs, the small arrives; the unworthy prosper while the worthy keep still.
Is line 2 of Dispute in its correct place?: It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning. It is central (中): the middle line of its trigram, the position the commentaries read as balanced and most favourable.

Cast a reading Hexagram 6 in full Changing lines explained

Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).