Is line 5 of Dispute in its correct place?

It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands. It is central (中): the middle line of its trigram, the position the commentaries read as balanced and most favourable.

Hexagram 6, line 5

九五Line 5 of Dispute

Nine in the fifth place · 訟 sòng

the judgesupreme good fortunecentral and correct

爻辭 The line text

訟元吉。

The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject contending;—and with great good fortune.

Its symbolism

訟元吉，以中正也。

'He contends;—and with great fortune:'—this is shown by his holding the due mean and being in the correct place.

In plain words

'The dispute: supreme good fortune.' Line five is the ruler of Song — yang in a yang place, central in Qian, correct and central — and it is the 'great person' whom the judgment says it is favourable to see. This is the one line in the hexagram that is not a party to the quarrel but the one who settles it. The small Image gives the reason for the great good fortune in four characters: because it is central and correct (以中正也). The Tuan commentary says the same: the great person is valued because of exactly this. Cheng Yi reads it from both sides — the arbiter who judges fairly, and the litigant who brings a case before such an arbiter, both end well.

If this line is changing

Either you are the one in a position to judge fairly, or you should bring the matter to such a person; what is central and correct settles the dispute, not the strength of either side.

Where the line stands

A solid line, yang — written 九 (nine), the number of an old yang line that moves when cast.
It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
It is central (中): the middle line of its trigram, the position the commentaries read as balanced and most favourable.
It belongs to the upper trigram 乾 Qian (the Creative) (heaven).
It has no correspondence (無應) with line 2: 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 ䷿ 64 未濟 Not Yet Crossed

Fire over water, every line out of place: not yet across. Success is possible — but the little fox, nearly over, wets its tail; nothing is favourable yet. The Book ends with the crossing still ahead.

What it becomes64 · 未濟 Not Yet Crossedwèi jì

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 fifth place of hexagram 6, Dispute, mean?: 'The dispute: supreme good fortune.' Line five is the ruler of Song — yang in a yang place, central in Qian, correct and central — and it is the 'great person' whom the judgment says it is favourable to see. This is the one line in the hexagram that is not a party to the quarrel but the one who settles it. The small Image gives the reason for the great good fortune in four characters: because it is central and correct (以中正也). The Tuan commentary says the same: the great person is valued because of exactly this. Cheng Yi reads it from both sides — the arbiter who judges fairly, and the litigant who brings a case before such an arbiter, both end well.
What does hexagram 6 become when line 5 changes?: Dispute becomes hexagram 64, 未濟 Not Yet Crossed: Fire over water, every line out of place: not yet across. Success is possible — but the little fox, nearly over, wets its tail; nothing is favourable yet. The Book ends with the crossing still ahead.
Is line 5 of Dispute in its correct place?: It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands. 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).