Hexagram 6 for love
Hexagram 6 Dispute in love and relationships
Song is heaven going up and water going down: two things moving apart, the Great Image's definition of conflict. In a relationship it is the quarrel that has become a case: each side sincere (有孚), each blocked (窒), honest feeling unable to get through. The judgment's counsel is 'wary caution in the middle brings good fortune; carrying it to the end brings misfortune': a disagreement can be stopped partway, but pursued to victory it damages the bond even for the winner.
The lines are five ways of not finishing the fight and one way of finishing it. The first drops it while it is small; the second withdraws from a contest it cannot win against someone stronger; the third stays out and lives on the goodwill already built; the fourth turns back and changes its position. The fifth is the fair third party both of you could turn to. The top line wins and has the prize taken away three times in a morning. Being right is not the question; whether the relationship survives being right is.
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
- Is hexagram 6, Dispute, a good sign for love?
- Song is heaven going up and water going down: two things moving apart, the Great Image's definition of conflict. In a relationship it is the quarrel that has become a case: each side sincere (有孚), each blocked (窒), honest feeling unable to get through. The judgment's counsel is 'wary caution in the middle brings good fortune; carrying it to the end brings misfortune': a disagreement can be stopped partway, but pursued to victory it damages the bond even for the winner.
- 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).