Song · Conflict

Judgment and Plain-Language Notes

Song: With sincerity, obstruction and vigilance. Stopping midway brings good fortune; pursuing to the end brings misfortune. Meeting a great person is beneficial; crossing the great river is unfavorable.

The Tuan commentary places firmness above and danger below: danger met with strength produces dispute, and it warns that a dispute cannot be brought to completion. The Xiang commentary sees heaven and water moving apart, and asks the noble person to think a matter through before beginning it.

Song is heaven and water pulling in opposite directions — a structure at odds with itself. Trust gets blocked and dispute follows, and forcing the point only deepens the split. There may be a workable middle stretch, but carrying the quarrel to its end goes badly. The real lesson sits at the start: think the thing through before you begin. Giving ground and holding the centre beats fighting to the last.

Song's judgment explicitly warns of misfortune at the end: litigation is unlikely to end well, giving an overall negative direction. Though some lines offer fortune, the meaning favors yielding and careful thought at the outset, hence the rating: Below Average.

Worth doing: get clear on where you actually differ and what your limits are, keep a record, and look for fair mediation. Avoid: enlarging the fight over pride, or treating a concession as defeat.

Understand This Hexagram Through Its Structure

Qian above, Kan below: danger underneath, firmness on top — neither side yielding.

• Name the upper and lower trigram of Song.
• State how Song differs structurally from Xu.
• Say that swapping the halves turns Conflict into Waiting.

The lower trigram of Song is Kan and the upper is Qian — exactly the reverse of Xu. Read upward, the pit of Kan comes first and then meets the unyielding force of Qian. Only the second line and the top three are solid.

The same two trigrams in the other order read quite differently. In Xu the force is below and the danger above, so waiting is possible. In Song the danger is below and the hardness above: the lower part is already stuck while the upper refuses to give way, and the result is deadlock. Tradition reads this as litigation — the point is not who is right, but that this structure is hard to resolve by applying more pressure.

A teaching example, not a prediction: two departments hold opposing positions on the same budget: one is already blocked, the other insists on the original split. Song describes that deadlocked structure; it does not predict who will win.

The Six Lines: Original Text and Reflection

Six at the beginning: Do not prolong the affair. Some criticism; good fortune in the end.

The Xiang commentary says not prolonging the matter is right, because a dispute should not run long. There are some words, but the case is made clear.

You do not let the quarrel grow or drag. There is some argument and clarification, but because your position is clear, it ends well.

If there is a small clash or misunderstanding, clear it up early. Do not let it harden into a long-running feud.

Which small piece of friction could you settle now, before it accumulates?

Nine in the second place: Unable to prevail in litigation, return and flee. The town's three hundred households suffer no calamity.

The Xiang commentary says that being unable to win the dispute, one retreats and hides. Contending upward from below simply invites disaster.

Forcing the dispute is not winnable, and stepping back protects both you and the people around you. Against a much stronger side, withdrawal is the intelligent move.

When the power gap is obvious, backing off protects more people than holding out does.

Does this conflict really need to continue, and what does stepping back protect?

Six in the third place: Living on former virtue. Steadfastness amid danger; good fortune in the end. Perhaps serving the king's affairs, without personal achievement.

The Xiang commentary says that living on established virtue and following those above brings good fortune. Serving another's affairs leaves little of one's own to show.

Live off the standing and resources you have already built, and hold to a sound course. There is risk, but it ends well. Throwing yourself into someone else's venture yields little personal credit.

Do not trade away the advantages you have accumulated for something new. Hold your existing base and act carefully.

What have you already built up, and are you overlooking the advantage it gives you?

Nine in the fourth place: Unable to prevail in litigation, return to the mandate and change. Peaceful steadfastness brings good fortune.

The Xiang commentary says that turning back, accepting what is ordained and changing one's stance loses nothing when done with quiet correctness.

The dispute cannot be won. Turn instead, change your position, and handle things calmly and correctly. That is the favourable route.

Once you see that fighting on is pointless, the best move is to shift your thinking and restart from a calmer place.

Which position of yours could already be adjusted, if only you could let it go?

Nine in the fifth place: Litigation. Supreme good fortune.

The Xiang commentary attributes the great good fortune here to holding the central and correct place. This is the arbiter, not the contestant.

When a balanced and impartial figure decides the matter, the outcome is strongly favourable. The point is neutrality, not victory.

If you are the one holding the balance or mediating in this dispute, handling it even-handedly tends to produce a good result.

In this matter, are you one of the sides, or could you take the more neutral role?

Nine at the top: Perhaps awarded a ceremonial belt, then stripped of it three times before morning ends.

The Xiang commentary says an honour received through litigation does not deserve respect. The sash is granted and stripped away three times in a morning.

What you seize through dispute can be lost again within a day. Gains taken by fighting rarely hold.

Even if you win something in the quarrel, it tends not to last, and it rarely earns you anyone's respect.

If you got what you want by fighting for it, would it be worth having in the long run?

Try It Yourself

Swap the halves and see which hexagram you return to. The same two trigrams in the other order read differently.

This page has a hands-on exercise. It is built into the Traditional Chinese page: open the interactive exercise.

Quick Quiz