訟Song · Conflict
In one sentence
There is a dispute, but fighting it to the end will do you no good.
You are in the middle of a disagreement, a dispute or a contest of wills. You may well be in the right, but this hexagram says: settling partway is good fortune, fighting to the very end is misfortune. Quit while you are ahead, and find a fair third party to judge. Don't take big risks at this stage. In the future, when you start something, make the rules clear at the outset.
Asking about work, love or money
- Work
- You are in the middle of a disagreement or a contest of wills. Right may well be on your side, but fighting to the end does you no good. If you can settle partway, settle, and stop while you are ahead. If you truly cannot agree, find someone fair and with standing to judge it. Do not take big risks at this time. In future, make responsibilities and authority clear at the very start.
- Love
- The two of you are arguing over who is right. Even if you are, insisting on a winner and a loser means that winning is also losing. Stop once the other person has heard you, and leave them a way to step down. If you are deadlocked, ask someone you both trust to say a fair word. If you have only just started seeing each other, first make your bottom lines clear to one another.
- Money
- There is a dispute over money, or accounts that will not reconcile. You may be in the right, but if you stay tangled in it to the end, what you sink into it will most likely be more than what you win back. If it can be closed with each side giving a step, close it, and if need be ask a fair third party to decide. Do not take big risks for now. In future, before you go into partnership or lend money, put the terms plainly in writing.
This is the hexagram as a whole. If your cast has changing lines, the line text governs; each line's page has its own reading for work, love and money.
The judgment
In plain wordsYou are in the right but blocked, and you need to keep a sense of caution in your heart. Settle partway: good fortune. Insist on fighting to the end: misfortune. It is good to find someone fair and weighty to judge the matter; it is not good to take big risks at this time.
The Tuan commentary
訟，上剛下險，險而健，訟。訟，有孚，窒，惕，中吉，剛來而得中也。終凶，訟不可成也。利見大人，尚中正也。不利涉大川，入于淵也。
Song: the firm above, danger below. Danger met with strength: Song. "Song. There is sincerity, but it is blocked. Be on guard. Stopping midway brings good fortune": the firm comes and holds the center. "Carrying it to the end brings misfortune": a conflict must not be carried through. "It is favorable to see the great person": what is honored is the center and the correct. "It is not favorable to cross the great river": one would fall into the abyss.
The Tuan (“judgment”) commentary is one of the Ten Wings. It explains the hexagram name and the judgment from the two trigrams and the positions of the lines.
The image
天與水違行，訟。君子以作事謀始。
Heaven and water move in opposite directions: Song (Conflict). The noble one, in taking up any matter, plans its beginning with care.
The lines
Six at the beginning
Text不永所事，小有言，終吉。Not dragging the matter out. There is a little talk. Good fortune in the end.In plain wordsYou don't let this dispute drag on. There will be a few words exchanged, but in the end there is good fortune. More on this line →
Nine in the second place
Text不克訟，歸而逋，其邑人三百戶，无眚。Unable to win the dispute, he goes home and slips away. His town is one of three hundred households. No harm comes.In plain wordsYou cannot win this case — the other side is stronger than you. Pull back, keep out of the way, stay in your own small place and live frugally, and no disaster will come. More on this line →
Six in the third place
Text食舊德，貞厲，終吉。或從王事，无成。Living on old virtue. Persisting is dangerous; good fortune in the end. If you serve in the king's affairs, there is no achievement.In plain wordsLiving on the share you have always had. There is some risk, but in the end good fortune. If you go out and work for someone, nothing will come of it — keeping contentedly to your own lot is best. More on this line →
Nine in the fourth place
Text不克訟，復即命，渝安貞，吉。Unable to win the dispute. Turn back and submit to what is right; change, and calmly stay true. Good fortune.In plain wordsYou cannot win the case, so turn around and submit to what is right. Drop the urge to contend, settle down and stay true: good fortune. More on this line →
Nine in the fifth place
Text訟，元吉。Bringing the dispute. Supreme good fortune.In plain wordsGo and bring this case: great good fortune. You have met a fair judge; if you are in the right, you will certainly be vindicated. More on this line →
Nine at the top
Text或錫之鞶帶，終朝三褫之。Perhaps a belt of honor is bestowed on him. Before the morning is over it is stripped from him three times.In plain wordsYou may win and be given a reward for it, but within a single morning it is taken back three times. What is gained by fighting cannot be kept in the end. More on this line →
Lines are counted from the bottom. “Nine” is a yang (solid) line, “six” a yin (broken) line. A line applies to your reading only when it is a changing line.
Related hexagrams
Primary, resulting, nuclear, opposite and inverted hexagrams explained →
In the hexagram calendar
In the Tang monk Yixing’s Dayan calendar, Song belongs to the second pentad of Clear and Bright, “Field mice turn into quails” (April 10 to April 14, 2027).