Song, nine at the topHexagram 6, line 6 · Song (Conflict) · changing to 47
The line
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.
The Image commentary on this line
以訟受服，亦不足敬也。
To receive a belt of honor through conflict: this too deserves no respect.
The small Image commentary is the earliest explanation of the line texts. It usually explains a line from its position: where it stands, whether it holds the center, and which line answers it.
Verdict
止Hold back. The text gives no verdict, but the picture is a bad one. Carry on as you are and you will lose by it. Stop, step aside, or change your approach.
How to read good fortune, misfortune, regret, humiliation and no blame →
Asking about work, love or money
- Work
- Even if you win the fight and get the position or the title, what you gain by fighting won't sit securely, and others won't accept it. Stop here, and fight no more.
- Love
- Win the argument, and the other person still won't truly accept it; all you win is a moment of face, and it is gone in no time. Stop fighting over who wins; stop, and put your mind back on the two of you.
- Money
- Money won through an open, bitter fight won't stay with you even once it is in your hands, and it leaves you with an ugly name. Stop wrangling over money; let go when it is time to let go.
This is how to read it when this is the only changing line. With several changing lines, first see which text governs; for the hexagram as a whole, see Song.
Line position
A yang line in a yin place: it is not in its proper place. Its partner is the third line, which is its opposite, so the two answer each other.
Top place: the end of the matter. What reaches its limit turns. Know when to stop.
When you get this line
If this is the only changing line in your cast (three backs, old yang), this line is your answer. The primary hexagram is Song (Conflict); when this line changes it becomes Kun (Exhaustion): hexagram 6 changing to 47.
Which text to read with several changing lines →
Resulting hexagram · Kun (Exhaustion)
You are trapped, and right now no one believes anything you say.