訟
sòng

6. Conflict

䷅
Above
乾 qián
The Creative, Heaven
Below
坎 kǎn
The Abysmal, Water

The upper tri­gram, whose image is heav­en, has an up­ward move­ment; the lower tri­gram, water, in ac­cor­dance with its na­ture, tends down­ward. Thus the two halves move away from each other, giv­ing rise to the idea of con­flict.

The at­tribute of the Cre­ative is strength, that of the Abysmal is dan­ger, guile. Where cun­ning has force be­fore it, there is con­flict.

A third in­di­ca­tion of con­flict, in terms of char­ac­ter, is pre­sent­ed by the com­bi­na­tion of deep cun­ning with­in and fixed de­ter­mi­na­tion out­ward­ly. A per­son of this char­ac­ter will cer­tain­ly be quar­rel­some.

The Judgement

Conflict. You are sincere
And are being obstructed.
A cautious halt halfway brings good fortune.
Going through to the end brings misfortune.
It furthers one to see the great man.
It does not further one to cross the great water.

Con­flict de­vel­ops when one feels him­self to be in the right and runs into op­po­si­tion. If one is not con­vinced of being in the right, op­po­si­tion leads to crafti­ness or high-hand­ed en­croach­ment but not to open con­flict.

If a man is en­tan­gled in a con­flict, his only sal­va­tion lies in being so clear-head­ed and in­ward­ly strong that he is al­ways ready to come to terms by meet­ing the op­po­nent halfway. To carry on the con­flict to the bit­ter end has evil ef­fects even when one is in the right, be­cause the en­mi­ty is then per­pet­u­at­ed. It is im­por­tant to see the great man, that is, an im­par­tial man whose au­thor­i­ty is great enough to ter­mi­nate the con­flict am­i­ca­bly or as­sure a just de­ci­sion. In times of strife, cross­ing the great water is to be avoid­ed, that is, dan­ger­ous en­ter­pris­es are not to be begun, be­cause in order to be suc­cess­ful they re­quire con­cert­ed unity of forces. Con­flict with­in weak­ens the power to con­quer dan­ger with­out.

The Image

Heaven and water go their opposite ways:
The image of conflict.
Thus in all his transactions the superior man
Carefully considers the beginning.

The image in­di­cates that the caus­es of con­flict are la­tent in the op­pos­ing ten­den­cies of the two tri­grams. Once these op­pos­ing ten­den­cies ap­pear, con­flict is in­evitable. To avoid it, there­fore, every­thing must be taken care­ful­ly into con­sid­er­a­tion in the very be­gin­ning. If rights and du­ties are ex­act­ly de­fined, or if, in a group, the spir­i­tu­al trends of the in­di­vid­u­als har­mo­nize, the cause of con­flict is re­moved in ad­vance.

The Lines

Six at the beginning means:
If one does not perpetuate the affair,
There is a little gossip.
In the end, good fortune comes.

While a con­flict is in the in­cip­i­ent stage, the best thing to do is to drop the issue. Es­pe­cial­ly when the ad­ver­sary is stronger, it is not ad­vis­able to risk push­ing the con­flict to a de­ci­sion. It may come to a slight dis­pute, but in the end all goes well.

Nine in the second place means:
One cannot engage in conflict;
One returns home, gives way.
The people of his town,
Three hundred households,
Remain free of guilt.

In a strug­gle with an enemy of su­pe­ri­or strength, re­treat is no dis­grace. Time­ly with­draw­al pre­vents bad con­se­quences. If, out of a false sense of honor, a man al­lowed him­self to be tempt­ed into an un­equal con­flict, he would be draw­ing down dis­as­ter upon him­self. In such a case a wise and con­cil­ia­to­ry at­ti­tude ben­e­fits the whole com­mu­ni­ty, which will then not be drawn into the con­flict.

Six in the third place means:
To nourish oneself on ancient virtue induces perseverance.
Danger. In the end, good fortune comes.
If by chance you are in the service of a king,
Seek not works.

This is a warn­ing of the dan­ger that goes with an ex­pan­sive dis­po­si­tion. Only that which has been hon­est­ly ac­quired through merit re­mains a per­ma­nent pos­ses­sion. It can hap­pen that such a pos­ses­sion may be con­test­ed, but since it is re­al­ly one’s own, one can­not be robbed of it. What­ev­er a man pos­sess­es through the strength of his own na­ture can­not be lost. If one en­ters the ser­vice of a su­pe­ri­or, one can avoid con­flict only by not seek­ing works for the sake of pres­tige. It is enough if the work is done: let the honor go to the other.

Nine in the fourth place means:
One cannot engage in conflict.
One turns back and submits to fate,
Changes one’s attitude,
And finds peace in perseverance.
Good fortune.

This refers to a per­son whose inner at­ti­tude at first lacks peace. He does not feel con­tent with his sit­u­a­tion and would like to im­prove it through con­flict. In con­trast to the sit­u­a­tion of the nine in the sec­ond place, he is deal­ing with a weak­er op­po­nent and might there­fore suc­ceed. But he can­not carry on the fight, be­cause, since right is not on his side, he can­not jus­ti­fy the con­flict to his con­science. There­fore he turns back and ac­cepts his fate. He changes his mind and finds last­ing peace in being at one with eter­nal law. This brings good for­tune.

Nine in the fifth place means:
To contend before him
Brings supreme good fortune.

This refers to an ar­biter in a con­flict who is pow­er­ful and just, and strong enough to lend weight to the right side. A dis­pute can be turned over to him with con­fi­dence. If one is in the right, one at­tains great good for­tune.

Nine at the top means:
Even if by chance a leather belt is bestowed on one,
By the end of a morning
It will have been snatched away three times.

Here we have some­one who has car­ried a con­flict to the bit­ter end and has tri­umphed. He is grant­ed a dec­o­ra­tion, but his hap­pi­ness does not last. He is at­tacked again and again, and the re­sult is con­flict with­out end.