Yi Jing · Chinese tarot
Conflict
Hexagram 6 of the Yi Jing · 讼 Sòng
The figure
Heaven above Water: two forces pulling in opposite directions, the upward impulse against the downward hollow. The image of friction.
What this figure illuminates
Conflict lights up situations where positions diverge and one is tempted to be right at all costs. Winning the dispute is not always resolving the tension; sometimes it deepens it.
For a decision, the figure calls for measure: “do I really gain by pushing to the end, or by clarifying, compromising, even stepping back in time?”. Moderation is not weakness.
The classical text
The Judgment
Even a just grievance meets resistance. Halt with wary caution and good fortune follows; press the quarrel to the bitter end and it turns to harm. Seek the impartial great person; do not set out across the great stream.
The Image
Heaven and water pull away from each other — the shape of dispute. Seeing this, the noble person weighs the beginning of every affair with care.
The Six Lines
- First line
Do not prolong the quarrel. A little is said against you, but let it rest and the end is fortunate.
- Second line
You cannot win this contest. Withdraw and keep small, and you fall into no error.
- Third line
Live on what is already yours, held firm and correct. The position is uneasy, yet the end is fortunate. If you serve another, claim no glory.
- Fourth line
You cannot win — so turn back to what is right, let go the wish to fight, and rest in being correct. Good fortune.
- Fifth line
The dispute is judged, and judged rightly. Great good fortune.
- Sixth line
Even a prize won by strife is stripped away three times before the morning ends. What conflict wins, it cannot keep.
Daoa's wording, written after the classical reference translations, now in the public domain: James Legge (1882) and Charles de Harlez (1889).
A question to keep
In this disagreement, do you want to be right or to find a way out?
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This figure, facing a choice
- Choosing between two optionsTwo paths, and the sense that neither is clearly the right one.
- Should I accept?An offer, a proposal, a request — accept, or not?
- Yes or no?When a choice comes down to yes or no — and how to settle it well.
- The fear of being wrongWhen the fear of choosing wrong paralyses more than the choice itself.