I Ching Hexagram 06
Hexagram 6: Song (讼)
Composed of 坎 (Kan) below and 乾 (Qian) above · conflict · litigation · contention · caution
The Judgment
讼：有孚，窒惕，中吉，终凶。利见大人，不利涉大川。
Song, the Conflict: you have something real behind you, but the dispute itself blocks you - stop it and be on guard. Settled in the middle it is good; carried to the end it turns bad. Bring in the person with authority to judge it. Do not attempt the great crossing while this is live.
Translation notes
- 窒: Wilhelm renders "to be obstructed / blocked" — 窒 is to plug up a hole and stop breath - it describes the conflict as a blockage, not merely an argument. That is why the judgment's own advice is to stop it rather than win it: the dispute is suffocating the thing it disputes about.
- 终凶: Wilhelm renders "disaster in the end / bad at the end" — The asymmetry matters and is easy to lose. 中吉, good in the middle, is the workable phase; 终凶 is what prolonged conflict does to both parties. Read as a clock, not a verdict: early resolution is favourable, drawn-out exhaustion is not.
The judgment above quotes the classical Chinese of the Zhou Yi (public domain); the English gloss and modern reading are our own. Compare with James Legge's The I Ching (Sacred Books of the East, Vol 16) , 1882 (public domain).
Quick Answers
Is hexagram 6 (Song) good or bad?
Neither, really - it is a warning that depends entirely on what you do next. The judgment says conflict itself obstructs you, that it is good in the middle and bad at the end, and that the great crossing is not favorable while it runs. So being in a dispute is not a punishment, and it is not a permanent verdict on you. The good version is a short, small, settled argument. The bad version is a grudge that costs years and still wins nothing, which is what 上九 describes: a reward that is handed over and taken away three times a day.
What does hexagram 6 (Song) mean in love?
It means you are arguing about something that matters, and the argument is now the main event. The line to act on is 初六, 不永所事 - it does not go on. The advice is to stop while it is still small and the other person still feels like an ally, not after it has hardened into a pattern. The harder counsel is 九二 and 九四: both admit the fight may not be winnable, and ask what you are actually protecting - your dignity, or the relationship. In this hexagram those two are usually in conflict, and the relationship is the one that cannot be replaced.
What happens when line 5 of hexagram 6 (Song) changes?
Line 5 is 九五, 讼元吉 - in the position of the one who settles disputes, supreme good fortune. Flipping that single yang line to yin turns Song into Hexagram 64 (Wei Ji, Not Yet Completed). The direction is from being the judge to being the one still waiting for a verdict that never quite arrives. In practice this line shows a dispute that looked resolvable moving into procedural limbo: a claim that keeps needing more documentation, an appeal, a decision that gets made and then reopened, with the finish line receding rather than arriving.
The Six Lines
Read your line of interest below. Lines are read from the bottom (line 1) to the top (line 6). A changing line means the hexagram is transforming — see the related hexagrams at the bottom.
初六
不永所事，小有言，终吉。The dispute does not go on. Some small talk occurs; in the end, good fortune. Change this and you get Hexagram 10 (Lu, Treading).
The best line in the hexagram, and the first one. The conflict is stopped before it becomes a process. Minor words get exchanged because a little always will, but it does not escalate. This line says settle it early, at low volume, while everyone still remembers they like each other.
九二
不克讼，归而逋，其邑人三百户，无眚。You cannot win the dispute. Go back and hide; your people three hundred households, and no harm comes to them. Change this and you get Hexagram 12 (Pi, Stagnation).
You are going to lose this one. The counsel is not a strategy for winning anyway - it is the correct recognition of when a fight is unwinnable. Note what is protected: the people depending on you, not your pride. Withdrawing here is a decision about what you are actually responsible for.
六三
食旧德，贞厉，终吉。或从王事，无成。Live on what you already have. Hold to it though it is hard; in the end, good fortune. If you join in the work of the ruler, take no credit. Change this and you get Hexagram 44 (Gou, Meeting).
Resting on established ground - your track record, your existing position, your saved resources - while the fight runs its course. The line explicitly relieves you of credit for whatever you do in the meantime. This is the patient, low-drama option: contribute to the process without staking yourself on the outcome.
九四
不克讼，复即命，渝，安贞吉。You cannot win the dispute. Return to the matter and let the verdict stand; change your attitude, settle into correctness, and it is good fortune. Change this and you get Hexagram 59 (Huan, Dispersion).
Accepting the ruling and changing how you feel about it. 渝 is a shift in disposition, not a shift in facts - you stop fighting the outcome and go back to being a person of your word. The line is a mature answer to losing: take the decision seriously, adjust internally, return to work.
九五
讼，元吉。In conflict - supreme good fortune. Change this and you get Hexagram 64 (Wei Ji, Not Yet Completed).
The judge, not the party. The best place in this hexagram is the neutral one: someone with standing who can actually settle this. If that is you, use it. If you are looking for it, this line tells you to get the matter in front of someone with authority rather than continue privately.
上九
或锡之鞶带，终朝三褫之。Perhaps you are granted the ornate belt of office, and three times a day it is stripped from you. Change this and you get Hexagram 47 (Kun-Oppression, Oppression).
A hollow reward, given and taken back, over and over. This is the sentence on prolonged conflict: even the win is not durable, because a victory built this way was never settled. The line ends the hexagram with an argument against dragging things out.
Hexagram 6 in Love, Career & Decisions
Love & Relationships
Song in love means there is a real disagreement and the relationship is now organized around it. Single, it most often describes a conflict you are having with a prospective partner or an ex, where the text is unusually direct: the dispute blocks the thing it is about, so the way to get what you actually want is to stop pressing the case. Do not escalate by asking for a third party's verdict or by keeping score. Partnered, it points to a recurring argument that has hardened into a routine, and to the danger that the win matters more to you than the relationship. The best sign in the lines is 初六, ending it early while goodwill is still intact.
Drop the point that is winning you the argument and costing you the relationship.
Career & Work
Song is unfavorable to starting fights and mildly favorable to ending them, so the career answer is: do not launch the dispute, do escalate it either. The judgment says finding the person with authority to decide is favorable, which makes sense in a workplace - a director, HR, a contract owner - rather than going around them. The specific risk this hexagram names is going to war over a small point: 九二 says plainly that some fights cannot be won, and the protection in that line is your team, not your position. Nine 五 is the one to aim for, being the person who settles it rather than the person who keeps it alive.
Take the smallest decision that closes the issue and put it in writing, then stop reopening it.
Making a Decision
Conditional, and the default is no to pressing the dispute, yes to routing it. The judgment says favorable to see the person with authority, unfavorable to attempt the great crossing while this is unresolved - so do not bundle this conflict into a larger move. Three things to check before you act: can this actually be won, are you confusing winning with getting what you need, and is there a neutral person who can settle it faster than you can argue. If the answer to the first is no, 九二 applies and the right move is to withdraw and protect the people who depend on you.
Get one neutral person with authority to decide it, and accept their call.
Health & Wellbeing
Song reads as friction in the body rather than a specific condition - tension that is held, jaw tight, shoulders up, sleep disturbed by the argument you are still having. The tone is a caution about ongoing stress rather than a diagnosis. The judgement of the hexagram fits: the dispute is the blockage, so it usually helps more to resolve or release the conflict than to work harder at managing the symptoms. Steady food, sleep, and gentle movement are the practical moves. For entertainment and reflection only, not medical advice. Anything persistent, severe, or worsening needs a clinician.
Put down the argument for a defined period each day, and let the body be idle on purpose.
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