Hexagram 6 Song / Conflict

A conflict situation arises when two or more parties with differing points of view strongly voiced out their opinions and refused to budge or back down. We often come across such situations at home, in our workplace, office, and online forums and even in the world where world leaders clash on ideology or on how the world is best run. This is the main reason why we have wars, crisis, fights and quarrels. I suppose, conflicts are nothing new, since ancient texts also contained advice on how best to resolve conflicts or to keep them from arising.

The Judgment in Hexagram 6 Song / Conflict clearly states how to resolve conflicts, and it says:
“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.”

The Image says:
“Heaven and water go their opposite ways: The image of Conflict. Thus in all his transactions the superior man carefully considers the 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.’ [W/B]

The Chinese always treat patience as a virtue. That is why they sometimes take a step backwards to avoid a head on verbal confrontation that leads to unnecessary conflict and strife - beneficial to none. This particular action would be similar to, “a cautious halt halfway brings good fortune”. Of course the aggrieved party can still have recourse by sending the dispute to arbitration, therefore “it furthers one to see the great man” (the arbitrator).

One recalled a consultation done in New Zealand for the wife of a friend back in early 1993. She reads the Tarot and he studies the Yi. It was the first time that one had used coins- three NZ 20 cents - since I did not bring the yarrow along for the trip. Yi’s answer to her question was Hexagram 6 Conflict. After the answer, she told me about the conflict at the school where she teaches. She was fighting a good cause trying to protect a trainee teacher from being thrown out. The trainee teacher was also present then. (She had refused to tell me anything beforehand. Therefore using coins for consultation can be just as accurate as using yarrow stalks.) I had advised her not to go head long into the confrontation with the other teachers and to accept the decision of the headmaster (depicted in the fifth line). And I left it at that after she and the trainee understood the message from the Yi. Later one found out that she confronted the decision of the school board and had to resign, which was a pity because she loved teaching at that school.

Indeed righteousness without wisdom often leads to wrong decisions and conflicts; while righteousness and wisdom depict nourishment. Thus in all his transactions the Junzi carefully considers the beginning before he makes a move in the right direction. So says the Yi. The hexagram contains much wisdom and yet many fail to see or follow it thereby leading to needless conflicts in the world.

If some readers do not fully understand the above last paragraph, do not worry, just playing some mind games with the five ‘elements’ and attributes of the trigrams to perhaps come to another level to understand the Yi.