訟 → 頤
Hexagram 6: Conflict → Hexagram 27: Nourishment
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 5).
Line 1
初六 不永所事。小有言。終吉。
Six at the beginning means: If one does not perpetuate the affair, There is a little gossip. In the end, good fortune comes.
Line 2
九二 不克訟。歸而逋其邑。人三百戶。无眚。
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.
Line 4
九四 不克訟。復即命。渝安貞。吉。
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.
Line 5
九五 訟。元吉。
Nine in the fifth place means: To contend before him Brings supreme good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
兩心不同,或從西東。明論終日,莫適相從。
Two hearts not alike; some go west, some east. Debating all day long, none willing to follow the other.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven and water oppose, and two hearts pull in different directions — one heading west, the other east. They argue through the bright day, but no agreement is reached. The verse is Conflict distilled to its essence: irreconcilable opposition, articulate yet futile. From Conflict to Nourishment, the mountain stands above thunder, the image of the mouth — careful speech and measured sustenance. Yi counsels restraint in words and moderation in appetite, yet the disputants here have done the opposite: endless talk, no nourishment. The transformation reveals the cure: when words cannot resolve, stop speaking and attend to what truly feeds. Nourishment begins where argument ends.
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