訟 → 師
Hexagram 6: Conflict → Hexagram 7: The Army
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 4, 5, 6).
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.
Line 6
上九 或錫之鞶帶。終朝三褫之。
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
鳧得水沒，喜笑自啄。毛羽悅澤，利以攻玉。公出不復，伯氏客宿。
The wild duck finds water and dives, joyfully laughing and preening. Feathers sleek and lustrous; useful for working jade. The lord departs and does not return; the elder brother lodges as a guest.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven and water oppose, but the wild duck finds its element and dives in, happily preening its sleek feathers. What delights the duck is native skill meeting its proper medium — the way a jade-cutter uses one stone to polish another. Yet the verse shifts: the lord goes forth and does not return; the elder brother lodges as a guest in a stranger's house. From Conflict to The Army, the image turns from private joy to public duty. Water hidden within the earth demands disciplined mobilization. The duck's easy pleasure contrasts with the lord's unreturning departure — when the state calls, personal comfort yields to collective obligation, and not every journey promises homecoming.
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