One sends compliments to those who have defended their ideas brillantly. taoscopy.com
Conflict6
Conflict arises. Approach disputes with clarity and fairness. Seek resolution over victory. Compromise is key.
↓ Line 2
Retreating from conflict and maintaining peace benefits the community.
↓ Line 3
Relying on past wisdom and maintaining integrity through challenges leads to eventual success.
↓ Line 6
Temporary gains achieved through conflict are unstable and quickly lost.
↓ Influence 31
Mutual attraction fosters influence and inspiration. Connect deeply to inspire change and strengthen bonds.
6 Conflict
Other titles: Conflict, The Symbol of Contention, Strife, Litigation, Quarreling, Arguing, Lawsuit, "It is important to mind one's step at the very beginning then things will have a chance to work out all right." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Stress indicates that despite sincere motivations, one still meets with opposition and obstruction. Maintain an apprehensive caution. To prosecute the contention to the bitter end will produce evil results. It is advantageous to see the Great Man. It is not advantageous to cross the great stream.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Conflict. 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.
Blofeld: Conflict. Confidence accompanied by obstacles! With care, affairs can be made to prosper in their middle course, but the final outcome will be disaster. It is advantageous to visit a great man, but not to cross the great river (or sea). [In general, this hexagram indicates that we have little chance of success in any conflict, dispute or lawsuit in which we are now engaged and that retreat is the best policy -- unless line one or five is a moving line, in which case the position is more hopeful. We can profit from the advice of someone truly wise, but a journey of any kind at this time would be disastrous.]
Liu: Conflict; you have sincerity even though obstructed, stop halfway -- good fortune; follow to the end -- misfortune. It is of benefit to see a great man, but not to cross the great water.
Centering significant. Completing: pitfall. Harvesting: visualizing Great People. Not Harvesting: wading the Great River. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of a dispute. It emphasizes that actively expressing your claims and objections is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to argue!] (Sic)
Shaughnessy: Lawsuit : There is a return; pitying and tranquil, it succeeds to be auspicious, but in the end is inauspicious; beneficial herewith to see the great man; not beneficial to ford the great river.
Cleary (1): Contention; there is blockage of truth. Caution and moderation lead to good results, finality leads to bad results. It is beneficial to see a great person, not beneficial to cross a great river.
Cleary (2): …Wariness within leads to good results, but ending up that way is unfortunate … etc.
Wu:Litigation indicates an obstruction of trust. If the subject is vigilant, he will have good fortune. If he is libelous to the end, he will face foreboding. It will be advantageous to see the great man. It will not be advantageous to cross the big river.
The Image
Legge: The image of water moving away from heaven forms Stress. The superior man, in accordance with this, takes good counsel about the beginning of any enterprise.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Heaven and water go their opposite ways: the image of Conflict. Thus in all his transactions the superior man carefully considers the beginning.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes sky and water in opposition. The Superior Man does not embark upon any affair until he has carefully planned the start.
Liu: Heaven and water go in different directions, symbolizing Conflict. The superior man contemplates the beginning before undertaking an enterprise.
Ritsema/Karcher: Heaven associating-with stream, contradicting movements. Arguing, a chun tzu uses arousing affairs to plan beginning.
Cleary (1): When heaven and water go in different directions, there is contention. Superior people plan in the beginning when they do things.
Cleary (2): … When leaders do things, they plan to begin with.
Wu: Heaven and water go in opposite directions; this is Litigation. Thus the jun zi plans well before taking actions.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The coming together of Strength and Peril gives the idea of Stress. A dynamic line in the central place in the lower trigram shows how there will be good fortune if one maintains apprehensive caution; but because contention should not be taken to extremes, there will be evil if one prosecutes his contention to the bitter end. The great man sets a value on the due mean. If one attempts to cross the great stream, he finds himself in an abyss.
Legge: The upper trigram of Strength here controls the lower trigram of Peril which is trying to attack it. Or it may also be seen as someone in a perilous situation contending with strong outside forces. The image is of contention and strife. The sincere yang line in the middle of the trigram of Peril gives a character to the whole figure -- an individual so represented will be very cautious and have good fortune. But since contention is bad, even a sincere individual must fail if he pursues it to the bitter end. The fifth line represents the great man, whose agency is sure to be good. His decision in any matter of contention will be correct. The sixth line is also dynamic, but his action is likely to be too rash for a great enterprise, hence the warning about not attempting to cross the great stream.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Be careful, don't attempt much, and don't allow the situation to get out of hand.
The Superior Man is judicious about his choices of action to ensure that the situation remains stable.
The hexagram portrays a high level of tension. Wilhelm points out that the only "favorable" line is the ruler in the fifth place, and that all of the other lines symbolize people quarreling. It should also be noted that lines one through four counsel either retreat from contention or remaining passively in place. Only line five suggests that an active struggle can have a favorable outcome, and line six portrays the sorry fate of those who insist on "demanding their rights." If we turn the hexagram upside down we have Waiting, which suggests some subtle truths about the proper way to handle stress.
He who has a taste for dispute has a taste for blows, the man of haughty speech courts destruction. Proverbs 17: 19
At deciding lawsuits I am no better than anyone else; but what is necessary is to bring about a state of affairs in which there will be no lawsuits. Confucius
Note that Ritsema/Karcher's summation of the Judgment stands in stark disagreement with the general tenor of the figure: I have never received this hexagram when that interpretation has applied.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows its subject unequal to the contention. If he conceals himself where the inhabitants of his city are only three hundred families, he will fall into no mistake.
Wilhelm/Baynes: One cannot engage in conflict; one returns home, gives way. The people of his town, three hundred households, remain free of guilt.
Blofeld: As the conflict cannot be resolved, he beats a hasty retreat. His clan, numbering three hundred households, also escapes harm. [This sentence may have been taken from some ancient writing known to readers of the Book of Change at that time. In divination, unless it obviously has some bearing on the case, it may be disregarded, or else interpreted symbolically without paying much regard to the number three hundred.]
Liu: One cannot continue in the conflict. Retreating, he goes home. Three hundred families in his town will avoid disaster.
Ritsema/Karcher: Not controlling Arguing . Converting and-also escaping one's capital. People, three hundred doors. Without blunder.
Shaughnessy: Not succeeding at the lawsuit ; returning and fleeing, three hundred households of his city people are without inspection.
Cleary (1): Not pressing one’s contention, one returns home to escape: If there are three hundred families in one’s domain, there will be no trouble.
Cleary (2): Not victorious in contention, one goes home and hides. The local people number 300 families. There is no mistake or calamity.
Wu: He is not to win the litigation, He returns home to hide. The three hundred families in his village are not implicated.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He is unequal to the contention; he retires and keeps concealed, stealthily withdrawing from it -- for him in his lower place to contend with the stronger one above would be to invite calamity, as if he brought it with his hand to himself. Wilhelm/Baynes: Thus one escapes. To contend from a lowly place with someone above brings self- incurred suffering. Blofeld: This passage means that, if we pit ourselves against superior strength, we shall find ourselves bowed beneath the dint of conflict to the bitter end. Ritsema/ Karcher: Converting escaping, skulking indeed. Below origin, above Arguing. Distress culminating, reaping indeed. Cleary (2): (None)Wu: When a subordinate brings a lawsuit against his superior; his loss is unavoidable.
Legge: Line two is dynamic in a magnetic place and no match for his fifth-line adversary who is dynamic in a dynamic place, and the ruler to boot. That he retires from contention to an insignificant village of only three hundred people shows his humility.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is warned about contending against a superior or more powerful enemy. A conciliatory and timely retreat precludes personal disaster.
Wing: Your adversary is superior in strength. Do not allow your pride or sense of honor to draw you into open Conflict. Retreat and you will avoid a disastrous outcome for yourself and those close to you.
Editor: "Discretion is the better part of valor" -- there is nothing to be gained by fighting a battle you cannot win.
If all the countries he knows or hears about follow a way that is not good, as in our time, or if because of military campaigns or illness, he is unable to go to a city with good customs, he shall dwell alone in solitude. As it is said: "Let him dwell alone and be silent." Maimonides
A. "You can't fight city hall."
B. Disengage from the situation at hand to preserve your forces intact.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows its subject keeping in the old place assigned for her support, and firmly correct. Perilous as the position is, there will be good fortune in the end. Should she perchance engage in the king's business, she will not claim the merit of achievement.
Wilhelm/Baynes: To nourish oneself on ancient virtue induces perseverance. Danger. In the end good fortune comes. If by chance you are in the service of a king, seek not works.
Blofeld: He nourishes himself on the ancient virtues. Right determination leads to initial trouble followed by good fortune. Were he to seek public office now, he would not be able to attain it.
Liu: Depending upon ancient virtues. Continuing in this way leads to danger. In the end, good fortune. While working in public affairs, one should not seek achievement.
Ritsema/Karcher: Taking-in ancient actualizing-tao. Trial. Adversity, completing significant. Maybe adhering-to kingly affairs: without accomplishment. [Actualize-tao: ...ability to follow the course traced by the ongoing process of the cosmos... Linked with acquire, TE: acquiring that which makes a being become what it is meant to be. Adversity (LI): Danger, threatening, malevolent demon ... It indicates a spirit or ghost that seeks revenge by inflicting suffering upon the living. Pacifying or exorcizing such a spirit can have a healing effect.]
Shaughnessy: Eating old virtue; determination is dangerous. Someone follows the king's service, without completion.
Cleary (1): Living on past virtues, rectitude in danger will turn out well. If working in government, do not do anything.
Cleary (1): … If you are upright in danger, the end will be auspicious. If you pursue political affairs, nothing will be accomplished.
Wu: Living by the traditional virtue and being correct and firm will bring good fortune in the end. Should he enter into public service, he does not expect recognition of his success.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She confines herself to the support assigned to her of old; thus following those above, she will have good fortune. Wilhelm/Baynes: To obey the one above brings good fortune. Blofeld: The good fortune will result from obedience to superiors which stems from cherishing the ancient virtues. Ritsema/Karcher: Adhering-to the above significant indeed. Cleary (2): Living on past virtues is the luck of following the high. Wu: Following those above him will be auspicious.
Legge: Here the line is magnetic in a dynamic place and thus unequal to the stress of the matter at hand. She withdraws from the arena, and even if forced into action she will stay safely in the background. "She keeps in the old place assigned for her support" literally means: "She eats her own virtue." That is, she nourishes herself on her own natural endowment and does not contend for more than that.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man lives on income received for services rendered. He recognizes that works really belonging to oneself cannot be taken away. He does not engage in perilous contests over property.
Wing: Keep a low profile. Stick to established methods and traditional virtues. Do not put yourself in a position of prominence whatever you imagine to gain in prestige. Material possessions and status mean nothing now. Only your inner worth will be of value to you.
Editor:"Ancient virtues" suggest the principles of the Work, or the archetype of the psyche as an integrated whole. Symbolically, to "engage in the king's business" is to undertake the Work on behalf of the Self. Note the similarity between this line and the third line of Hexagram number two, The Magnetic.
If you want to be a good servant within the divine plan or salvation of the world, you must never forget that you do not live and work on your own strength. All power comes from God, and all powers you manifest come to you from your highest self -- from God. Elisabeth Haich -- Initiation
A. Don't aspire beyond your proper place. Maintain a servant's humility and, though it may not be apparent now, your commitment to the Work will eventually bear fruit.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, shows how its subject may have the leather belt conferred on him by the sovereign, and thrice it shall be taken from him in a morning.
Wilhelm/Baynes: 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.
Blofeld: If a girdle of honor were bestowed upon him, he would be forced to strip it off thrice within one day.
Liu: Even if he receives an ornamental belt, it will be snatched away three times in one morning.
Ritsema/Karcher: Maybe bestowing's pouched belt. Completing dawn three-times depriving it.
Shaughnessy: Someone awards him a leather belt, by the end of the morning thrice strips it.
Cleary (1): Even if one is given a badge of honor, it will be taken away thrice before the day is out.
Wu: He may have been presented with a leather belt. He flaunts it three times in one day.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He receives a reward through his contention, but still he is not deserving of respect. Wilhelm/Baynes: To attain distinction through conflict is, after all, nothing to command respect. Blofeld: Garments of honor obtained through strife do little credit to the wearer. [Note: In divination, garments of honor may be taken to symbolize any of the prizes obtained through a successful dispute.] Ritsema/Karcher: Using Arguing acquiesces-in submitting. Truly not standing respectfully indeed. Cleary (2): Not worthy of honor. Wu: Nothing worthy of respect.
Legge: Line six is dynamic and able to contend successfully, but is there to be no end of striving? Persistence in it is sure to end in defeat and disgrace. The contender here might receive a reward from the king for his success, but if he received it thrice in a morning, thrice it would be taken away from him again.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man gains repeated rewards from exhaustive conflicts. But the happiness does not last. The respect is undeserved, and the attacks continue without end.
Wing: If you engage now in forceful Conflict, it is possible you will emerge victorious. However, you will have created a situation of unending contest. Again and again, your position will be challenged. Such triumphs are ultimately meaningless.
Editor: This images a situation in which one may win the battle but lose the war -- a meaningless victory. The line is sometimes received when you are importuning the oracle for information it will not divulge: saying, in effect, "Even if your question were answered, you wouldn't be able to understand it."
For everyone fights for his own falsity and calls it truth ... These, because they can receive nothing of light from heaven, and can therefore inwardly see nothing within themselves, are for the most part ... such as believe nothing but what they see with their eyes and touch with their hands. Hence all the fallacies of the senses to them are truths; and it is from these that they dispute. Swedenborg -- Heaven and Hell
A. An illusory gain is a net loss. It's impossible to win in a no-win situation.
Legge: Upon fulfillment of the conditions implied in Initiative, there will be free course and success. Advantage depends upon firm correctness, as in marrying a young lady. Good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Influence. Success. Perseverance furthers. To take a maiden to wife brings good fortune.
Blofeld: Attraction. Success! Righteous persistence brings reward. Taking a wife will result in good fortune.
Liu: Attraction. Success. To continue is of benefit. To marry a girl is good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Conjoining, Growing. Harvesting Trial. Grasping womanhood significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of the influence that separated parts of an intrinsic whole have on each other. It emphasizes that bringing these parts into contact is the adequate way to handle the situation...]
Shaughnessy: Feelings : Receipt; beneficial to determine; to take to wife a woman is auspicious.
Cleary (1): Sensitivity is developmental. It is beneficial to be correct. Marriage brings good fortune.
Cleary (2):Sensing gets through, beneficial if correct. Marriage is auspicious.
Wu:Affection indicates pervasion and advantage to be persevering. There will be good fortune to marry a young woman.
The Image
Legge: The image of a marsh over a mountain forms Initiative. The superior man frees his mind of preoccupation so that he is open to the influence of others. [Lit: "Thus the superior man receives people by virtue of emptiness."]
Wilhelm/Baynes: A lake on the mountain: the image of Influence. Thus the superior man encourages people to approach him by his willingness to receive them.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a lake situated upon a mountain. In dealing with men, the Superior Man shows himself to be entirely void of selfishness.
Liu: The lake on top of the mountain symbolizes Attraction. With a humble manner the superior man receives people.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above mountain possessing marsh. Conjoining. A chun tzu uses emptiness to acquiesce people.
Cleary (1): There is a lake on a mountain. Thus does the superior person accept people with openness.
Cleary (2): There is a lake atop a mountain – Sensing. Developed people accept others with openness.
Wu: There is a marsh in the mountain; this is Affection. Thus the jun zi receives people with humility.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Initiative is here used in the sense of mutually influencing. The magnetic trigram is above and the dynamic trigram is below -- their two influences move, respond and unite with each other. The male is placed below the female -- his repression is her satisfaction and brings fulfillment. Advantage depends upon firm correctness, as in the marrying of a young lady. Heaven and earth stimulate each other and all things attain birth. The sages stimulate the minds of men and harmony is born. If we examine the pattern of these influences, the nature of heaven and earth is revealed.
Legge: The lines of the hexagram all deal with moving or influencing to movement, and the figure is an essay on the different ways of creating an influence, and the results engendered thereby. The lower trigram of the youngest son supports the upper trigram of the youngest daughter in happy union. This is correct because the lower trigram (here yang) should always take the initiative. No influence is so powerful and constant as that between husband and wife, and where they are both young, it is especially active. Therefore, mutual influence, correct in itself, and for correct ends is sure to be effective.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Initiative succeeds only when it originates from the Self.
The Superior Man clears his mind and remains receptive to the will of the Self.
Wilhelm's translation of the name of this hexagram is Influence, but I have chosen Initiative to emphasize the idea of the proper source of the influence implied in the symbolism. Webster's Third New International Dictionary defines initiative as follows:
Initiative 1 : an introductory step or movement: an act designed to originate or set on foot, as a process or train of events. Often used in the phrase: on one's own initiative, as in: "Don't blame me, he acted on his own initiative."
The Judgment states that the situation can be furthered only by the firm correctness associated with the proper contracting of a marriage. We already know that the symbolism of marriage refers to a union of opposites within the psyche. To understand what is meant by the proper contracting of a marriage, we need only look at hexagram number fifty-four,Propriety (The Marrying Maiden), to see the improper way to do it -- that is, when the woman takes the initiative.
Far from being a sexist idea, the symbolism reveals a profound archetypal truth. The polarity of forces in the psyche shows the ego as magnetic to the dynamic Self. That is, the conscious ego-complex in any psyche, male or female, is feminine, or magnetic in relation to the Self, which is masculine, or dynamic. In the I Ching the Self is symbolized by heaven, and the ego is symbolized by earth. This primordial relationship between the two qualities is found in many symbol systems. Here's the Kabbalistic version:
This clearly indicates the function of polarity that prevails between the planes of form and the planes of force; the planes of form being the female aspect, polarized and made fertile by the influencesof the planes of force. D. Fortune -- The Mystical Qabalah
The Hermetic tradition describes it this way:
There is this dual aspect in the mind of every person. The "I" [Self] represents the Masculine Principle of Mental Gender -- the "Me" [ego] represents the Female Principle. The Kybalion
In the contracting of a marriage between heaven and earth (uniting the polarities within the divided psyche), the ego must learn, usually through great suffering, that its correct role is a magnetic one in relation to that of the Self. The Work cannot progress until this lesson has been learned and accepted completely. As long as the ego insists on taking dynamic initiative “as usual" in the illusory world of appearances, the results can only be the kind of objective world we inhabit -- one of chaos and strife. The lesson of this hexagram then, is the realization that the only correct source of power lies with the Self, and that the ego must yield to that source as a bride to her bridegroom. (Unfortunately, the contemporary relationship between the sexes has become so confused that this metaphor is seldom effective in conveying the profound truth it represents.)
The Self (the Causal Body of Theosophy) dwells beyond the restrictions of spacetime and is pre-eminently suited for directing the Work, since it can "see ahead” so to speak, and it knows the effects of all of the available choices. The ego, on the other hand, dwells in spacetime and is able to take action: by its choices it makes or breaks the Work. The ideal reciprocity between ego and Self is a simple and logical division of labor -- the Self can see ahead but cannot take direct action, and the ego can take direct action but cannot see ahead. For the ego to act without direction from the Self is to grope blindly in the dark -- and the Work clearly cannot progress under such circumstances. The superior man therefore, "clears his mind and remains receptive to the will of the Self.” Obviously, it takes time to learn how to do this properly; in its initial stages, that's what the Work is all about.
The majority of people are more or less the slaves of heredity, environment, etc., and manifest very little freedom. They are swayed by the opinions, customs and thoughts of the outside world, and also by their emotions, feelings, moods, etc. They manifest no Mastery, worthy of the name. The Kybalion
The second and third sentences in the Confucian commentary elicit the sexual symbolism in this hexagram quite clearly: "The [female] trigram is above and the [male] trigram is below -- their two influences move, respond and unite with each other. The male is placed below the female -- his repression is her satisfaction and brings fulfillment.” Blofeld comments on this in a footnote:
I doubt if this should be regarded as shedding light upon the ancient Chinese concept of the most acceptable position for intercourse; it is more likely to mean that the girl is able to depend upon the man as a plant depends upon the earth for its nourishment.
Symbolism works on many levels, and Blofeld's aborted insight does apply to some of them. It is an established fact that the sentences in question accurately describe tantric sexual techniques practiced in the Orient for millennia. To understand the principles of the Work we must be able to see the "obvious" as symbolic of an abstraction -- and vice- versa. Sexual polarity is a very tricky and volatile symbol because we are predisposed to confine it to its most literal meaning. The hardest part of symbolic interpretation is to know where in the continuum a specific symbol belongs in any given situation.
Without changing lines this hexagram suggests that you examine your impulses and motivations to act and see if they are truly in accordance with the goals of the Work. The figure can sometimes take on the meaning of importuning: "to press or urge with frequent or unreasonable requests or troublesome persistence.” In other words, you might be importuning the oracle for answers which it is of no mind to give you. It is also significant to note that every line has a more or less negative connotation. These are all very strong warnings to the ego to control its compulsive need to take the Initiative, to influence the situation. Calm down -- reality is not what it appears to be. Please allow the Self to direct the Work.
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Compare the concepts in this hexagram with hexagram number fifty-four,Propriety; number fifty-three, Gradual Progress; and number eleven, Harmony. How do they all deal with the symbol of marriage as an aspect of the Work? Compare the first three lines with hexagram number 52,Keeping Still.
Initiativeis the first hexagram of Part II of the I Ching. Why do you suppose the book was divided into two unequal sections? Why did the division appear between the thirtieth and thirty-first hexagrams? (An even division would be between the thirty-second and thirty-third.)
The (I Ching) was originally divided into two books. (Appendix VI) considers the first of these as dealing with the world of nature, and the second as dealing with that of man. Fung Yu-Lan -- A Short History of Chinese Philosophy
What insights does the alchemical concept of the Unus Mundus bring to bear on these questions?