Hexagram 6 — Lawsuit
King Wen #6 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Conflict. Even when you feel right, pressing a quarrel to the end brings no lasting win.
What Hexagram 6 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 6 places water (坎) beneath heaven (乾) — water finding its way through hard gaps below, creative force pressing upward above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Lawsuit”: conflict. Even when you feel right, pressing a quarrel to the end brings no lasting win. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
天與水違行，訟；君子以作事謀始。
(The trigram representing) heaven and (that representing) water, moving away from each other, form Sung. The superior man, in accordance with this, in the transaction of affairs takes good counsel about his first steps.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Heaven and water move against each other: conflict. The wise settle terms at the very start, before quarrels can grow.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 6 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Lawsuit describes conflict. Even when you feel right, pressing a quarrel to the end brings no lasting win — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: water finding its way through hard gaps, held inside a larger setting of creative force pressing upward. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Lawsuit about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: conflict. Even when you feel right, pressing a quarrel to the end brings no lasting win. When lines move in your cast, read them against this base — the moving lines show which part of the figure is awake for you, and the changed hexagram shows where it is heading.
Questions About Hexagram 6
What does 訟 (sòng) mean?
Hexagram 6 of the I Ching is named 訟 (sòng), usually rendered "Lawsuit" in English editions. Its figure is built from water (坎) below and heaven (乾) above — water finding its way through hard gaps beneath creative force pressing upward.
Is hexagram 6 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 6 is warm: it contains 5 occurrences of 吉 (good fortune), 1 of 凶 (misfortune). The classical verdict is broadly favourable — with the lines' own conditions attached.
What does hexagram 6 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Lawsuit points to conflict. Even when you feel right, pressing a quarrel to the end brings no lasting win. The figure pairs water (坎) beneath heaven (乾) — water finding its way through hard gaps meeting creative force pressing upward — which is the traditional picture of how this energy behaves between two people. For how to phrase a love question before casting, see our guide to asking the I Ching about love.
What does hexagram 6 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Lawsuit through the figure itself: water (坎) below, heaven (乾) above — water finding its way through hard gaps held inside creative force pressing upward. The plain reading: Conflict. Even when you feel right, pressing a quarrel to the end brings no lasting win. The text carries 5 mentions of 吉 (good fortune) and 1 of 凶 (misfortune), so it is read as workable — provided the conduct the lines describe is kept.
What do the changing lines of hexagram 6 mean?
A cast of hexagram 6 can produce moving lines. Each of the six lines has its own statement (爻辭) in the classical text below, read from the bottom up, and a moving line is read as the part of the figure that is awake for your question. When a line moves it turns into its opposite, and the whole figure becomes a second hexagram: changing every line of 6 gives hexagram 36, 明夷 (Darkening of the Light). Every line also has a page of its own on this site — Line 1 through Line 6 under this hexagram — with the classical Chinese and Legge's translation side by side.
How is hexagram 6 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 6 gives hexagram 36 — 明夷 (Darkening of the Light). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 5 — 需 (Attending). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 37 — 家人 (Dwelling People).
Cast it yourself
Shake the tube, watch your own coins fall.
- The hexagram's classical meaning — judgment and all six lines
- Moving lines marked — but not read for you
- No account, no email, nothing to pay
Get the reading, not just the text
Same cast, read all the way through:
- Every line read for you — what each moving line means inside your question
- The changed hexagram — where your situation is heading, and how to read the turn
- A closing that answers you directly — act, wait, or say it out loud
New to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
The Classical Text 經文
有孚，窒惕，中吉；終凶。利見大人，不利涉大川。
Song intimates how, though there is sincerity in one's contention, he will yet meet with opposition and obstruction; but if he cherish an apprehensive caution, there will be good fortune, while, if he must prosecute the contention to the (bitter) end, there will be evil. It will be advantageous to see the great man; it will not be advantageous to cross the great stream.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
不永所事，小有言，終吉。
The first SIX, divided, shows its subject not perpetuating the matter about which (the contention is). He will suffer the small (injury) of being spoken against, but the end will be fortunate.
不克訟，歸而逋，其邑人三百戶，無眚。
The second NINE, undivided, shows its subject unequal to the contention. If he retire and keep concealed (where) the inhabitants of his city are (only) three hundred families, he will fall into no mistake.
食舊德，貞厲，終吉；或從王事，無成。
The third SIX, divided, shows its subject keeping in the old place assigned for his support, and firmly correct. Perilous as the position is, there will be good fortune in the end. Should he perchance engage in the king's business, he will not (claim the merit of) achievement.
不克訟；復即命，渝，安貞，吉。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows its subject unequal to the contention. He returns to (the study of Heaven's) ordinances, changes (his wish to contend), and rests in being firm and correct. There will be good fortune.
訟，元吉。
S. The fifth NINE, undivided, shows its subject contending - and with great good fortune.
或錫之鞶帶，終朝三褫之。
The topmost NINE, undivided, shows how its subject may have the leathern belt conferred on him (by the sovereign), and thrice it shall be taken from him in a morning.
Line by Line 逐爻细读
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text.2 The Image (象傳) is an ancient text in the public domain; its plain-English gloss here is original to The Hexagrams, not a quotation from any copyrighted edition. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.