King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Hexagram 6 訟 changing to hexagram 4 蒙

sòng
→
méng

Changing lines (counted from the bottom): 4, 5.

What to read

Two changing lines: read both line texts of the original hexagram; the upper one is the main one. (Rule set out by Zhu Xi in the Yixue qimeng.)

Hexagram 6 訟, line 5

訟,元吉。

The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject contending;—and with great good fortune.

Hexagram 6 訟, line 4

不克訟,復即命渝,安貞吉。

The fourth line, 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.

The two hexagrams

Hexagram 6 訟 — judgment

有孚,窒,惕,中吉,終凶。利見大人,不利涉大川。

Sung 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.

Hexagram 4 蒙 — judgment

亨。匪我求童蒙,童蒙求我。初筮告,再三瀆,瀆則不告。利貞。

Măng (indicates that in the case which it presupposes) there will be progress and success. I do not (go and) seek the youthful and inexperienced, but he comes and seeks me. When he shows (the sincerity that marks) the first recourse to divination, I instruct him. If he apply a second and third time, that is troublesome; and I do not instruct the troublesome. There will be advantage in being firm and correct.

The changing lines of hexagram 6

LineChineseLegge
4不克訟,復即命渝,安貞吉。The fourth line, 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.
5訟,元吉。The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject contending;—and with great good fortune.

English: James Legge (1882), public domain. Chinese: Zhou Yi.

Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0); Chinese Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.