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Bushi Zhengzong · The Orthodox Tradition of Divination
Golden Counsels · Litigation, Continued
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
Litigation
A small resentment or slight punishment may lead to struggles over who is right. Having suffered a great wrong, how could one refrain from appealing against injustice?
To determine victory or defeat, examine Self and Response closely.
Response is the opponent and should be in Rest, Imprisonment, Death or Extinction. Self represents oneself and should be at Imperial Peak or Birth.
Mutual Clash and Control are images of oppression. Mutual Generation and Combination eventually bring reconciliation.
Self and Response in same-phase harmony with Officer and Ghost moving threatens arrest and official litigation. Still hexagram lines with Descendants flourishing favor relatives and friends persuading the parties to settle.
Self in Void means I want to end the dispute. Response moving means the opponent has many maneuvers.
An intervening line injuring Self warns of determined witnesses colluding against me. Ghost controlling an intervening line gives reason to welcome the magistrate’s clear perception.
Body is the underlying cause and substance of the affair: Void means the circumstances lack substance. Parents represents case files and documents: hidden, they have not yet been completed.
Ghost is the examining official: controlling Response, the opponent receives a beating. The day is the clerk: injuring Body, I suffer punishment.
Meeting Wealth means one’s case is sound and one’s confidence strong. Meeting Brothers means money is dispersed and people depart.
Self entering a Tomb line can hardly escape imprisonment. Officer meeting the Grand Year means the case goes beyond prefectural or county jurisdiction.
Officer in both inner and outer hexagrams means one office cannot finish the affair. Parents above and below means two rounds of petitions are needed before it can be concluded.
Officer and Parents both strong means petitions and memorials will be accepted for adjudication. Wife and Wealth moving means submissions and appeals are all in vain.
Parents strong and Officer weak means a petty quarrel, a lawsuit over sparrow horns and rat teeth. A strong moving line changing into weakness means a person who starts like a tiger and ends like a snake.
Self receiving Generation means a Noble Person provides support. Response weak without assistance means there is no malicious person instigating the opponent.
Without Combination or Generation, however strong, what can a one-legged tiger accomplish? With Penalty and Control and meeting Void, one can only imitate a turtle withdrawing its head.
Brothers in an intervening position means many people are involved. Parents on Response means the other party intends to bring a case.
Reading note: The supplied 使 is read contextually as the opposing party, corresponding to 彼 in the parallel classical transcription.
Parents moving and Officer changing into Blessing means the case is about to proceed when someone unexpectedly persuades the parties to settle. Parents in Void and Body meeting Penalty Sha means a beating before the petition has been accepted.
Reading note: The supplied 兜歡 is read as the classical parallel’s 兜勸, intervention to persuade a settlement.
Wife moving and generating Officer means money must be spent to secure intercession. Self moving and changing into Ghost means losing one’s life through official litigation.
Descendants beside Body means the case cannot finally be established by testimony. Officer hidden beneath Self means the root of litigation has not yet been cut out.
Tomb meeting Penalty or Clash from the day’s beneficent influence means immediate release from prison. The year carrying Blessing and generating or combining means imperial grace will reach one in prison.
To ask about the charge, examine Officer and Ghost. To know whether the case will dissolve, look at Descendants.
Once the hexagram image is formed, victory and defeat are clear. In this section on litigation, right and wrong stand distinctly revealed.
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