Hexagram ䷅ 訟 (Song) - part 1

Litigate or Chant

TianYuShuiWeiXing Song JunZiYiZuoShiMouShi

天與水違行 訟 君子以作事謀始

Heaven and Water are running in opposite directions, which is the natural image of hexagram Song. Learning from this, the enlightened one focuses on one’s own business to make a new plan.

— DaXiang 大象

The first word Tian means sky, heaven, world, universe, or the way of the universe and is the symbolic meaning of the top trigram ☰ Qian 乾. The second word Yu means and, mutual, or between. The third word Shui means water and is the symbolic image of the bottom trigram ☵ Kan 坎. The fourth word Wei means disagree, disobey, or against each other. The fifth word Xing means move, act, action, executive, phase, and element. This Xing is the same Chinese character as the one used in the phrase WuXing 五行, the Five Elements.

In this sentence, the fifth word Xing works together with the forth word Wei to describe the dynamics between the top and bottom trigrams: the planets in the sky move in the opposite direction as the water runs on earth.