Hexagram 6.2 — Conflict (Second Line)

Original Text & Translation

「不克讼，归而逋，其邑人三百户，无眚。」 — Cannot prevail in conflict; return and yield. Even if your town has three hundred households, no blame.

The image is of someone who assesses the conflict honestly and recognizes they cannot win—or that winning would be pyrrhic. The counsel is to withdraw to your own domain, to let the matter go, and to accept a smaller sphere of influence rather than risk everything in prolonged struggle. The reference to "three hundred households" suggests that even if you have resources and support, discretion is the superior path. There is no shame in choosing peace over proving a point.

Core Meaning

Line two occupies the central position of the lower trigram, representing someone who has clarity and balance but lacks the power to force an outcome. In Conflict, this position is actually fortunate: you are close enough to see the dispute clearly, yet flexible enough to disengage before becoming entrenched. The line teaches that not every battle deserves to be fought, and that wisdom often lies in knowing which hills are worth dying on.

Practically, this line separates stubbornness from principle. Stubbornness continues a fight because stopping feels like losing; principle evaluates whether the fight serves a larger purpose. The person who "returns home" preserves their community, their resources, and their future options. They trade a contested victory for certain peace, and in doing so, they win the larger game.

This line also addresses the trap of sunk costs. You may have already invested time, money, or reputation in the conflict. The oracle says: let it go anyway. What you preserve by withdrawing—your energy, relationships, and focus—is worth more than what you might gain by persisting.

Symbolism & Imagery

The imagery of returning to one's town evokes the idea of a secure base, a place where you have natural authority and support. Conflict often pulls us into foreign territory—literal or metaphorical—where the rules favor others and the costs multiply. The second line counsels a return to your own ground, where you can rebuild, regroup, and redirect effort toward what you actually control.

The mention of "three hundred households" is significant. It suggests you are not powerless; you have a community, resources, and standing. Yet even with these assets, the oracle advises against escalation. This is not the retreat of the defeated but the strategic withdrawal of the wise. It acknowledges that some conflicts consume more than they resolve, and that protecting your base is more valuable than expanding through strife.

In classical commentary, this line is often linked to the idea of yielding to a stronger force or a more favorable position. It is the martial artist who steps aside rather than meeting force with force, the negotiator who walks away from a bad deal, the leader who declines to engage with a provocateur. The strength is in the discernment, not the confrontation.

Action Guidance

Career & Business

• Assess the true cost: calculate not just financial expense but time, attention, team morale, and opportunity cost. If the conflict drains more than it could ever return, disengage.
• Withdraw gracefully: frame your exit as a strategic pivot, not a defeat. "We've decided to focus our resources on X" is stronger than continuing a visible struggle.
• Protect your team: prolonged disputes erode culture and distract from productive work. Shielding your people from unnecessary conflict is leadership.
• Redirect to your strengths: return to projects, markets, or partnerships where you have natural advantage and alignment. Build there instead.
• Document and move on: capture lessons learned, update your decision framework, then close the chapter. Do not let the conflict linger in your attention.
• Avoid public blame: resist the urge to justify your withdrawal by criticizing the other party. Silence or neutrality preserves future options.

Love & Relationships

• Choose the relationship over being right: if the argument is circular and the stakes are low, let it go. Winning the point but damaging trust is a net loss.
• Retreat to repair: take space if emotions are high. Returning to your own center—through a walk, journaling, or time alone—lets you re-engage with clarity.
• Recognize unwinnable dynamics: some conflicts are structural, not situational. If the pattern repeats and resolution is impossible, consider whether the relationship itself needs reevaluation.
• Protect what you value: your peace, your integrity, and your emotional health are your "three hundred households." Do not sacrifice them to prove a point.
• Communicate the withdrawal: "I don't think continuing this conversation is helping either of us. Let's revisit it later" is clear and respectful.

Health & Inner Work

• Exit stress loops: if a health protocol, practitioner, or approach is generating more anxiety than benefit, step back. Return to basics that feel grounding.
• Stop fighting your body: chronic conflict with physical limits (pushing through pain, ignoring signals) leads to breakdown. Yield to what your body is telling you.
• Disengage from mental battles: rumination is internal conflict. Practice noting the thought, then redirecting attention to breath, sensation, or a concrete task.
• Simplify your environment: reduce inputs that trigger conflict—news, social media, contentious relationships. Protect your mental "household."
• Rest as strategy: withdrawal can mean literal rest. Sleep, downtime, and low-stimulation periods are how you return to your base and restore capacity.

Finance & Strategy

• Cut losing positions: if an investment thesis has broken and the conflict is between your hope and the data, exit. Preserve capital for better opportunities.
• Avoid legal quagmires: litigation and disputes are expensive and unpredictable. Settle when the settlement preserves more value than the fight could win.
• Withdraw from contested markets: if competition is intense and margins are compressing, redeploy resources to areas where you have differentiation and pricing power.
• Protect liquidity: your cash reserves and credit lines are your "three hundred households." Do not exhaust them in conflicts that do not generate return.
• Reframe the loss: exiting a bad situation is not failure; it is capital allocation discipline. The real loss is staying too long.

Timing, Signals, and Readiness

How do you know when to retreat? Look for these signals: (1) the conflict is escalating but the underlying issue is not resolving; (2) the emotional or financial cost is outpacing any potential gain; (3) your attention and energy are being drained from higher-value activities; and (4) you feel more relief imagining withdrawal than you feel excitement imagining victory. When these converge, the oracle's counsel is clear: return home.

Timing also matters in how you exit. Withdraw while you still have agency and resources, not after you are exhausted or cornered. The second line's fortune comes from acting before the conflict consumes you. Early retreat preserves options; late retreat is damage control.

After withdrawal, resist the urge to re-engage impulsively. Give yourself a cooling-off period—days, weeks, or longer depending on the scale—before reassessing. Often, distance reveals that the conflict was never as important as it felt in the moment.

When This Line Moves

A moving second line in Hexagram 6 often signals a transition from active conflict to resolution through yielding. The change hexagram (determined by your divination method) will show the new situation that emerges when you step back. Typically, this movement brings relief, clarity, and the restoration of balance. The conflict does not disappear, but your relationship to it transforms—you are no longer entangled.

Practical takeaway: when this line moves, act on the withdrawal promptly. Do not second-guess or linger. The oracle is giving you permission—and instruction—to disengage. Trust that the space you create by stepping back will fill with something more aligned and productive. The moving line is the universe's confirmation that retreat is not only safe but wise.

In some cases, the moving line also indicates that others will respect your withdrawal. By choosing not to fight, you may paradoxically gain standing. People recognize the strength it takes to walk away, and your reputation for discernment and self-control can grow even as you yield the immediate contest.

Concise Summary

Hexagram 6.2 is the wisdom of strategic retreat. It asks you to assess conflict honestly, recognize when continuation serves no purpose, and withdraw to protect what truly matters. "Cannot prevail in conflict; return home" is not a counsel of defeat but of intelligent disengagement. By preserving your resources, relationships, and focus, you position yourself for future success on better ground. The line teaches that knowing when not to fight is as important as knowing how to fight—and often more valuable.