I CHING IN DAILY LIFE · SONG THIRD LINE
Song, Line 3: Keep Your Responsibility During a Dispute
At a community event, two groups dispute credit while volunteers wait. Read Song hexagram line 3 and learn how to keep an existing responsibility without claiming contested achievement.
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English narration and subtitles. AI-assisted illustrations and synthetic Andrew narration.
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When two groups want your name
Two organizers are fighting over credit for a community event. Both want you on their side. Before joining that fight, keep the work you already promised.
中文对照
两组组织者正在争一场社区活动的功劳，双方都想让你站队。在加入这场争执之前，先守住你已经答应做的事。
Volunteers are still waiting
The doors open soon. One group points to its name on a poster; the other asks the coordinator to call the plan theirs. Volunteers at the entrance are still waiting for direction.
中文对照
活动马上开门。一组指着海报上的署名，另一组要协调者说计划是他们的。入口的志愿者还在等人安排。
訟 · 六三 · a broken third line
Song, Hexagram Six, is Heaven above Water. Its third, broken line says: Live by old virtue; stay upright in danger, and end well. Serve in the king's affairs without claiming the accomplishment.
中文对照
《易经》第六卦是讼卦，乾上坎下。第三爻是阴爻六三。爻辞说：“食旧德，贞厉，终吉。或从王事，无成。”
食舊德 · keep the established virtue
The Image says: Live by the old virtue; following those above brings good. In this dispute, the line points to established standing and careful conduct, even when larger affairs pull you in.
中文对照
《象》说：“食旧德，从上吉也。”身在争议之中，六三提醒我们顾惜已有的德行和立足之处，参与更大的事务时也保持谨慎。
Check the work already agreed
She checks the roles agreed before the argument. She tells both groups what she can confirm, then guides the volunteers to their places. Helping the event does not require taking disputed credit.
中文对照
她核对争执发生前确定的分工，把能确认的事实告诉双方，再带志愿者回到各自位置。帮大家把活动做下去，不必抢那份尚有争议的功劳。
The dispute remains; the event moves
Back at the same entrance, the credit dispute remains. But the doors can open, the volunteers know their work, and she has kept her own promise without making someone else's claim her own.
中文对照
回到同一处入口，署名争议还在。但门可以照常打开，志愿者知道自己要做什么；她也守住了自己的承诺，没有替别人认领说不清的功劳。
Read the line with the whole hexagram
At YiPhase dot com, read Song's third line with the full hexagram. When a dispute asks for your name, which responsibility is already yours to keep?
中文对照
到 YiPhase 阅读讼卦六三和整卦上下文。当一场争执要借用你的名字时，你已经承担的责任是什么？
Classical text and context
六三：食舊德，貞厲，終吉。或從王事，无成。《象》曰：食舊德，從上吉也。
Song is Hexagram Six, Heaven above Water. The third line is broken. The community event is a modern application: it shows careful conduct and continued work while the dispute over credit remains open.
Read Zhouyi · Song, third line and Image →. English renderings are editorial.