The "Conflict" hexagram symbolizes "dispute" and "contradiction." Its core revelation is: When facing conflict, one should aim to resolve disputes and cease contention, exercising caution from start to finish, using gentleness to overcome rigidity, and seeking the middle path to resolve conflicts.

1. Interpersonal Conflicts

• Family/Friendship: The first six lines advise: Take the initiative to yield in trivial disputes (e.g., differences in living habits) to avoid "making a mountain out of a molehill." The third six lines suggest: Use past bonds to inspire tolerance (e.g., "Remember when you helped me...").
• Workplace Disputes: Apply the second nine lines: If a superior is unfair, temporarily avoid confrontation rather than engage head-on. The fifth nine lines mindset: Resolve conflicts through systems or neutral mediators (e.g., HR arbitration).

2. Business Operations

• Commercial Competition: Avoid vicious litigation: Refer to "ultimate misfortune" and prefer compromise and cooperation (e.g., settling patent disputes). The fourth nine lines wisdom: When facing failure in competition, return to core business (reverting to one's mission).
• Management Conflicts: Emulate the fifth nine lines: Leaders establish authority through fairness (e.g., equitable resource distribution) to prevent internal disputes.

3. Risk Decision-Making

• Contracting and Partnerships: The first six lines warn: Clarify terms beforehand to eliminate potential disputes (not prolonging the matter).
• Investment and Rights Protection: The top nine lines lesson: If already embroiled in litigation, know when to stop (e.g., accepting mediation) and avoid greed for total victory.

4. The Path of Self-Cultivation

• Restrain the Desire to Compete: The essence of the Conflict hexagram is "vigilance against desires"—guarding against competitiveness and possessiveness (obstruction of sincerity).
• Transform Conflict into Need: The "Need" hexagram (waiting) and the "Conflict" hexagram are two sides of the same coin: unmet needs lead to conflict, so the fundamental solution lies in self-enrichment (e.g., improving skills to reduce envy).

III. The Modern Significance of the Conflict Hexagram

• Legal Awareness: The Conflict hexagram does not deny rights protection but emphasizes "disputes for public good, not private gain": Personal rights protection should know when to stop (e.g., not exhausting one's life over small compensations). Socially significant litigation (e.g., public interest rights protection) aligns with the "fifth nine lines' middle path."
• Negotiation Philosophy: "Better to coexist than compete for profit": In business negotiations, retreat to advance (emulating the second and fourth nine lines) to find common ground between both parties' bottom lines.
• Emotional Management: The first line's "not prolonging the matter" aligns with psychological "issue separation"—stopping fixation on uncontrollable matters.
  The wisdom of the Conflict hexagram teaches one to be a "calm whetstone" in the turbulent currents of dispute: not swept away by anger, not stubbornly seeking victory, retreating to protect oneself, and using harmony to turn conflict into peace. The true victory is always preventing disputes before they arise.