Limitation
- In Chinese
- 節 jié
- Above
- The Abysmal, water
- Below
- The Joyous, lake
Did you get this hexagram?
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Mark my castWhat hexagram 60 means
Hexagram 60 is about limits and the rules that set them. Legge explains that its name first meant “the joints of the bamboo”, and that it holds “the ideas of regulating and restraining”.
The judgment is favorable. In Legge's words “there will be progress and attainment”.
It carries one warning. Rules that are too harsh do not last, and Wilhelm puts it as “Galling limitation must not be persevered in.”
The judgment and the image
The judgment
節亨。苦節，不可貞。
LIMITATION. Success. Galling limitation must not be persevered in.
success things flow and come through
The image
澤上有水，《節》。君子以制數度，議德行。
Water over lake: the image of LIMITATION. Thus the superior man Creates number and measure, And examines the nature of virtue and correct conduct.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment finds the reason for success in the shape of the hexagram, which has three whole lines and three broken ones. It says “the strong and weak (lines) are equally divided, and the strong lines occupy the central places”.
The same commentary explains the warning. If the rules are severe and difficult, “its course (of action) will in that case come to an end”.
It then looks to the year for a model of limits that work. “Heaven and earth observe their regular terms, and we have the four seasons complete.” When rulers measure in the same way, “the resources (of the state) suffer no injury, and the people receive no hurt”.
The commentary also describes the hexagram at work. It speaks of “pleasure and satisfaction directing the course amidst peril”, and of “free action proceeding from the central and correct position”. Legge's notes call the lower trigram “the trigram of complacent satisfaction” and the upper one “the trigram of peril”.
The image is a lake with water above it. From it the commentary draws a task for a person, who “constructs his (methods of) numbering and measurement, and discusses (points of) virtue and conduct”. In Wilhelm the superior man “Creates number and measure, And examines the nature of virtue and correct conduct.”
Legge shows how wide the name reaches. Beyond the bamboo, it is used “for the joints of the human frame; and for the solar and other terms of the year”. In this hexagram he takes the subject to be “the regulations of government enacted for the guidance and control of the people”.
The six lines
First line
不出戶庭，无咎。
Not going out of the door and the courtyard Is without blame.
no blame there is no mistake in it
Staying in is the right choice here. The commentary says of this person that “he knows when he has free course and when he is obstructed”.
Legge notes that the line is strong and would not lack the power to advance, but it is held in check. He concludes that “The course of wisdom therefore is to keep still.” He also cites a reading in which the line “tells an officer not to take office rashly”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 29, The Abysmal
Second line
不出門庭，凶。
Not going out of the gate and the courtyard Brings misfortune.
misfortune it goes badly
The same staying in now brings the opposite result. Legge finds the line strong but “in the wrong place”, and he explains that “Its subject keeps still, when he ought to be up and doing.”
The commentary names what is lost. By not going out “he loses the time (for action) to an extreme degree”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 3, Difficulty at the Beginning
Third line
不節若，則嗟若，无咎。
He who knows no limitation Will have cause to lament. No blame.
no blame there is no mistake in it
This line shows a person who accepts no limit and comes to lament it. In Legge's note the subject “will not receive the yoke of regulations” and finds out the mistake “when it is too late”.
The two translations part at the end of the line. Wilhelm has simply “No blame.” Legge reads that “there will be no one to blame (but himself)”, and the commentary asks “who should there be to blame?”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 5, Waiting
Fourth line
安節。亨。
Contented limitation. Success.
success things flow and come through
Here the limits are kept without strain. Legge's subject is “quietly and naturally” attentive to them, and Wilhelm calls it “Contented limitation.”
The commentary gives the source of the success. It is “the deference which accepts the ways of (the ruler) above”, and Legge adds that its subject “has respect to the authority of the strong ruler in 5”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 58, The Joyous
Fifth line
甘節，吉，往有尚。
Sweet limitation brings good fortune. Going brings esteem.
good fortune it goes well
This is the one line with good fortune. Its subject is “sweetly and acceptably enacting his regulations”, and the commentary credits the line's place, “the place (of authority)”, in the centre.
Legge notes that the line is strong and in its correct place. He writes that “Its subject regulates himself, having no correlate”, and yet “he is lord of the hexagram, and his influence is everywhere beneficially felt”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 19, Approach
Sixth line
苦節，貞凶。悔亡。
Galling limitation. Perseverance brings misfortune. Remorse disappears.
misfortune it goes badlyremorse disappears regret fades away
The warning of the judgment returns at the top. The rules are “severe and difficult”, and the text says “Even with firmness and correctness there will be evil.” Legge sees in this subject “an exaggerated desire for enacting regulations”.
The line still ends with relief. Legge cites Confucius, for whom such severity “is not so great a fault as to be easy and remiss”, and he adds that “It may be remedied, and cause for repentance will disappear.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 61, Inner Truth
Hexagram 60 unchanging
If none of your six lines is moving, you read the hexagram as a whole. That is the judgment and the image above, without any of the line texts.
The book gives the reason. Lines that do not move are “non-moving lines, which serve only as structural matter in the hexagram, without intrinsic meaning of their own”.
For hexagram 60 unchanging, what remains is the judgment, which speaks of progress and warns that severe rules cannot be permanent, and the image of water over a lake, which asks for number, measure and a look at one's conduct.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 60 mean?
It is about limits and regulation. The judgment speaks of “progress and attainment”, and it warns that rules which are “severe and difficult” cannot be permanent.
What does hexagram 60 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 60 that is progress under limits that are not too harsh, and the task of setting number and measure.
What does hexagram 60 changing to 19 mean?
It is hexagram 60 with its fifth line moving. That line shows its subject “sweetly and acceptably enacting his regulations”, with good fortune, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 19.
What does hexagram 60 changing to 61 mean?
It is hexagram 60 with its top line moving. That line shows rules that are “severe and difficult”, with evil even for the firm and a regret that passes, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 61.
Why do the first two lines of hexagram 60 give opposite answers?
Both lines show a person who stays in the courtyard, and Legge notes that the courtyard “is one and the same”. The first knows “when he has free course and when he is obstructed”. The second “loses the time (for action)”.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Kieh in James Legge. Limitation in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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