Hexagram 60 of 64 · King Wen order
節Limitation
Jié · ䷻ · above: Water ☵ 坎 Kǎn · below: Lake ☱ 兌 Duì
The necessity of boundaries and thrift to achieve success and prevent exhaustion.A one-line gloss written for this site (AI-assisted). Everything below it is the classical text.
The Judgment 卦辭
亨。苦節不可貞。
Kieh intimates that (under its conditions) there will be progress and attainment. (But) if the regulations (which it prescribes) be severe and difficult, they cannot be permanent.
James Legge, The Yî King (1882), the Text. Words in (parentheses) are Legge's own additions.
Commentary on the Judgment 彖傳 (Tuan, the first Wing)
1. 'Kieh intimates progress and attainment:'—the strong and weak (lines) are equally divided, and the strong lines occupy the central places.
2. 'If the regulations (which Kieh prescribes) be severe and difficult, they cannot be permanent:'—its course (of action) will in that case come to an end.
3. (We have the feeling of) pleasure and satisfaction directing the course amidst peril. (We have) all regulations controlled (by authority) in its proper place. (We have) free action proceeding from the central and correct position.
4. Heaven and earth observe their regular terms, and we have the four seasons complete. (If rulers) frame their measures according to (the due) regulations, the resources (of the state) suffer no injury, and the people receive no hurt.
The Image 象
澤上有水，節；君子以制數度，議德行。
(The trigram representing) a lake, and above it that for water, form Kieh. The superior man, in accordance with this, constructs his (methods of) numbering and measurement, and discusses (points of) virtue and conduct.
Legge's Great Image (Appendix II). The Chinese above also carries the Small Images of the six lines.
The six lines 爻辭
Read from the bottom (line 1) to the top (line 6). Each line: the Chinese, Legge's translation, and the Small Image commentary on it.
Line 1 初九
The first line from the bottom, yang (solid, nine)
不出戶庭，無咎。
The first NINE, undivided, shows its subject not quitting the courtyard outside his door. There will be no error.
Small Image: 'He does not quit the courtyard outside his door:'—he knows when he has free course and when he is obstructed.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 29, The Abysmal.
Line 2 九二
The second line from the bottom, yang (solid, nine)
不出門庭，凶。
The second NINE, undivided, shows its subject not quitting the courtyard inside his gate. There will be evil.
Small Image: 'He does not quit the courtyard inside his gate. There will be evil:'—he loses the time (for action) to an extreme degree.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 3, Difficulty at the Beginning.
Line 3 六三
The third line from the bottom, yin (broken, six)
不節若，則嗟若，無咎。
The third SIX, divided, shows its subject with no appearance of observing the (proper) regulations, in which case we shall see him lamenting. But there will be no one to blame (but himself).
Small Image: In 'the lamentation for not observing the (proper) regulations,' who should there be to blame?
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 5, Waiting.
Line 4 六四
The fourth line from the bottom, yin (broken, six)
安節，亨。
The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject quietly and naturally (attentive to all) regulations. There will be progress and success.
Small Image: 'The progress and success of the quiet and natural (attention) to all regulations' is due to the deference which accepts the ways of (the ruler) above.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 58, The Joyous, Lake.
Line 5 九五
The fifth line from the bottom, yang (solid, nine)
甘節，吉；往有尚。
The fifth NINE, undivided, shows its subject sweetly and acceptably enacting his regulations. There will be good fortune. The onward progress with them will afford ground for admiration.
Small Image: 'The good fortune arising from the regulations enacted sweetly and acceptably' is due to (the line) occupying the place (of authority) and being in the centre.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 19, Approach.
Line 6 上六
The sixth line from the bottom, yin (broken, six)
苦節，貞凶，悔亡。
The topmost SIX, divided, shows its subject enacting regulations severe and difficult. Even with firmness and correctness there will be evil. But though there will be cause for repentance, it will (by and by) disappear.
Small Image: 'The regulations are severe and difficult. Even with firm correctness there will be evil:'—the course (indicated by the hexagram) is come to an end.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 61, Inner Truth.
Related hexagrams
lines 2-4 below, 3-5 aboveOpposite 錯卦56. The Wanderer 旅
every line changedInverse 綜卦59. Dispersion 渙
turned upside down
A hexagram is a mirror, not a command: read it to reflect, never to obey. Sources: James Legge (tr.), The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (Oxford, 1882; 2nd ed. 1899), public domain; the Chinese text from Project Gutenberg ebook #25501 (易經), public domain. The trigram facts and the related hexagrams are computed from the line pattern. The gloss, selection and arrangement are CC-BY-SA-4.0 (PlayfulProcess). Data: github.com/PlayfulProcess/recursive-iching.