Hexagram 60
節 Jié
Limitation
☵ Water above ☱ Lake
Judgment 卦辭
亨。苦節不可貞。
Commentary
Success. Galling limitation must not be persevered in. Limitations are troublesome, but they are effective. Living economically in normal times prepares for times of want. Being sparing saves from humiliation. Limitations are also indispensable in the regulation of world conditions—in nature there are fixed limits for summer and winter, day and night, and these limits give the year its meaning. But in limitation, observe due measure. Galling limitations imposed on one's own nature would be injurious. If you go too far in imposing limitations on others, they will rebel. Set limits even upon limitation.
Classical Text
節兌下坎上 節，亨，苦節不可貞。
Jie (Regulation): Dui below, Kan above. Regulation. Success. Bitter regulation cannot be held as correct.
Image 象
澤上有水，節。君子以制數度，議德行。
Water over lake. Create number and measure, examine the nature of virtue and correct conduct. A lake can contain only a definite amount of the infinite quantity of water—this is its peculiarity. In human life, the individual achieves significance through discrimination and setting of limits. Unlimited possibilities are not suited to us; if they existed, life would only dissolve in the boundless. To become strong, life needs the limitations ordained by duty and voluntarily accepted.
Lines 爻辭
不出戶庭無咎
Not going out of the door and the courtyard is without blame. When confronted by insurmountable limitations, know where to stop. If you rightly understand this and do not go beyond the limits set for you, you accumulate energy that enables you, when the proper time comes, to act with great force. Discretion is of prime importance in preparing the way for momentous things.
Classical commentary
初九，不出戶庭，无咎。
Initial Nine. Not going out through the door of the courtyard. No blame.
不出門庭凶
Not going out of the gate and the courtyard brings misfortune. When the time for action has come, the moment must be quickly seized. Just as water first collects in a lake without flowing out, yet is certain to find an outlet when the lake is full, so it is in the life of a person. It is good to hesitate so long as the time for action has not come—but no longer. Once obstacles to action have been removed, anxious hesitation is a mistake bound to bring disaster because you miss your opportunity.
Classical commentary
九二，不出門庭，凶。
Nine in the Second. Not going out through the gate of the courtyard. Misfortune.
不節若則嗟若無咎
He who knows no limitation will have cause to lament. No blame. If bent only on pleasures and enjoyment, it is easy to lose your sense of necessary limits. If you give yourself over to extravagance, you will suffer the consequences with accompanying regret. Do not seek to lay the blame on others. Only when you realize that mistakes are of your own making will disagreeable experiences free you of errors.
Classical commentary
六三，不節若，則嗟若，无咎。
Six in the Third. If one does not regulate, then one will lament. No blame.
安節亨
Contented limitation. Success. Every limitation has its value, but a limitation that requires persistent effort entails a cost of too much energy. When limitation is natural—like water flowing only downhill—it necessarily leads to success, for it means saving energy. The energy that otherwise would be consumed in a vain struggle is applied wholly to the matter in hand.
Classical commentary
六四，安節，亨。
Six in the Fourth. Peaceful regulation. Success.
甘節吉往有尚
Sweet limitation brings good fortune. Going brings esteem. If we seek to impose restrictions on others only while evading them ourselves, these restrictions will always be resented and provoke resistance. But if a person in a leading position applies limitation first to themselves, demanding little from those associated with them, and with modest means manages to achieve something, good fortune is the result. Such an example meets with emulation.
Classical commentary
九五，甘節，吉。往有尚。
Nine in the Fifth. Sweet regulation. Auspicious. Going forth, there is esteem.
苦節貞凶悔亡
Galling limitation. Persistence brings misfortune. Remorse disappears. If one is too severe in setting up restrictions, people will not endure them. The more consistent such severity, the worse it is—a reaction is unavoidable. On the other hand, although ruthless severity is not to be applied persistently, there may be times when it is the only means of safeguarding against guilt and remorse. In such situations, ruthlessness toward oneself is the only means of saving one's soul.
Classical commentary
上六，苦節，貞凶，悔亡。
Top Six. Bitter regulation. Correctness brings misfortune. Regret vanishes.