觀 → 節
Hexagram 20: Contemplation → Hexagram 60: Limitation
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 6).
Line 1
初六 童觀。小人无咎。君子吝。
Six at the beginning means: Boy like contemplation. For an inferior man, no blame. For a superior man, humiliation.
Line 2
六二 闚觀。利女貞。
Six in the second place means: Contemplation through the crack of the door. Furthering for the perseverance of a woman.
Line 6
上九 觀其生。君子无咎。
Nine at the top means: Contemplation of his life. The superior man is without blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
推車上山，高仰重難；終日至暮，惟見阜顛。
Pushing a cart uphill, the slope is steep and the load heavy; from daybreak to nightfall -- one sees only the hilltop summit.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind over earth watches Sisyphean labor. Pushing a cart uphill, the grade steep and the burden heavy, one labors from dawn to dusk — only to see the hilltop and nothing beyond. The verse captures the exhaustion of effort that produces no visible progress: the summit, once reached, reveals only another slope. There is no destination, only ascent. Water over lake forms Limitation, which sets proper boundaries to prevent excess. From Contemplation to Limitation, the lesson is implicit: without knowing when to stop pushing, effort becomes punishment. Limitation does not forbid labor but insists on measure. The cart-pusher who ignores the body's limits achieves nothing but a view of more hill ahead.
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