大過 → 節

Commentary

Lake over wind hardens into water above lake — Limitation, the principle of measured restraint. Morning mist clears into evening glow, but the moisture seeps through and soaks one's jacket. On returning, there is no ox to be found. The verse is spare and melancholy: a day of shifting weather — dawn brightness giving way to dampness — and a loss discovered upon return. The soaked garment suggests exposure to elements one cannot control; the missing ox, a livelihood vanished without explanation. Limitation's image is water atop the lake — excess checked by a containing boundary. But the verse shows limitation's cost: the boundary that conserves also restricts, and what is lost within the limits cannot be recovered. From Great Exceeding to Limitation, excess is trimmed, but the cutting is not painless.