巽 → 節
Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind → Hexagram 60: Limitation
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 6).
Line 1
初六 進退。利武人之貞。
Six at the beginning means: In advancing and in retreating, The perseverance of a warrior furthers.
Line 3
九三 頻巽吝。
Nine in the third place means: Repeated penetration. Humiliation.
Line 6
上九 巽在牀下。喪其資斧。貞凶。
Nine at the top means: Penetration under the bed. He loses his property and his ax. Perseverance brings misfortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
嬰兒孩子,未有所識。彼童而角,亂我政事。
Infants and babes; they have no understanding. That child who sprouts horns; throws our governance into chaos.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind upon wind transforms into water over lake: the Gentle becomes Limitation. Infants and children have no understanding yet. That child who sprouts horns disrupts my governance. The verse contrasts natural innocence with precocious menace: ordinary children simply lack knowledge, but one child has grown horns — an unnatural prodigy who wreaks havoc on the state. In Chinese omen lore, a child sprouting horns or horned prodigies were signs of cosmic disorder. From The Gentle to Limitation, water above the lake establishes measured boundaries. The gentleman regulates numbers and deliberates on conduct. Yet the anomalous child defies every limit: too young to govern, yet powerful enough to destabilize. When what should be limited by nature exceeds its bounds, the entire system of regulation breaks down.
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