訟 → 節
Hexagram 6: Conflict → Hexagram 60: Limitation
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 6).
Line 1
初六 不永所事。小有言。終吉。
Six at the beginning means: If one does not perpetuate the affair, There is a little gossip. In the end, good fortune comes.
Line 4
九四 不克訟。復即命。渝安貞。吉。
Nine in the fourth place means: One cannot engage in conflict. One turns back and submits to fate, Changes one's attitude, And finds peace in perseverance. Good fortune.
Line 6
上九 或錫之鞶帶。終朝三褫之。
Nine at the top means: Even if by chance a leather belt is bestowed on one, By the end of a morning It will have been snatched away three times.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
金人鐵距，火燒左右。雖懼不恐，獨得全處。
A man of metal with iron claws; fire burns left and right. Though fearful, not terrified; alone he survives intact.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven and water oppose, and a figure of metal stands on iron talons while fire blazes on both sides. Though fear is natural, panic does not take hold — one remains whole in an intact position. The 'metal person with iron spurs' suggests a bronze guardian or armored sentinel, impervious to flame by nature. From Conflict to Limitation, water rests above the lake, measured and contained. Jie's image is the noble who establishes standards and deliberates on conduct. The verse embodies Limitation's power: within properly set boundaries, even surrounded by fire, one stands unburned. The metal figure does not flee the flames but defines a space where fire cannot enter. Limitation, correctly applied, is its own armor.
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