節 → 乾
Hexagram 60: Limitation → Hexagram 1: The Creative
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 4, 6).
Line 3
六三 不節若。則嗟若。无咎。
Six in the third place means: He who knows no limitation Will have cause to lament. No blame.
Line 4
六四 安節亨。
Six in the fourth place means: Contented limitation. Success.
Line 6
上六 苦節貞凶。悔亡。
Six at the top means: Galling limitation. Perseverance brings misfortune. Remorse disappears.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
虎呴怒咆，慎戒外憂。上下俱搔，士民无聊。
The tiger roars and rages; be vigilant against threats from beyond. High and low alike are agitated; the people find no peace.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water over lake sets a boundary, but the tiger strains against it. A great beast roars and paces, radiating fury that unsettles all above and below. Officials scramble and commoners find no peace — the entire realm scratches at its own anxiety. The verse paints a scene of authority stretched past its proper limits, where the tension between restraint and raw force generates universal distress. From Limitation to the Creative, the transformation reveals what happens when contained energy refuses containment: heaven's self-renewing drive, once unleashed, overwhelms every structure meant to hold it. The tiger's rage is initiative misapplied — power without proportion, vigor without direction, turning what should be strength into a source of collective anguish.
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