節 → 豫
Hexagram 60: Limitation → Hexagram 16: Enthusiasm
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 5).
Line 1
初九 不出戶庭。无咎。
Nine at the beginning means: Not going out of the door and the courtyard Is without blame.
Line 2
九二 不出門庭。凶。
Nine in the second place means: Not going out of the gate and the courtyard Brings misfortune.
Line 4
六四 安節亨。
Six in the fourth place means: Contented limitation. Success.
Line 5
九五 甘節吉。往有尚。
Nine in the fifth place means: Sweet limitation brings good fortune. Going brings esteem.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
朽條腐索,不堪施用。安靜候時,以待親知。
Rotten branches and decayed rope, unfit for any use. Rest quietly and wait for the proper time, until friends and kin arrive.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water over lake imposes structure, but here the materials themselves have rotted beyond use. Decayed branches and crumbling ropes — nothing can bear weight or serve its purpose. The only recourse is to sit quietly, await the right season, and hope for a trusted friend to arrive. The verse depicts exhaustion of means, not of will: the spirit is willing but every instrument has failed. From Limitation to Enthusiasm, the transformation carries a paradox — thunder bursts from the earth in joyous arousal, yet the current state is one of paralysis. The resolution lies in timing: what is rotten cannot be forced back into service, but thunder's stirring signals that renewal will come from below, unbidden. One waits not in despair but in anticipation of the earth's own rhythm reasserting itself.
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