節 → 遯
Hexagram 60: Limitation → Hexagram 33: Retreat
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 6).
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 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
奮翅鼓翼，翱翔外國。逍遙北域，不入溫室。
Spreading wings, beating pinions, soaring to foreign lands. Wandering freely in northern regions, never entering the warm chamber.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water over lake draws a line, and this verse crosses it decisively — outward, into freedom. Wings spread and beating, one soars beyond the homeland to roam the northern wilds, refusing to return to the heated chamber. The 'warm room' carries overtones of the Han court's literal heated apartments, symbols of political comfort and its attendant compromises. The bird that chooses cold northern air over cushioned captivity enacts a deliberate rejection of corrupt ease. From Limitation to Retreat, the transformation perfects this gesture. Heaven above the mountain — the great withdraws from the small, maintaining dignity through distance. Limitation's boundary becomes Retreat's intentional departure. Not every flight is exile; sometimes the boundary crossed is the one that liberates.
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