節 → 蹇
Hexagram 60: Limitation → Hexagram 39: Obstruction
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
葛藟蒙棘，華不得實。讒佞亂政，使恩壅塞。
Creeper vines strangle the pillar — the tree cannot grow. Worms bore into the beam's heart — the ridgepole leans. Loyal counsel cannot enter blinded ears — the upright tree in the courtyard is smothered by dark vines.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water over lake should regulate growth, but here parasitic growth overwhelms the structure. This is a rewritten verse; the original reads: 'Kudzu vines smother the thorns; flowers cannot bear fruit. Slanderers and flatterers disorder the government, blocking the flow of grace.' Creeping vines strangle the host plant, preventing it from fruiting — a direct metaphor for sycophants choking off good governance. Slander clogs the channels through which benevolence should flow. From Limitation to Obstruction, the transformation compounds the blockage. Water pools atop the mountain, unable to flow downward — the gentleman turns inward to cultivate virtue because outward action is impossible. Limitation's regulatory channels, clogged by flattery and lies, produce Obstruction's frozen impasse where honest counsel cannot reach the ruler.
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