節 → 益
Hexagram 60: Limitation → Hexagram 42: Increase
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 6).
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 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
伯夷叔齊，貞廉之師。以德防患，憂禍不存。
The well has its own clear rules; those who draw water govern themselves. One ladle to drink surpasses a thousand goblets.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water over lake governs through self-restraint, and this verse distills that principle to its essence. This is a rewritten verse; the original reads: 'Boyi and Shuqi, teachers of integrity and incorruptibility. With virtue they guarded against disaster; worry and calamity did not exist.' The brothers of Guzhu who refused Zhou grain and starved on Mount Shouyang exemplify the ultimate voluntary limitation — choosing death over moral compromise. Their virtue was not passive but actively preventive: by maintaining integrity, they preempted the very possibility of catastrophe. From Limitation to Increase, the transformation reveals the paradox that radical self-denial generates abundance. Wind and thunder invigorate each other; seeing good, one follows it. The brothers' sacrifice produces an inexhaustible moral legacy that enriches all subsequent generations.
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