節 → 困

Commentary

Water over lake regulates cycles, but here the cycles have diverged beyond reconciliation. Sun and moon travel at different paces, lodging in separate quarters — the celestial pair that should harmonize instead pulls apart. Husband and wife turn against each other; the ruler loses his dwelling. The verse layers cosmic disharmony onto domestic collapse: when the fundamental rhythms of a household fall out of sync, the structure cannot hold. From Limitation to Oppression, the transformation strips the lake dry. Water drains from beneath the lake — the vital resource that once filled the container disappears. Limitation's measured rhythm, once broken, produces not merely disorder but the exhaustion of Oppression, where one must stake one's life to pursue one's purpose. The empty lake mirrors the empty household.