節 → 巽
Hexagram 60: Limitation → Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 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 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 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
六目俱視,各欲有志。心意不同,乖戾生訟。
Six eyes all watching, each harboring their own designs. Hearts and intentions differ; discord leads to dispute.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water over lake should align diverse perspectives toward a shared measure, but this verse shows alignment shattered. Six eyes stare in different directions, each pursuing its own agenda. Hearts and minds diverge, and the dissonance breeds litigation. The 'six eyes' likely represents three people or three factions — each seeing differently, each wanting differently, unable to form consensus. From Limitation to the Gentle, the transformation doubles the wind: penetrating influence applied and reapplied. The gentleman issues his commands and carries them out — but when six eyes refuse to align, even the gentlest repeated instruction generates only more friction. The Gentle's power of gradual permeation fails against a group that has already fractured at the level of fundamental intention. Limitation without shared purpose produces not order but quarrels.
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