節 → 比
Hexagram 60: Limitation → Hexagram 8: Holding Together
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 2).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
童妾獨宿，長女未室，利无所得。
The young concubine sleeps alone; the eldest daughter remains unmarried. Profit and gain are nowhere to be found.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water over lake measures what each vessel receives, and in this verse every vessel stands empty. A young concubine sleeps alone; the eldest daughter remains unmarried; no profit materializes from any quarter. The image is of frustrated union — relationships that should form remain suspended, potential that should ripen stays barren. From Limitation to Holding Together, the transformation underscores the irony: water upon earth should unite disparate elements into community, yet the very people who need connection find themselves isolated. Limitation's austerity has become deprivation rather than discipline. The concubine's solitary bed and the unmarried daughter's waiting room are images of a system where measure has tightened into exclusion, and the bonds that would create belonging simply never form.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store