Hexagram 60
Hexagram 60: Limitation
節 (Jié)
Restraint, moderation, and the wisdom of self-imposed limits.
Overview
Until recently you shut yourself off from other people so that you could work on your own character. You have done that. But that isolation is where the main danger of this time is hidden, and you can no longer ignore it.
Your life has begun to slide into chaos. At some point things slipped out of your control and started to develop on their own.
Now you face a choice. Do you keep moving in your chosen direction in spite of the obstacles? Or do you try to limit the chaos, which is only growing stronger?
People around you
Listen to what this sign advises. Setting limits will change a great deal in your relationships with the people around you. Share at least part of your ideas and plans with those close to you. That way you can look at your plans critically. Along with sensible criticism you can find people who are on your side. You may need help as the work goes on, so take care of that in advance.
Work and rest
Before you plan your work and your rest, listen to what people say about it. You may well hear something that appeals to you.
But remember that being on your own was never a goal in itself for you. It served to refine who you are. Now that this period is ending, you need to reach out to other people. Then what you do will be truly successful.
Your wish
The sign puts your wish on its way, but you need patience to get the result you want. Do not try to have everything at once. That brings nothing but trouble. If you do not rush, and you think things through, you will reach your goal.
This Overview is one traditional reading of the figure, offered as a prompt for reflection and perspective rather than a prediction of a fixed future. Where this material comes from.
New to the sequence? See how lines, trigrams and changing lines work, or cast your own reading with the three-coin method.
Structure
Read from the bottom upward, hexagram 60 is Water over Lake. Its two inner, or nuclear, trigrams are Mountain over Thunder. What the eight trigrams mean.
- Upper trigram (lines 4–6)
- Kǎn · Water Deep and dangerous
- Lower trigram (lines 1–3)
- Duì · Lake Joyous and open
- Upper nuclear (lines 3–5)
- Gèn · Mountain Still and stopping
- Lower nuclear (lines 2–4)
- Zhèn · Thunder Arousing and moving
Related figures
Hexagrams this one is connected to by its structure rather than by its number.
- Opposite:
- 56. The Wanderer — Every one of the six lines flipped.
- Reversed:
- 59. Dispersion — The same figure turned upside down.
- Nuclear:
- 27. Nourishment — The figure formed by the four inner lines.
If one line changes
A reading with a single changing line moves from this figure to one of these, counting from the bottom line up.
- Line 1 (yang to yin) 29. The Abysmal
- Line 2 (yang to yin) 3. Difficulty at Beginning
- Line 3 (yin to yang) 5. Waiting
- Line 4 (yin to yang) 58. The Joyous
- Line 5 (yang to yin) 19. Approach
- Line 6 (yin to yang) 61. Inner Truth
Keep exploring
Continue through the sequence
Free, ad-supported mobile app
Continue your reflection in the app
Consult the I Ching, explore all 64 hexagrams, and keep your reading history on your device.
