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HEXAGRAM 60 – Chieh – Limitation

Above    K’AN    THE ABYSMAL, WATER

Below    TUI    THE JOYOUS, LAKE

• A lake occupies a limited space.
  

When more water comes into it,

• it overflows.
  

Therefore

limits must be set for the water.

The image shows

• water below and
  
• water above,
  
• with the firmament between them as a limit.
  

The Chinese word for limitation really

denotes the joints that divide a bamboo stalk.

• In relation to ordinary life
  
  • it means the thrift that sets fixed limits upon expenditures.
    
• In relation to the moral sphere
  
  • it means the fixed limits that the superior man sets upon his actions –
    

    the limits of loyalty and disinterestedness.
    

THE JUDGMENT

LIMITATION.

Success.

Galling limitation must not be persevered in.

• Limitations are troublesome,
  

but

• they are effective.
  

If

• we live economically in normal times,
  
• we are prepared for times of want.
  

To be sparing saves us from humiliation.

Limitations are also indispensable in the regulation of world conditions.

In nature there are fixed limits for

• summer and winter,
  
• day and night, and
  

these limits give the year its meaning.

In the same way,

economy,

by setting fixed limits upon expenditures,

acts to

• preserve property and
  
• prevent injury to the people.
  

But in limitation

we must observe due measure.

• If a man should seek to impose galling limitations upon his own nature,
  
  • it would be injurious.
    

And

• if he should go too far in imposing limitations on others,
  
  • they would rebel.
    

Therefore

it is necessary to set limits even upon limitations

THE IMAGE

Water over lake: the image of LIMITATION.

Thus

the superior man

• Creates number and measure, And
  
• examines the nature of virtue and correct conduct.
  

• A lake is something limited.
  
• Water is inexhaustible.
  

A lake

• can contain only a definite amount of the infinite quantity of water;
  
• this is its peculiarity.
  

In human life too

the individual achieves significance through

• discrimination and
  
• the setting of limits.
  

Therefore

what concerns us here is

the problem of clearly defining these discriminations,

which are, so to speak,

• the backbone of morality.
  

• Unlimited possibilities are not suited to man;
  
• if
  
• they existed,
  
• his life would only dissolve in the boundless.
  

To become strong,

a man’s life needs the limitations

• ordained by duty and
  
• voluntarily accepted.
  

The individual attains significance as a free spirit only

• by surrounding himself with these limitations and
  
• by determining for himself what his duty is.
  

THE LINES

Nine in the second place means:

Not going out of the gate and the courtyard

Brings misfortune.

When

• the time for action has come,
  
• the moment must be quickly seized.
  

Just as

• water first collects in a lake without flowing out,
  
• yet is certain to find an outlet when the lake is full,
  

so it is in the life of man.

• It is a good thing to hesitate
  

so long as

• the time for action has not come, but no longer.
  

Once

the obstacles to action have been removed,

anxious hesitation

• is a mistake that is bound to bring disaster,
  
• because one misses one’s opportunity.
  

MOVING HEXAGRAM

HEXAGRAM 03 – Chun – Difficulty at the Beginning

Above    K’AN    THE ABYSMAL, WATER

Below    CHEN    THE AROUSING, THUNDER

The name of the hexagram, Chun, really connotes

a blade of grass pushing against an obstacle

as it sprouts out of the earth hence the meaning, “difficulty at the beginning.”

The hexagram indicates the way in which heaven and earth bring forth individual beings.

It is their first meeting, which is beset with difficulties.

The lower trigram Chen is the Arousing;

• its motion is upward and
  
• its image is thunder.
  

The upper trigram K’an stands for the Abysmal, the dangerous.

• Its motion is downward and
  
• its image is rain.
  

The situation points to teeming, chaotic profusion;

thunder and rain fill the air.

But the chaos clears up.

• While the Abysmal sinks,
  
• the upward movement eventually passes beyond the danger.
  
• A thunderstorm brings release from tension, and
  
• all things breathe freely again.
  

THE JUDGMENT

DIFFICULTY AT THE BEGINNING works supreme success,

Furthering through perseverance.

Nothing should be undertaken.

It furthers one to appoint helpers.

Times of growth are beset with difficulties.

They resemble a first birth.

But these difficulties arise from the very profusion of all that is struggling to attain form.

Everything is in motion:

therefore if one perseveres there is a prospect of great success, in spite of the existing danger.

When it is a man’s fate to undertake such new beginnings, everything is still unformed, dark.

Hence he must hold back, because any premature move might bring disaster.

Likewise, it is very important not to remain alone;

in order to overcome the chaos he needs helpers.

This is not to say, however, that he himself should look on passively at what is happening.

He must lend his hand and participate with inspiration and guidance.

THE IMAGE

Clouds and thunder: The image Of DIFFICULTY AT THE BEGINNING.

Thus the superior man

Brings order out of confusion.

Clouds and thunder are represented by definite decorative lines;

this means that in the chaos of difficulty at the beginning, order is already implicit.

So too the superior man has to arrange and organize the inchoate profusion of such times of beginning, just as one sorts out silk threads from a knotted tangle and binds them into skeins.

In order to find one’s place in the infinity of being,

one must be able both

• to separate and
  
• to unite.
  

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