One starves to death when the others take everything. taoscopy.com
Limitation60
Set boundaries and apply discipline to create balance and order in life. Prioritize moderation and clear limits for greater focus and harmony.
↓ Line 1
Staying within limits and not overreaching oneself leads to no blame.
↓ Line 3
Recognizing one's limitations can be painful, but it is necessary and without blame.
↓ Line 4
Accepting limitations with contentment leads to success.
↓ Line 5
Embracing limitations with a positive attitude brings good fortune and respect.
↓ Duration32
Consistency brings endurance. Stay true to your path, create lasting habits, and cultivate patience for sustainable success.
60 Limitation
Other titles: Restrictive Regulations, Restraint, Regulations, Articulating, Receipt, Restraining, Containment
Judgment
Legge:Restrictive Regulations bring progress and success, but if they are severe and difficult they cannot be permanent.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Limitation. Success. Galling limitation must not be persevered in.
Blofeld:Restraint -- success! It is wrong to persist in harsh restraint.
Liu: Limitation. Success. Bitter limitation should not be continued.
Ritsema/Karcher:Articulating, Growing. Bitter Articulating not permitting Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of confused relations. It emphasizes that making limits and connections clear, particularly through speech, is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Receipt. Withered moderation; one may not determine.
Cleary (1):Discipline is developmental, but painful discipline is not to be held to. [Discipline means having limits that are not to be exceeded. This hexagram represents practicing obedience in unfavorable circumstances, adaptably keeping to the Tao. The situation may be up to others, but creation of destiny is up to oneself. When discipline gets to the point of inflicting suffering, it brings on danger itself even where there was no danger; you will only suffer toil and servility which is harmful and has no benefit.]
Cleary (2): Regulation is successful, but painful regulation is not to be held to.
Wu: Regulation indicates pervasiveness. Excessive regulation should not be obstinately pursued. [Sometimes the meaning of conservation or moderation is implied. Although the idea of regulation is convincing, it should not be applied blindly without regard to conditions.]
The Image
Legge: Water over a lake -- the image of Restrictive Regulations. The superior man constructs methods of numbering and measurement, and examines the nature of virtuous conduct.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Water over lake: the image of Limitation. Thus the superior man creates number and measure, and examines the nature of virtue and correct conduct.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes water held in a dyke above a marshy lake. The Superior Man employs a system of regulations in his plans for the widespread practice of virtue.
Liu: Water above the lake symbolizes Limitation. The superior man devises number and measure, and measures conduct and virtue.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above marsh possessing stream. Articulating. A chun tzu uses paring to reckon the measures. A chun tzu uses deliberating actualizing-taoto move.
[Actualize-tao: ...ability to follow the course traced by the ongoing process of the cosmos... Linked with acquire, TE: acquiring that which makes a being become what it is meant to be.]
Cleary (1): There is water over a lake, regulated. Thus superior people determine measures and discuss various actions.
Cleary (2): … Leaders establish numbers and measures, and consider virtuous conduct.
Wu: There is water above the marsh; this is Regulation. Thus, the jun zi enacts statutes and deliberates virtues. [A study of the limits and merits will avert difficulties.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Progress and attainment are seen in the equally divided dynamic and magnetic lines, with the dynamic lines in the central places. If the regulations are severe and difficult, the course of action will come to an end. We see a cheerful attitude directing the course amidst peril. The rules are correctly initiated by the ruler in the fifth place. Heaven and earth observe their regular cycles and complete the four seasons. When rulers frame their laws according to just limitations, the resources of the state suffer no injury, and the people receive no hurt.
Legge: The written Chinese character which denotes Restrictive Regulations means the regular division of a whole, such as the division of the seasons of the year into ninety-day periods clearly marked by the solstices and equinoxes. Whatever makes regular division may be denominated by a "restrictive regulation," and there enter into it the ideas of ordering and restraining. The hexagram deals with the regulations of government enacted for the guidance and control of the people. An important point is made that these regulations must be adapted to the circumstances and not made too strict and severe.
Ch'eng-tzu says on the Image: "The water which a lake or marsh will contain is limited to a certain quantity. If the water flowing in exceeds that amount, it overflows. This gives us the idea of Restrictive Regulations."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Restrictive Regulations are necessary for growth, but severe restriction must itself be limited.
The Superior Man differentiates his options in relation to the goals of the Work.
The Work itself is nothing if not a rigid structure imposed upon one's life -- a "restrictive regulation" of the ego's illusion of freedom of choice. Ordinary people insist that their lives are ordered by the intelligent exercise of free will, but this "freedom" is more commonly just a rationalization for the activity of autonomous complexes. No one can look objectively at the current state of the world and seriously claim that it reflects either rational order or balanced perception. Collective human experience on this planet is determined by the whims of archetypal forces expressing themselves through the unconscious psyches of six-billion people.
The Work then, is a restrictive regulation of these autonomous forces -- it is a limitation, a containment of the expression of instinct and desire. We are reminded of the alchemical vessel which is hermetically sealed to prevent its contents from escaping before they have been transmuted into gold. If the alchemist miscalculates his "methods of numbering and measurement" the vessel becomes a kind of bomb: the seal breaks, the contents explode, and the Work is ruined. This is what is meant by "if the regulations are severe and difficult, the course of action will come to an end." If we restrict the contents of the vessel beyond their capacity for confinement the psyche boils over in some degree of rebellion. This is no minor thing -- depending on the circumstances, severe psychotic reactions can be created in this manner.
On the other hand, the ego thinks that all but the most minor restrictions are severe and difficult, and it is constantly on the verge of rebellion. As always, it is the Self which must determine how far the restrictive regulations can be taken. From its perspective outside of spacetime it is best able to determine how much pressure the psyche can take -- frequently it is far more (or sometimes far less) than the ego thinks possible.
The Confucian commentary observes: "We see a cheerful attitude directing the course amidst peril." This refers to the lower trigram of Cheerfulness encountering the upper trigram of Peril or Danger. The restrictions of the Work are more often than not unpleasant and risky, constantly verging on some kind of an explosion. An attitude of cheerful acceptance enables one to survive these difficult trials. This is an extremely important concept, because without it one can all too easily fall into a suicidal despair. The Work can become an impossible burden unless one learns how to approach stress and hardship with an almost irreverent sense of humor. (This in itself is an essential lesson about how to purge the ego of its myopic notions of what it will and will not "accept" in life.)
There is an old Zen proverb that says: "Hell, also, is a place to live in." The message is clear: be of good cheer, because without it you are sure to fail.
The seeming inevitability of conflict among the archetypal "powers" can cause us to experience life as a hopeless, senseless impasse. But the conflict can also be discovered to be the expression of a symbolic pattern still to be intuited. It can be lived as if it were a drama, the play of life or of the gods, for the purpose of experiencing an ultimate meaning ... When one can feel with Goethe that "everything transient is but a symbol," then meaning can be found not only in creativity, joy and love but also in impasse, suffering and conflict. Then life can be lived as a work of art. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
Line 1
Legge: The first line, dynamic, shows its subject not quitting the courtyard outside his door. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Not going out of the door and the courtyard is without blame.
Blofeld: He goes not go forth from the outer gates and courtyards of his home -- no error!
Liu: One does not go out of the door and courtyard. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Not issuing-forth-from the door chambers. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Not going out of the door or window; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Not leaving home, there is no blame.
Wu: He does not go beyond the entrance hall of his house. No error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He knows when he has free course and when he is obstructed. Wilhelm/Baynes: One knows what is open and what is closed. Blofeld: He acts thus from his knowledge of when things can be carried through to their end and when they will be blocked. [The implication is that we should now hold back.]Ritsema/Karcher: Knowing interpenetrating clogging indeed. Cleary (2): Not leaving home is knowing passage and obstruction. Wu: He knows what can be done and what cannot be.
The Master said: "When disorder arises, it will be found that ill-advised speech was the stepping stone to it. If a ruler does not keep secret his deliberations with his minister, he will lose that minister. If a minister does not keep secret his deliberations with his ruler, he will lose his life. If important matters in the germ are not kept secret, that will be injurious to their accomplishment. Therefore the superior man is careful to maintain secrecy, and does not allow himself to speak."
Legge: Line one is dynamic in a dynamic place, and therefore has the power to move. But he is kept in check by the dynamic second line, and his fourth line correlate occupies the first position in the trigram of Peril. He therefore knows when he has free course and when he is obstructed, and in this case the course of wisdom is to keep still. He regulates himself by a consideration of the times. The Daily Lecture says that the line tells an officer not to take office rashly, but to exercise a cautious judgment in his measures.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Wilhelm/Baynes: Often a man who would like to undertake something finds himself confronted by insurmountable limitations. Then he must know where to stop. If he rightly understands this and does not go beyond the limits set for him, he accumulates an energy that enables him, when the proper time comes, to act with great force. Discretion is of prime importance in preparing the way for momentous things. …We see locked doors ahead and therefore hold back.
Siu: At the outset, the man appreciates his own limitations and exercises judicious discretion in not pressing beyond them. He does not exert his authority rashly.
Wing: Although you would like to take certain measures in the current pursuit of your aims, when you see obstacles ahead you must stop. Such Limitations should be recognized and accepted. Stay within the limits and collect your strength quietly.
Editor: If this is the only changing line, the hexagram becomes number twenty-nine, Danger. Obviously, "discretion is the better part of valor" -- one should stay put and not act.
Never set your foot on the path of the wicked, do not walk the way that the evil go. Avoid it, do not take it, turn your back on it, pass it by. Proverbs 4: 14
A. Sit tight and accept the limitations of the situation.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows its subject with no appearance of observing the proper regulations, in which case we shall see her lamenting. But there will be no one to blame but herself.
Wilhelm/Baynes: He who knows no limitation will have cause to lament. No blame.
Blofeld: Sighing over an apparent lack of restraint -- no error!
Liu: One does not limit oneself and has cause for lamenting. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Not the Articulating like, by-consequence the lamenting like. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: If one is not moderate-like, then one will be sighing-like; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): If one is not disciplined, one will lament. It is no fault of others.
Cleary (2): Without regulation there will be lament, but you cannot blame anyone.
Wu: If he does not achieve any regulation, he will lament later. No one is to blame.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Who should there be to blame? Wilhelm/Baynes: Lament over neglect of limitation -- who is to blame for this? Blofeld: Who would find fault with that? [It is salutary to regret lack of restraint in ourselves or others.] Ritsema/Karcher: Furthermore whose fault indeed? Cleary (2): Whose fault is the lament that comes from lack of regulation? Wu: He laments for being not able to conserve. Who else is to blame?
Legge: Line three should be dynamic, but is magnetic, and neither central nor correct. She has no proper correlate, and is the topmost line in the trigram of Complacent Satisfaction. She refuses the restrictive regulations and will discover her mistake after it is too late. She knows by her lamentations that she only has herself to blame.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man does not follow promulgated laws in his own activities. His actions lead to regret.
Wing: Your extravagant behavior and lack of restraint have led you into a state of difficulty. If you are now feeling regret over this and not busy placing the blame elsewhere, you will avoid further mistakes.
Editor: Wilhelm says: "No blame," and Blofeld says: "No error." These renderings seem misleading, since Legge's admonition: "But there will be no one to blame but herself" is more in harmony with the line's meaning. Wilhelm's commentary paradoxically acknowledges this: "But one has oneself to blame for this result." The line is often given in the conditional sense: "If you don't observe the proper regulations, you'll be sorry."
A healthy mind is a castle that cannot be invaded without the will of its master; but if [evil spirits] are allowed to enter, they excite the passions of men and women, they create cravings in them, they produce bad thoughts which act injuriously upon the brain; they sharpen the animal intellect and suffocate the moral sense. Evil spirits obsess only those human beings in whom the animal nature is preponderating. Minds that are illuminated by the spirit of truth cannot be possessed; only those who are habitually guided by their own lower impulses may become subjected to their influence. Paracelsus -- De Ente Spirituali
A. An image of self-caused misfortune.
B. You'll regret it if you exceed the mean.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows its subject quietly and naturally attentive to all regulations. There will be progress and success.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Contented limitation. Success.
Blofeld: Peaceful restraint -- success!
Liu: Peaceful limitation. Success.
Ritsema/Karcher: Quiet Articulating Growing.
Shaughnessy: Placid moderation; receipt.
Cleary (1): Peaceful discipline is developmental.
Cleary (2): Peaceful regulation is successful.
Wu: He achieves regulation with ease. Pervasive.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Progress and success is due to the difference which accepts the ways of the ruler above. Wilhelm/Baynes: Accepting the way of the one above. Blofeld: Success is indicated by the firm line immediately above this one. Ritsema/ Karcher: Receiving tao above indeed. Cleary (2): Taking up the higher path. Wu: He supports his superior.
Legge: Line four is magnetic, as it ought to be, and she has respect for the authority of the dynamic ruler in line five above her -- hence the good symbolism and auspice.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man understands the nature of regulations and accommodates accordingly. He does not waste energy in useless struggles, but directs it effectively to solving the problem at hand.
Wing: Allow your Limitations to become natural extensions of your behavior.
Accommodate and adapt yourself to the fixed conditions in the situation. Don't carry on battles over "the principle of the thing." Deal with the matter at hand and you will meet with success.
Editor: The idea here is to work within the limitations of the situation at hand. By doing this, one acts according to the will of the Self: ("...accepts the ways of the ruler above").
When nothing is possible without His will, then what is the use of planning? Is it not better to depend on Him and do as He wills? ... When his will bids circumstances and environment change, then accept the change, not before. Swami Saradananda
A. Accept the restrictions of the Work.
Line 5
Legge: Line five, dynamic, shows its subject sweetly and acceptably enacting his regulations. There will be good fortune. The onward progress with them will afford ground for admiration.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Sweet limitation brings good fortune. Going brings esteem.
Blofeld: Voluntary restraint -- good fortune! Advancing now wins praise. [Presumably this means that we have rightly exercised restraint and that the time has now come for us to continue our advance.]
Liu: Sweet limitation. Good fortune. Undertakings bring honor.
Shaughnessy: Sweet moderation; auspicious; in going there will be elevation.
Cleary (1): Contented discipline is good: If you go on, there will be exaltation.
Cleary (2): Contented regulation is auspicious. To go on will result in exaltation.
Wu: There is optimal regulation. Auspicious. Wherever he goes, he will succeed.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The good fortune is due to the line occupying the place of authority and being in the center. Wilhelm/Baynes: The good fortune comes from remaining central in one's own place. Blofeld: This is indicated by the central position of this ruling line. Ritsema/Karcher: Residing-in the situation: centering indeed. Cleary (2): The position one is in is balanced. Wu: His central position.
Legge: Line five is dynamic and in his correct place. He has no proper correlate, and so regulates himself. But he is the lord of the hexagram, and his influence is everywhere beneficially felt.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Before exacting obedience from others, the man in a high position first applies the restrictions to himself. His beneficial influence is widely felt.
Wing: In influencing others you must become an example. When Limitations and restrictions are necessary, take them upon yourself first. In this way you are certain that they are acceptable while you win the praise and emulation of others. Good fortune.
Editor: If we don't impose restrictions on ourselves, we are not likely to influence others to do so: "Handsome is as handsome does." In many contexts, the line can suggest a situation in which one may advance only by clearly differentiating its inherent limitations.
But animals which live in pure nature never overdo anything, neither sex nor food nor anything else, because their patterns of behavior always impose the right measure and the moment to stop. The moment to start and the moment to stop is all built into their behavioral system, which is why Jung always said that animals were much more pious and religious than man because they really obey their inner order and really follow the meaning of what they are meant to be, never going beyond that. M.L. Von Franz -- Alchemical Active Imagination
A. Equitable discipline advances the Work.
B. By recognizing innate difficulties within the situation one is enabled to proceed pragmatically.
C. Maintain realistic expectations in the matter at hand.
32 Duration
Other titles: Duration, The Symbol of Constancy, The Long Enduring, Constant, Persevering, Standing Fast, Continuity, Constancy in the Midst of Change, Holding Firm, "Get yourself into a fixed routine like the orbiting planets." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Consistency means successful progress without error through firm correctness. Movement in any direction is advantageous.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Duration. Success. No blame. Perseverance furthers. It furthers one to have somewhere to go.
Blofeld: The Long Enduring. Success and freedom from error! Righteous persistence brings reward. It is favorable to have in view some goal or destination.
Liu:Duration. Success. No blame. It benefits to continue. Going anywhere is advantageous.
Ritsema/Karcher:Persevering, Growing. Without fault. Harvesting Trial. Harvesting: possessing directed going. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of continuity and endurance. It emphasizes that continuing on and renewing the way you are following is the adequate way to handle the situation. To be in accord with the time, you are told to persevere!]
Shaughnessy: Constancy: Receipt; there is no trouble; beneficial to determine; beneficial to have someplace to go.
Cleary (1):Constancy is developmental. Impeccable. It is beneficial to be correct. It is beneficial to have a place to go.
Cleary (2):Constancy comes through without fault, beneficial insofar as it is correct. It is beneficial to have a place to go.
Wu: Constancy indicates pervasion. There will be no blame. It also indicates advantage of being persevering and having undertakings.
The Image
Legge: Thunder over wind -- the image of Consistency. The superior man stands firm and does not change his method of operation.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder and wind: the image of Duration. Thus the superior man stands firm and does not change his direction.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder accompanied by wind. The Superior Man stands so firmly that he cannot be uprooted.
Liu: Thunder and wind symbolize Duration. The superior man stands firm without changing direction.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder, wind, Persevering. A Chun tzu uses establishing, not versatility on-all-sides.
Cleary (1): Thunder and wind are perpetual. Thus does the superior person stand without changing places.
Cleary (2): Thunder and wind are constant; so do developed people stand without changing place.
Wu: A combination of thunder and wind forms Constancy. Thus the jun zi establishes himself by not changing his post.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Consistency means long continuance. The dynamic trigram of Thunder is above, and the magnetic trigram of Wind is below. Docility and Motive Force are in sympathetic communication because their dynamic and magnetic lines all correspond. When the motive power is spent it will begin again -- hence movement in any direction is advantageous. The sun and moon are consistent in their illumination, and the four sequential seasons are consistent in their cycles of growth. The sages are consistent in their work and all under heaven are transformed. When we examine this consistent perseverance the natural tendencies of heaven and earth are revealed.
Legge: The subject of the hexagram is perseverance in what is right, or in continuously acting out the law of one's being. It is seen as a sequel to the previous hexagram,Initiative. As that figure deals with the correct relations
between husband and wife, so this figure treats of the continuous observance of their respective duties. Initiativeconsists of the trigrams symbolizing the youngest son and youngest daughter and shows how the attraction and influence between the sexes is strongest in youth. Consistency on the other hand, consists of the trigrams symbolizing the oldest son and oldest daughter. This couple is more staid. The wife occupies the lower place, and their relationship is characterized by her submission. Given two parties, a magnetic and a dynamic in correlation, if both consistently observe what is correct and natural (i.e., the magnetic submissive and the dynamic firm), then good fortune and progress may be predicted for their course.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: The will to maintain the consistency of the Work assures progress in whatever direction it may take.
The Superior Man holds fast to the principles of the Work.
Wilhelm's title for this hexagram is Duration. I feel that the word Consistency best evokes the meaning of the figure. In an existence consisting of continuous change the only things that have duration are the principles upon which change is based. To adhere to these principles is to maintain consistency. Implicit here is a consistent balance of forces. Consistency in the Work means neither consistent action nor inaction, but an appropriate combination of the two principles as required by changing circumstances. The Confucian commentary alludes to this characteristic of the Work when it mentions the sun, moon and changing seasons as examples of forces which maintain their consistency within a context of continuous change.
Just as the moon at night reflects the light of the hidden sun, so in the Work the ego is always magnetic in relation to the dynamic Self. A moon that thought that it was the source of its light would be egregiously deluded, despite superficial appearances to the contrary; so too the ego that thinks that its powers come from anywhere but the Self.
Motives and standards of choice are not invented by the ego but are structured by the actualization of archetypal predispositions through personally acquired value standards. E. C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Note that all of the lines in the hexagram are generally unfavorable except two and five, and that when they both change places the hexagram becomes number thirty-one, Initiative. There is a profound lesson here which is best appreciated by meditating on the associations implied. The fact that each hexagram is the inverse of the other should not be forgotten.