One absolves one's companions of all their mistakes in exchange for a little honesty. 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 2
Excessive limitation and isolation can lead to misfortune.
↓ 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.
↓ Abundance55
Abundance and prosperity surround you, but be mindful not to let them lead to arrogance or distraction. Stay focused and genuine in the present moment to make the most of your opportunities.
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 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows its subject not quitting the courtyard inside his gate. There will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Not going out of the door and courtyard brings misfortune.
Blofeld: He goes not forth from the inner gates and courtyards of his home -- misfortune!
Liu: One does not go out the gate and courtyard. Misfortune. [Generally, this line bodes good fortune for action and misfortune for inaction.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Not issuing-forth-from the gate chambers. Pitfall.
Shaughnessy: Not going out of gate or courtyard; inauspicious.
Cleary (1): Not going outside bodes ill. [Holding fast to petty regulations is a great loss.]
Wu: He does not go beyond his courtyard. Foreboding.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He loses the time for action to an extreme degree. Wilhelm/ Baynes: One misses the crucial moment. Blofeld: Misfortune because he neglects to take advantage of an opportunity now presenting itself. [The implication is that it would be wrong to hold back now.] Ritsema/Karcher: Letting-go the season end indeed. Cleary (2): One misses the timing in the extreme. Wu: He misses an opportunity.
Legge: Line two is dynamic in a magnetic place and without the help of a proper correlate. He keeps still when he ought to be up and doing. There will be evil.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The time for immediate action has come. The opportunity should be seized quickly and energetically. The man does not act, and bad luck ensues.
Wing: Opportunity and potential are on their way. If you hesitate when the time is right, you will miss your chance entirely. Such bad timing is a result of excessive limitation.
Editor: Line one depicts one restricting himself when it is proper to do so -- line two symbolizes the opposite case: He restricts himself when the times call for action. A fearful, over-cautious or perhaps merely ignorant attitude prevents him from taking the necessary initiative. Sometimes one receives both lines: a seeming contradiction, unless seen as a subtle differentiation of choice. I.e., The first line negates the immediate question, but the second warns us that action of a different character is necessary.
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to
fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
Shakespeare -- Julius Caesar
A. You inhibit yourself unnecessarily -- take advantage of your opportunities. The time calls for action, but you aren't acting.
B. Seek wider horizons.
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.
55 Abundance
Other titles: Abundance, Fullness, The Symbol of Prosperity, Greatness, Abounding, Richness, Prolific, Fruitful, Luxuriant, Zenith, Affluence, Correct Action, Lucid Behavior, "Generally means that one will have enough for one's needs with a little over. Does not mean large wealth as a rule." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Expansion of Awareness means progress and development. When the king is enlightened there is no need to fear a change. Let him be as the sun at noon.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Abundance has success. The king attains abundance. Be not sad. Be like the sun at midday.
Blofeld:Abundance -- success! The King inspires them. Do not be sad; it is fitting to be like the sun at its zenith. [Abundance in itself is often good; but it is generally followed by the waning of what was abundant; moreover, as we shall see, there can be abundance of darkness, or anything else unpleasant. (The Judgment itself) may be taken as an auspicious omen.]
Liu: Greatness. Success. The king attains greatness, without sadness; he should be like the sun at midday.
Ritsema/Karcher:Abounding, Growing. The king imagining it. No grief. Properly sun centering. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of profusion and abundance reaching culmination. It emphasizes that exuberantly increasing things to their fullest is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Abundance: Receipt; the king approaches it; do not be sad. It is proper for the middle of the day.
Cleary (1): Richness is developmental. Freedom from worry when the king is great is suited to midday.
Cleary (2):Richness is success; a king attains this. Do not worry. Take advantage of the sun at noon.
Wu: A sage king will attain abundance. There is no need to worry, for he knows the expedience of observing the midday sun.
The Image
Legge: The superior man, in accordance with this, decides cases of litigation, and apportions punishments with exactness.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Both thunder and lightning come: the image of Abundance. Thus the superior man decides lawsuits and carries out punishments.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder and lightning occurring simultaneously. The Superior Man decides law suits and inflicts the necessary penalties.
Liu: Thunder and lightning coming together symbolize Greatness. The superior man judges lawsuits and imposes punishments.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder, lightning, altogether culminating. Abounding. A chun tzu uses severing litigating to involve punishing.
Cleary (1): Thunder and lightning both arrive, abundant. Thus do superior people pass judgment and execute punishment.
Cleary (2): Thunder and lightning both come in richness. Thus do leaders pass judgments and execute punishments.
Wu: Thunder and lightning come together; this is Abundance. Thus the jun zi decides the verdicts and exacts the punishments.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The greatness of Expansion of Awareness is due to Movement directed by Clarity. Although the king has attained this state, he must still make it greater. But there is no need for anxiety -- let him be as the sun at noon: let his clarity shine on all under the sky. As soon as sun and moon reach zenith their light begins to wane. The intercourse of heaven and earth alternates between abundance and scarcity. It waxes and wanes according to the seasons. How much more so with men or spiritual forces! [Ritsema/Karcher translate "spiritual forces" [Kuei Shen] as: "The whole range of imaginal beings both inside and outside the individual; spiritual powers, gods, demons, ghosts, powers, fetishes." -- Ed.]
Legge: The written Chinese character denoting Expansion of Awarenessis the symbol of being large and abundant -- a condition of prosperity. In human affairs, prosperity often gives place to its opposite. The lesson of the hexagram is to show how the ruler may preserve the prosperity of his state and people. The component trigrams show Motive Force under the direction of Intelligence. A ruler with these attributes will not fail to maintain the progress and development of his kingdom. He is told not to be anxious, but to study how he may always be like the sun at its zenith, cheering and enlightening all.
It must be noted that a change has been introduced in this hexagram in explaining the symbolism of the lines. Normally, for two lines to have a correct relationship one must be female (magnetic) and the other male (dynamic). Here two dynamic male lines make a proper correlation in the first and fourth places.
In the Image, lightning appears as the natural phenomenon of which Clarity is the symbol in the lower trigram. The virtues of Clarity and Movement are required of the superior man in judging litigation.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Don't grieve when the truth hurts: a loss of illusion is a gain in awareness. Once truly attained, enlightenment cannot be lost, it can only be increased.
The Superior Man acts with clarity by accurately evaluating cause and effect. [Or: The objective assessment of any contradiction is the road to comprehending it.]
The fifty-fifth hexagram is very intriguing in that it appears to have a misleading title in the original Chinese, which is usually translated as Abundance,Fullness, Prosperity, etc. All of the internal clues, plus empirical experience with the figure have convinced me that the title Expansion of Awareness is a more accurate description of the forces operating in this hexagram. Here is my reasoning:
First, the component trigrams of Clarity and Movement portray action directed by clear comprehension, as well as awareness itself in motion or expansion. The title of Abundance seems misleading because it suggests a relatively static condition, whereas the combined trigrams in the figure symbolize Clear Movement. These trigrams appear in reverse sequence in hexagram number twenty-one, Discernment, which symbolizes the act of comprehending -- a dynamic function of consciousness described in the Image here as a quest for justice: "Thus the superior man decides lawsuits and carries out punishments." (Wilhelm) Notice also that the message for the superior man in this Image is almost identical with that in Discernment:"Thus the kings of former times made firm the laws through clearly defined penalties." (Wilhelm) The ancient kings can always be taken as symbolic of archetypal forces (the "gods"), so their laws are those of nature, not of humankind. Interpreted broadly, both messages counsel us to: "Comprehend the law of Tao, or suffer the penalties of ignorance." Which is to say: "expand your awareness."
Second, note the message in the Judgment. Most of the translators render this by comparing the king at the peak of his power with the sun at the peak of its illumination at noon. The sun is the symbol of clarity and enlightenment, and the sun at its zenith therefore symbolizes a high point of awareness.
Third, notice that lines two, three and four depict an eclipse of the sun through its waxing, full and waning phases. This suggests ignorance gradually evolving toward comprehension, which is finally attained in line five. The progression in the hexagram is from ignorance to clarity, and then in line six, ignorance within clarity -- i.e., an image of one who remains obtuse while surrounded by the light of illumination.
Fourth, the combined trigrams of shock and light (thunder and lightning) suggest a sudden and numinous illumination: the sort of en-light-enment (expansion of awareness) described by Yogis:
Suddenly, with a roar like that of a waterfall, I felt a stream of liquid light entering my brain through the spinal cord ... The illumination grew brighter and brighter, the roaring louder, I experienced a rocking sensation and then felt myself slipping out of my body, entirely enveloped in a halo of light ... I was no longer myself, or to be more accurate, no longer as I knew myself to be, a small point of awareness confined in a body, but instead was a vast circle of consciousness in which the body was but a point, bathed in light and in a state of exaltation and happiness impossible to describe. Gopi Krishna --Kundalini, the Evolutionary Energy in Man
It is possible that the written character translated into English as Abundance has these associations in Chinese. Unfortunately, the title of Abundance itself does not immediately suggest in the English language the ideas that are integral in the symbolism of the hexagram.