Wiki I Ching

Limitation 60.2.3 → 63 After Completion

From
60
Limitation
To
63
After Completion

Hoping to defeat one's opponents by waiting
One waits calmly for the attention of others to wander away.
 taoscopy.com


Limitation 60
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.

↓
After Completion 63
Completion; things fall into place, but remain cautious.
Stability achieved, yet vigilance needed to sustain harmony.



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.

63
After Completion


Other titles: After Completion, The Symbol of What is Already Past, Already Fording, Already Completed, Settled, Mission Accomplished, Tasks Completed, After the End, A state of Climax

 

Judgment

Legge:Completion intimates progress and success in small matters. There is advantage in firm correctness. There had been good fortune in the beginning; there may be disorder in the end.

Wilhelm/Baynes: After Completion. Success in small matters. Perseverance furthers. At the beginning good fortune, at the end disorder.

Blofeld:After Completion -- success in small matters! Persistence in a righteous course brings reward. Good fortune at the start; disorder in the end. [Perhaps persistence may help to lessen the disorder that threatens to come upon us after some initial success.]

Liu: Completion. Success in the small. It benefits to continue. Good fortune at first; disorder in the end.

Ritsema/Karcher:Already Fording. Growing: the small. Harvesting Trial. Initially significant. Completing: disarraying. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of an important move from one position to another. It emphasizes that actively proceeding with the crossing is the adequate way to handle it...]

Shaughnessy:Already Completed: Receipt; slightly beneficial to determine; initially auspicious, in the end disordered.

Cleary (1):Settlement is developmental, but it is minimized. It is beneficial to be correct. The beginning is auspicious, the end confused.

Cleary (2): Settlement is successful, even in small matters … etc.

Wu: Mission Accomplished indicates a small degree of pervasiveness and the advantage of being persevering. It is characterized by goodness in the beginning, but tumult in the end.


The Image

Legge: The image of water above fire formsCompletion. The superior man, in accordance with this, thinks of the evil that may come, and guards against it in advance.

Wilhelm/Baynes: Water over fire: the image of the condition in After Completion. Thus the superior man takes thought of misfortune and arms himself against it in advance.

Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes water above fire. The Superior Man deals with trouble by careful thought and by taking advance precautions.

Liu: Water above fire symbolizes Completion. The superior man ponders danger and takes precautions against it.

Ritsema/Karcher: Stream located above fire. Already Fording. A chun tzu uses pondering distress and-also providing-for defending-against it.

Cleary (1): Water is above fire,Settled.Thus superior peopleconsider problems and prevent them.

Wu: There is water above fire; this is Mission Accomplished. Thus the jun zi conceives ways to prevent disaster.

 

COMMENTARY

Confucius/Legge: Progress and success in small matters, with advantage in firm correctness. The dynamic and magnetic lines are correctly arranged, each in its proper place. There has been good fortune in the beginning because the magnetic second line is in the center. In the end there is a cessation of effort, and disorder arises. The course that led to rule and order is now exhausted.

Legge: The two written Chinese characters translated here as Completion represent two ideas -- the symbol of being past or completed, and the symbol of crossing a stream -- with a secondary meaning of helping and completing. When combined, the two characters express the idea of successful accomplishment. The hexagram denotes the kingdom finally at rest -- the vessel of state has been brought safely across the great and dangerous stream, the distresses of the realm have been relieved and its disorders rectified. Small things need to be completed: the new government must be consolidated and its ruler must, without noise or clamor, go on to perfect what has been wrought with firm correctness and without forgetting the inherent instability of all human affairs. That every line of the hexagram is in its correct place, and has its proper correlate emphasizes the intimation of progress and success.

The K'ang-hsi editors compare this hexagram and the next with number eleven, Harmony, and number twelve, Divorcement, observing that the goodness of Harmony is concentrated, as here, in the second line. Disorder after completion is inevitable. All things move on with a constant process of change. Disorder succeeds to order, and again order to disorder.

 

NOTES AND PARAPHRASES

Judgment: All's well that ends well, but the new cycle demands as much willpower as the last. Make no drastic choices during a transition.

The Superior Man anticipates conflict and is prepared for it in advance.

The sixty-third hexagram is the reference hexagram which depicts the correlation of properly matched dynamic and magnetic lines. On the basis of this figure, all of the other hexagrams (except the first and second, which are their "parents"), are compared. Yet, despite the fact that every line is in its proper place, not one of them has an easy auspice, and both the Judgment and Image are subdued and cautionary. The general idea is that as long as we draw breath in this spacetime dimension, our lives and Work are incomplete. Cycles complete themselves, certainly, but Completion in that sense is the "completion" of the full moon, which as soon as it reaches maximum brilliance immediately begins to wane.

Among those engaged in psycho-spiritual work, there is a great deal of energy focused on "enlightenment," and the natural desire of each aspirant to attain that state of consciousness as soon as possible. Many there are who wander from one conception of the Work to another in the hope that this particular discipline, or that particular Guru will provide the transcendent answer that the last one didn't.

This is a very deceptive illusion, because the chances that any given individual will attain perfect enlightenment in any given lifetime are probably miniscule to the point of insignificance. (How many truly enlightened beings have you ever met in your life?)

But the first signs of this symbolism are far from indicating that unity has been attained. Just as alchemy has a great many procedures, ranging from the "work of one day" to the "the errant quest" lasting for decades, so the tensions between the psychic pair of opposites ease off only gradually; and, like the alchemical end- product, which always betrays its essential duality, the united personality will never quite lose the painful sense of innate discord. Complete redemption from the sufferings of this world is and must remain an illusion ... The goal is important only as an idea; the essential thing is the opus which leads to the goal: that is the goal of a lifetime. In its attainment "left and right" are united, and conscious and unconscious work in harmony.
Jung-- Psychology of the Transference

The Work is a slow, organic process of transforming unconscious forces, which demands almost superhuman levels of discipline to accomplish. One can make a great deal of progress in one lifetime, but the Work can not be said to be complete until physical death “completes” it -- at that point, assuming the ego has acquired enough strength of will, perhaps one can facilitate a "permanent" synthesis of the forces one has spent a lifetime in training. Death is the doorway back to our Source, and if we enter that doorway consciously and correctly we can consolidate a great deal of power which will serve us well in the next cycle, in whatever dimension that cycle may take place.

It is even doubtful whether a man can arrive at the summit of all perfection as long as he lives in an imperfect physical form, because the imperfections of the form hamper the spirit, and only a spirit that has outgrown the necessity to live in a physical form may be said to have arrived at that high degree of perfection at which a perfect knowledge of self, and consequently a perfect knowledge of the universe is obtained.
F. Hartmann --Paracelsus: Life and Prophecies