Hexagram 60 of 64
Limits
節 Jié
Upper trigram: 坎 Kǎn, water
Lower trigram: 兌 Duì, lake
The judgment
亨。苦節不可貞。
Success. Bitter limits cannot be held firmly.
The Great Image
澤上有水，節；君子以制數度，議德行。
Above the lake there is water: this is Limits. In the same way, the noble person sets up number and measure and discusses virtuous conduct.
The six lines
Lines are counted from the bottom. Read a line closely when it changes in your cast.
Line 1 初九
不出戶庭，无咎。
Not leaving the door and courtyard. No blame.
Staying inside the inner door is the right limit at this point. Ask what is better kept private or held back for now.
Line 2 九二
不出門庭，凶。
Not leaving the gate and courtyard. Misfortune.
The same staying in, one gate farther out, is now called misfortune. Consider whether caution that was right last month has turned into a refusal to go when the way is open.
Line 3 六三
不節若，則嗟若，无咎。
Without limits, then lamenting. No blame.
The line goes straight from no restraint to a sigh of regret and still finds no blame. Ask what you could own up to and put right without punishing yourself over it.
Line 4 六四
安節，亨。
Limits that sit easily. Success.
These limits are easy to keep because they have settled into habit. Consider which of your own rules feel natural enough to keep without a struggle.
Line 5 九五
甘節，吉；往有尚。
Sweet limits. Good fortune. Going on earns regard.
A limit can taste sweet when it is set by someone who keeps it too. Ask whether the rules you set for others are ones you are glad to live by yourself.
Line 6 上六
苦節，貞凶，悔亡。
Bitter limits. Holding firm brings misfortune. Regret goes.
The bitterness of this limit echoes the judgment, and the line warns against clinging to it. Ask whether a rule that has become harsh toward you or others could be eased.
What this hexagram says
This hexagram is lake below and water above. A lake can hold only so much, and what comes in beyond that spills over. It stands for measure: the banks, schedules and rules that give things their shape.
The judgment calls limits a success and adds in one short sentence that bitter limits cannot be kept up. A rule that makes life miserable tends to fail. Ask which of your limits could become one you would keep gladly.
If your question is about working hours, a shared household or the scope of a long project, tradition reads this as a time to set a measure you can live with. The first two lines show that the same restraint can be right at one moment and wrong at the next. The last line cautions against limits that have gone bitter.
A hexagram is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
Where this text comes from
The Chinese follows the Wikisource text of the Zhou Yi (its page for this hexagram, 周易/節), compared with the Project Gutenberg edition. The Great Image comes from the Wikisource page 周易/大象.
- Wikisource, 周易
Retrieved 2026-11-08
- Project Gutenberg eBook 25501, 易經
Retrieved 2026-11-08
Read this hexagram with its traditional commentaries in our library.
The English renderings and the advice are by Cast & Chart. The advice is a modern reading and is not part of the classical text.