Hexagram 60 line 3: Limitation, yin in the third place

I Ching 60.3

He who knows no limitation will have cause to lament. No blame.

Excess, and the regret that follows it, with the tradition's note that the lament itself clears the blame. Someone who has overdone it and knows it. The lesson is learned from the inside.

Advice. If you have overdone it, let the regret teach the limit; no further blame.

What changes when line 3 moves

Line 3 of Hexagram 60 is yin, a broken line. When it is cast as old yin (a 6) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 5, Waiting: Confident waiting: the rain will come, and the strong person eats and drinks in the meantime.

Read together, the reading moves from Limitation toward Waiting. Water in a lake with a bank: limits that give form and save strength, provided they are not galling. Heaven below, water above: clouds gathering, rain not yet falling. Waiting is not helplessness. The primary hexagram describes the situation; the changing line is the point of movement in it; the resulting hexagram is where that movement leads. Both hexagrams belong to the reading, and the changing line is the hinge between them.

Hexagram 60 changing to 5 →

Line 3 in context

Love & relationships: If you have overdone it, let the regret teach the limit; no further blame. In love and relationships, Hexagram 60 reads: Boundaries, agreed and kept: what each of you needs, what each of you will not do, how much is enough. The reading favours limits that both of you accept and warns against ones that gall. The right measure makes the relationship strong at the joints.
Career: If you have overdone it, let the regret teach the limit; no further blame. In career, Hexagram 60 reads: Discipline and economy: the scope defined, the hours set, the standard fixed. The reading favours clear limits that people can work within, and warns against constraints so tight that they break the people they were meant to shape.
Money: If you have overdone it, let the regret teach the limit; no further blame. In money, Hexagram 60 reads: Budget. The reading is for thrift and measure, limits set deliberately and kept. It warns against both extravagance and a stinginess so severe it becomes its own harm. Find the proportion.
A decision: If you have overdone it, let the regret teach the limit; no further blame. In decisions, Hexagram 60 reads: Choose the option with clear, bearable limits. Decide how much is enough before you decide anything else. The reading is against open-ended commitments and against ones so restrictive they cannot be kept.

← Line 2 Hexagram 60 in full Line 4 →

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