Hexagram 60 line 4: Limitation, yin in the fourth place

What changes when line 4 moves

Line 4 of Hexagram 60 is yin, a broken line. When it is cast as old yin (a 6) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 58, The Joyous: Two lakes joined: joy that is firm within and gentle without, and shared with friends in open conversation.

Read together, the reading moves from Limitation toward The Joyous. Water in a lake with a bank: limits that give form and save strength, provided they are not galling. Lake below, lake above: two lakes touching, each replenishing the other. The Joyous is the hexagram of gladness, and its structure explains the tradition's view of it: a firm line within, a yielding line without. 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 58 →

Line 4 in context

Love & relationships

Make your limits natural, not a struggle; that is the success. 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

Make your limits natural, not a struggle; that is the success. 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

Make your limits natural, not a struggle; that is the success. 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

Make your limits natural, not a struggle; that is the success. 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.