above Kan, the Abysmal, water · below Dui, the Joyous, lake
This is about the limits you set for yourself or for others; with the right measure it succeeds. A lake holds only a certain amount of water, and that is exactly what gives it its shape. ‘Unlimited possibilities are not suited to man’; life would dissolve into the boundless, and to grow strong a person needs limits they set for themselves. Give yourself a few clear rules, around money or time, say, and check after a while whether they have grown too tight. The Judgement warns that ‘one must not persevere in bitter limitation’: your own nature suffers under it, and others rebel.
Which limit would give you shape, and which one has grown too tight?
A lake occupies a limited space. When more water flows into it, it overflows. Therefore limits must be set for it. In the image there are the waters below and the waters above, and between them the firmament of heaven as a limit.
The Chinese word for limitation really means the firm joints that divide the stalks of bamboo into sections. In ordinary life it refers to thrift, which sets fixed limits to its expenditure. In the moral life it means the fixed limits the noble one sets for his actions: the limits of loyalty and of unselfishness.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
Limitation. Success.One must not persevere in bitter limitation.
Limits are irksome. But they accomplish something. By thrift in ordinary life one is prepared for times of want. By holding back one spares oneself humiliation. But limits are just as indispensable in the ordering of the world’s affairs. Nature has fixed limits for summer and winter, day and night, and through these limits the year receives its meaning. In the same way thrift serves, by setting fixed limits to expenditure, to keep goods intact and to prevent harm to people.
Yet moderation is needed in limitation too. If one tried to impose all too bitter limits on one’s own nature, it would suffer. If one tried to push the limitation of others too far, they would rebel. Therefore limits are needed even in limitation.
Above the lake there is water:the image of limitation.Thus the noble one creates number and measure and examineswhat virtue and right conduct are.
The lake is something finite; water is inexhaustible. The lake can hold only a certain measure of the infinite water. In this lies its distinctive nature. In life too the individual gains his meaning through distinction and the setting of limits. Here the point is to fix quite clearly these distinctions, which are, so to speak, the backbone of morality. Unlimited possibilities are not suited to man. With them his life would only dissolve into the boundless. To become strong, a person needs the limits of duty, freely set. Only by surrounding himself with these limits and freely laying down for himself the command of duty does the individual gain his meaning as a free guest.
Wilhelm placed the signs ○ and □ after certain lines (p. 334 f.). They mark the rulers of the hexagram. □ stands by the constituting ruler: the line that gives the hexagram its meaning, however high it stands and whatever its character. ○ stands by the governing ruler. It is always of good character and becomes ruler through the meaning of the time and its position, usually in the fifth place. Where a line is both, it carries ○.
Not stepping out past door and courtyard is no blame.
A plan runs up against limits here that cannot be crossed. Stay indoors for now, pause, and say nothing about what you are preparing; with important matters, discretion is decisive. That is not a mistake: this is how you gather the strength to act with energy when the time comes.
Often one would like to undertake something but finds oneself facing limits that cannot be surmounted. Then one must have the insight to know where to stop. If one understands this rightly and does not go beyond the limits that have been set, one gathers such strength that one is able to act with energy when the time for it has come. When important matters are being prepared, discretion is of fundamental importance.
Kungtse says of this: ‘Where disorder arises, words are the step that leads to it. If the prince is not discreet, he loses his servant. If the servant is not discreet, he loses his life. If things in their germinal stage are not handled with discretion, their completion is harmed. Therefore the noble one is careful to keep silent and does not go out.’
Not stepping out past gate and courtyard brings misfortune.
The obstacles are gone, and the time to act has come. Move quickly now. Hesitating was right as long as it was too early; if you keep waiting out of anxiety now, you let the opportunity slip, and that turns out badly.
When the time for action has come, one must take hold quickly. Just as water at first collects in a lake without flowing out, yet surely opens a way for itself once the lake is full, so it is in human life. It is quite right to hesitate as long as the time has not yet come, but no longer. Once the obstacles have been removed so that one can act, anxious hesitation is a mistake that is sure to bring misfortune, because one has let the opportunity slip.
He who knows no limitation will have cause to lament.No blame.
If you think only of pleasure, you easily lose the feel for the limits you need, and the consequences of extravagance are bound to follow. Then look for the fault in yourself and do not pin it on anyone else. If you recognise it yourself, the unpleasant experience teaches you something, and you make no mistake.
If one thinks only of pleasure and enjoyment, one easily loses the feeling for the necessary limits. But if one gives oneself up to extravagance, one will come to know the consequences with regret. One must not try to look for the fault in others. Only by recognising one’s fault oneself does one become free of faults through such unpleasant experiences.
Contented limitation. Success.
This line shows a limitation as natural as water flowing downhill. It costs no struggle and so saves strength, which goes wholly to the task in hand. Test your rules against this: whatever takes constant effort uses up too much, and whatever falls into place as if by itself leads to success.
Every limitation has its value. But if a limitation still demands constant effort, it costs too much strength. Where, however, the limitation is something natural, as it is, for example, the nature of water to flow downwards, it necessarily leads to success, because in this case it means a saving of strength. The energy that would otherwise be spent in a vain struggle with its object goes wholly to the benefit of the matter in hand, and success cannot fail to come.
Sweet limitation brings good fortune.Going brings esteem.
This is a moderation others are glad to share, because it starts with the one who sets the example. If you are responsible for others, begin by limiting yourself, ask little of them and achieve something with modest means. Imposing limits only on others breeds resistance; an example you live yourself finds followers, and that turns out well.
Limitation must be carried out in the right way if it is to take effect. If one only wants to impose limits on others while evading them oneself, these limits will always be felt as bitter and will provoke resistance. If, on the other hand, someone in a leading position begins by limiting himself, demands little of his people and accomplishes something with modest means, good fortune comes of it. Where such an example is at work, it finds followers, so that whatever is undertaken is bound to succeed.
Bitter limitation: perseverance brings misfortune.Remorse disappears.
Here limitation has become so strict that people cannot bear it, and sooner or later your own body takes its revenge too. In the long run such harshness turns out badly. There may be times when only a clear, hard decision against a temptation keeps you from guilt, so that what you regret will pass; as a permanent state it is never any good, and turned against your own body it does harm.
If one is too strict in limitation, people cannot bear it. The more consistently one keeps up such strictness, the more harm it does; for in the long run a reaction cannot be avoided. In the same way the tormented body takes its revenge when one tries to practise too severe an asceticism. But even if this ruthless strictness is not something that could be applied lastingly and as a rule, there may still be times when it is the only means of guarding oneself against guilt and remorse. These are the situations in which ruthlessness towards one’s own person is the only means of saving the soul, which would otherwise perish in half-heartedness and temptation.
Would you like to put your own question to the I Ching? Six throws of three coins, and the answer appears straight away.
Consult the I ChingTexts by Richard Wilhelm: I Ging. Das Buch der Wandlungen (first edition Jena 1924), translated into English by NUMEN COMPASS from the Diederichs edition, Munich 1996. Wilhelm’s German text is in the public domain. The section ‘What the hexagram says today’, the question for you and the short notes under the lines are our own reading. The I Ching is no substitute for medical, legal or psychological advice.