I Ching hexagram 60
Hexagram 60: Jie
Limits · 水澤節 · Water above, Lake below
Sensible limits are firm enough to give shape and gentle enough that people can live by them.
What this hexagram is about
Budgets and house rules give life shape as long as they are comfortable enough to keep. Jie (Limits) asks where a limit stops helping and starts to hurt, picturing a lake held at a fixed level.
A way to think about it
Which of your limits keep your life in shape, and which have turned bitter? Look for the version of each rule you could follow for years.
The text, with Legge's translation
Judgment
亨。苦節不可貞。
Kieh intimates that (under its conditions) there will be progress and attainment. (But) if the regulations (which it prescribes) be severe and difficult, they cannot be permanent.
Setting limits leads to progress. A limit that is bitter and harsh cannot be kept up for long, so the judgment treats sound limits as ones you can live with.
Image
澤上有水，節；君子以制數度，議德行。
(The trigram representing) a lake, and above it that for water, form Kieh. The superior man, in accordance with this, constructs his (methods of) numbering and measurement, and discusses (points of) virtue and conduct.
Line 1 · 初九
不出戶庭，无咎。
The first line, undivided, shows its subject not quitting the courtyard outside his door. There will be no error.
You stay inside the gate of your own courtyard and keep your own counsel. At this early stage, holding back is the safe choice.
Line 2 · 九二
不出門庭，凶。
The second line, undivided, shows its subject not quitting the courtyard inside his gate. There will be evil.
The moment to step out has come, yet you stay inside the gate out of caution. Missing the chance brings misfortune.
Line 3 · 六三
不節若，則嗟若，无咎。
The third line, divided, shows its subject with no appearance of observing the (proper) regulations, in which case we shall see him lamenting. But there will be no one to blame (but himself).
Skipping the limits leaves you sighing over the result. Nobody else is at fault, since the cause is your own lack of restraint.
Line 4 · 六四
安節，亨。
The fourth line, divided, shows its subject quietly and naturally (attentive to all) regulations. There will be progress and success.
Limits kept calmly and naturally, as if they were your own preference, are the kind that lead to progress.
Line 5 · 九五
甘節，吉；往有尚。
The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject sweetly and acceptably enacting his regulations. There will be good fortune. The onward progress with them will afford ground for admiration.
You set limits that feel pleasant, so people accept them gladly. That is encouraging, and carrying them forward earns admiration.
Line 6 · 上六
苦節，貞凶，悔亡。
The topmost line, divided, shows its subject enacting regulations severe and difficult. Even with firmness and correctness there will be evil. But though there will be cause for repentance, it will (by and by) disappear.
The limits are bitter and severe, and holding to them rigidly leads to trouble. Still, any regret over it fades in time.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi, public domain. English: James Legge, The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. 16 (1882), public domain. Plain notes written by this site.
Questions
I cast hexagram 60. Which text do I read?
With no changing lines, read the judgment: "Kieh intimates that (under its conditions) there will be progress and attainment. (But) if the regulations (which it prescribes) be severe and difficult, they cannot be permanent." With changing lines, read the lines that changed. When several change at once, Zhu Xi's rules decide which text leads, and the casting page marks it for you.
What are the nuclear, opposite and inverted hexagrams of Jie?
The nuclear hexagram is 27. Yi (Nourishment). The opposite is 56. Lü (The Traveler). The inverted hexagram is 59. Huan (Dispersal).