Hexagram 60 as yes or no
Hexagram 60 Measure as a yes-or-no answer
As an answer to a yes-or-no question Jie says: yes, within limits, and the limits are the point. The Judgment promises success and then immediately qualifies it — bitter limitation cannot last — so the hexagram's answer is never an open-ended yes or a blanket no. It wants you to define the scope before you decide: how far, how long, how much. It distrusts a proposal with no natural stopping point and supports one with a clear measure.
The changing lines answer the timing. In the lower trigram the question is whether to go out at all: line one says the way is shut, stay; line two says it is open and staying is the mistake; line three says you have overrun your limit and should pull back. In the upper trigram the question is which limit to keep: line four says accept the standard already set and proceed; line five says set a fair measure yourself and go forward; the top line says your constraint has become bitter, and the answer is to relax it rather than persevere.
The hexagram in brief
Water above the lake: the lake holds just so much. Success through limits — but bitter, excessive limitation cannot be sustained; measure that fits is the point.
Set clear, livable limits — on spending, on words, on work — and keep them without turning them into punishment.
The judgment
節：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.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 節 Measure has its own page:
- 初九Nine at the beginningstaying in · knowing when blocked · no blame
- 九二Nine in the second placemissing the moment · staying in too long · evil
- 六三Six in the third placeno measure · lament · no one else to blame
- 六四Six in the fourth placemeasure at ease · accepting the way above · success
- 九五Nine in the fifth placesweet measure · the centre · going on is honoured
- 上六Six at the topbitter measure · the way exhausted · regret passes
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Does hexagram 60, Measure, mean yes or no?
- As an answer to a yes-or-no question Jie says: yes, within limits, and the limits are the point. The Judgment promises success and then immediately qualifies it — bitter limitation cannot last — so the hexagram's answer is never an open-ended yes or a blanket no. It wants you to define the scope before you decide: how far, how long, how much. It distrusts a proposal with no natural stopping point and supports one with a clear measure.
- What does Hexagram 60, 節 Measure, mean?
- Water above the lake: the lake holds just so much. Success through limits — but bitter, excessive limitation cannot be sustained; measure that fits is the point.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).