mulberryshoots

The I-Ching (Wilhelm/Baynes edition, Princeton University Press) says about

“Limitation” Hexagram 60:

The Judgment:  Limitation. Success. Galling Limitation must not be persevered in.

             Limitations are troublesome, but they are effective. If we live economically in normal times, we are prepared for times of want. To be sparing saves us from humiliation. Limitations are also indispensable in the regulation of world conditions. In nature there are fixed limits for summer and winter, day and night, and these limits give the year its meaning. In the same way, economy, by setting fixed limits upon expenditures, acts to preserve property and prevent injury to the people. 

            But in limitation we must observe due measure. If a person should seek to impose galling limitations upon his own nature, it would be injurious. And if a person should go too far in imposing limitations on others, they would rebel. Therefore it is necessary to set limits even upon limitation. 

Six in the fourth place means:  Contented Limitation. Success.

             Every limitation has its value, but a limitation that requires persistent effort entails a cost of too much energy. When, however, the limitation is a natural one (as for example, the limitation by which water flows only downhill), it necessarily leads to success, for then it means a saving of energy. The energy that otherwise would be consumed in a vain struggle with the object, is applied wholly to the benefit of the matter in hand, and success is assured.”