Limitation

不出戶庭，无咎。

Not going out beyond the inner courtyard. No fault.

Line 1 stays within the household courtyard and receives no fault. Once it moves, the figure is Hexagram 29: lake becomes water below water, placing this close boundary beside repeated danger.

不出門庭，凶。

Not going out beyond the outer courtyard. Misfortune.

Line 2 stays within the outer courtyard but receives a verdict of misfortune, unlike Line 1. The traditional contrast concerns the right time to remain still or act. Its change makes Thunder below Water, Hexagram 3, adding the image of a difficult beginning.

不節若，則嗟若，无咎。

Without restraint comes lamenting. There is no one else to blame.

Line 3 laments a failure of restraint. Here “no fault” is traditionally explained as having no one else to blame, not as an acquittal. Changing it makes Heaven below Water, Hexagram 5, whose waiting offers a contrast with unmeasured conduct.

安節，亨。

Content with limits. Success.

Line 4 accepts restraint naturally and receives a verdict of success. Its change makes Lake above Lake, Hexagram 58. Accepted limits and shared joy provide a comparison about how restraint is experienced.

甘節，吉，往有尚。

Sweet limits. Favorable. Going wins esteem.

The limits in Line 5 are called sweet; the verdict is favorable, and going wins esteem. Its change makes Earth above Lake, Hexagram 19. The theme of approach can be considered beside limits that are accepted rather than resented.

苦節，貞凶，悔亡。

Bitter limits. Constancy brings misfortune. Regret disappears.

Bitter restraint marks Line 6, where constancy is adverse although regret disappears. Its change makes Wind above Lake, Hexagram 61. Trust offers another theme for comparison with severe limits; the tension within the original verdict remains.