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Hexagram 19 — Jie, Limitation
Chronological no. 19 (binary-weight order) · King Wen no. (traditional) 60 · 節
By Anibal Edelberto Amiot — Updated October 1, 2026
the middle son
the youngest daughter
Upon the Lake, Water: the image of limitation. The lake's water stays contained by its banks, and it is this very limit that allows it to exist as a lake rather than losing itself as a shapeless marsh. This is the figure of constraint that structures rather than stifles. Thus the noble one devises measure and number, and reflects on virtue and conduct: rightly chosen limitation is what gives form to everything, including oneself.
The bamboo sets its nodes so the sap will not disperse. Without the limits that punctuate it, growth itself would lose its strength by scattering without direction. This line says well-placed limitation is not a brake on life, but the condition of its vigor.
The six lines
At the base of the earth, fullness stirs: the yang onset that carried the whole figure now yields its place.
The steadied earth reaches its limit: the solidity that upheld the structure is about to change its nature.
At the threshold between earth and man, suppleness gathers weight: what once yielded by nature is about to harden.
In the listening of man, the hollow fills: the openness that received is about to assert itself.
At the sage's seat, fullness hollows out: the force that governed the figure from its center is about to invert.
At the summit, emptiness reaches its fullest extent and closes: the furthest opening turns toward its opposite.
Source: La Livrée d'Hermès, Anibal Amiot — chapter 7.1 (pp. 63–68). French version of this page.
For the notions used here — magic square, layer and casting, the Yi Jing — see the project lexicon.
The patterns of this hexagram
Eight 12×12 Jacquard patterns are generated from this hexagram, one for each admissible family of the system. Each has its own page: cell, tiling, recolourings and data.
Bases — YANG mutant
Bases — YANG
Pair of two — YANG + YIN mutant
Pair of two — YIN mutant + YANG mutant
Pair of two — YIN + YANG
Pair of two — YIN + YANG mutant
Triple — without YANG
Triple — without YANG mutant
Neighbouring hexagrams
18 — Kan, The Abysmal · 20 — Jian, Obstruction
Hexagrams sharing a trigram
Same upper trigram (☵ Kan): 16 — Bi, Holding Together · 17 — Zhun, Difficulty at the Beginning · 18 — Kan, The Abysmal · 20 — Jian, Obstruction · 21 — Ji Ji, After Completion · 22 — Jing, The Well · 23 — Xu, Waiting
Same lower trigram (☱ Dui): 3 — Lin, Approach · 11 — Gui Mei, The Marrying Maiden · 27 — Dui, The Joyous · 35 — Sun, Decrease · 43 — Kui, Opposition · 51 — Zhong Fu, Inner Truth · 59 — Lu, Treading
