Hexagram 60, Jié (Limitation): Line 6 (top)
节卦上六 · 水泽节 · 中文版
上六:苦节,贞凶,悔亡。
The line (Legge)
The topmost SIX, 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.
Small Image commentary
'The regulations are severe and difficult. Even with firm correctness there will be evil:' - the course (indicated by the hexagram) is come to an end.
象曰:苦节贞凶,其道穷也。
In plain words
Bitter limitation: holding on brings misfortune; if one repents, regret vanishes. The top line is at the far end of limitation: restraint pushed too far becomes misery. The Small Image says this way has come to its end.
Applying it to your situation
If you are so strict with yourself that it hurts, this line suggests excessive restraint also does harm. Where could you go easier on yourself?
Position
A broken (yin) line in the top place, which is a yin (even) place, so it is in its proper place. Its partner is line 3; both are yin, so they do not respond.
If this line moves
With this line moving alone, Jié changes into Hexagram 61 Zhōng Fú (Inner Truth). The Jiaoshi Yilin verse for this change (Chinese): 焦氏易林·节之中孚.
A recorded case from Takashima
Jie to Zhong Fu: holding shares for a higher price: A business friend asked where share prices were heading and received the top line of Jie, "bitter restraint; persisting brings misfortune; regret vanishes". Takashima said shares, like a water source, should flow rather than be dammed; the top line was the limit, and holding on to corner the market for a higher price would end badly, so sell now. The friend sold that day, and the price fell soon after.
The hexagram
Hexagram 60 Jié (Limitation). The Judgment: Jie 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.
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English text: James Legge, The Yi King (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16, 1882), public domain, as transcribed by the Chinese Text Project. Chinese: the received text. Offered for study and reflection, not as prediction. Plain-English readings and position notes by this site.