觀 → 損
Hexagram 20: Contemplation → Hexagram 41: Decrease
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 5).
Line 1
初六 童觀。小人无咎。君子吝。
Six at the beginning means: Boy like contemplation. For an inferior man, no blame. For a superior man, humiliation.
Line 2
六二 闚觀。利女貞。
Six in the second place means: Contemplation through the crack of the door. Furthering for the perseverance of a woman.
Line 5
九五 觀我生。君子无咎。
Nine in the fifth place means: Contemplation of my life. The superior man is without blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
長生無極，子孫千億；柏柱載青，堅固不傾。
The turtle lives a thousand years, mountains and rivers on its back. Slow steps, never hurried — yet eventually reaching the four seas.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind over earth contemplates endurance across generations. The original verse reads: 'Eternal life without limit, descendants numbering a thousand myriad. Cypress pillars bearing green, firm and never toppling.' The imagery is architectural and dynastic — cypress, the most durable timber, supports a structure that stands across centuries, green with perpetual life. A thousand myriad descendants flow from this stability. Mountain over lake forms Decrease, which reduces the lower to benefit the upper. From Contemplation to Decrease, the transformation reveals that lasting structures require sacrifice: the cypress bears its weight silently, the foundation gives up its substance so the edifice above can endure. True longevity is built through willingness to diminish oneself for what must last.
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