損 → 乾
Hexagram 41: Decrease → Hexagram 1: The Creative
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 4, 5).
Line 3
六三 三人行。則損一人。一人行。則得其友。
Six in the third place means: When three people journey together, Their number decreases by one. When one man journeys alone, He finds a companion.
Line 4
六四 損其疾。使遄有喜。无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: If a man deceases his faults, It makes the other hasten to come and rejoice. No blame.
Line 5
六五 或益之十朋之龜。弗克違。元吉。
Six in the fifth place means: Someone does indeed increase him. Ten pairs of tortoises cannot oppose it. Supreme good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
鯉鮒鮪鰕，𠢳福多魚。資所有无，富我邦家。
Carp, crucian, sturgeon, shrimp; blessings abundant, many fish. Trading what one has for what one lacks; enriching our homeland.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain above lake, the image of Decrease: what is below diminishes to enrich what is above. Carp, crucian, sturgeon, and shrimp — the verse names an abundance of fish, each species a blessing multiplied. What one possesses fills the coffers of the state, enriching the entire realm. The lake beneath the mountain teems with life; Decrease here is not deprivation but purposeful sacrifice that yields compound returns. From Decrease to the Creative, the transformation is striking: voluntary restraint at the base generates pure, self-sustaining strength at the summit. The act of giving away becomes the act of self-creation — diminishing the self to generate inexhaustible creative power, as heaven's doubled vigor needs no external support.
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