損 → 謙
Hexagram 41: Decrease → Hexagram 15: Modesty
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 6).
Line 1
初九 已事遄往。无咎。酌損之。
Nine at the beginning means: Going quickly when one's tasks are finished Is without blame. But one must reflect on how much one may decrease others.
Line 2
九二 利貞。征凶。弗損益之。
Nine in the second place means: Perseverance furthers. To undertake something brings misfortune. Without decreasing oneself, One is able to bring increase to others.
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 6
上九 弗損益之。无咎。貞吉。利有攸往。得臣无家。
Nine at the top means: If one is increased without depriving others, There is no blame. Perseverance brings good fortune. It furthers one to undertake something. One obtains servants But no longer has a separate home.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
暗昧冥語，轉相詿誤。鬼魅所居，誰知臥處。
Dark and obscure, murmuring in shadow; passing along errors to one another. Where ghosts and spirits dwell; who knows their resting place?
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain above lake becomes earth above mountain — Modesty, where the mountain hides itself beneath the earth. Dark murmuring and obscure speech pass from person to person, each relay compounding the distortion. Ghosts and specters haunt the place; who can tell where one rests? The verse describes a world of rumor, deception, and spiritual danger. Words spoken in shadow mislead all who hear them. From Decrease to Modesty, the mountain that once stood above the lake now buries itself beneath the earth. Modesty's virtue is self-effacement, but here the concealment is involuntary and sinister — not the mountain choosing to hide, but truth itself being buried under layers of whispered falsehood. Decrease becomes not pruning but erasure, and humility degenerates into helpless obscurity.
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