損 → 隨
Hexagram 41: Decrease → Hexagram 17: Following
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5, 6).
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 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.
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
比目四翼，來安我國。福善上堂，與我同床。
Mandarin ducks play in water, never parting; on intertwined branches, flowers bloom side by side. Spring wind carries warmth through layered curtains — joy fills the gate, a hundred blessings arrive.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain above lake gives way to lake above thunder — Following. The original verse reads: 'Paired-eye fish and shared-wing birds come to bring peace to our state. Fortune and goodness ascend the hall, sharing the same bed with me.' These mythological creatures — the one-eyed fish that swims only in pairs and the one-winged bird that flies only together — are classical symbols of inseparable love and mutual dependence. From Decrease to Following, the mountain releases its hold on the lake, and the lake settles above the still thunder of evening rest. Following means yielding to the natural rhythm of companionship. The verse celebrates the arrival of a perfect partner: when one decreases pride and self-sufficiency, what follows is the intimate union that completes both halves.
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