損 → 蠱
Hexagram 41: Decrease → Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 3).
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 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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
乘牛逐驥，日暮不至。路宿多畏，亡其騂騅。
Riding an ox to chase a stallion; by nightfall, still not arrived. Lodging on the road brings many fears; losing his fine red-and-white steed.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain above lake transforms into mountain above wind — Work on the Decayed. Riding an ox to chase a thoroughbred, one cannot arrive before nightfall. Lodging on the road invites fear, and the fine bay-and-white steed is lost. The verse is a parable of mismatched means and ends: an ox cannot catch a racehorse, no matter how long the chase. The effort exhausts without achieving, and what one already had — the good horse — is forfeited in the futile pursuit. From Decrease to Work on the Decayed, the mountain remains while the lake beneath rots into stagnant wind. Decay arises precisely from this mismatch: applying the wrong tool to the task accelerates deterioration rather than repair. Decrease demands knowing what to let go — here, the rider should have released the ambition, not the horse.
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