損 → 坎
Hexagram 41: Decrease → Hexagram 29: The Abysmal Water
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 5, 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 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
跌足息肩，所忌不難。金城銅郭，以銕為關。藩屏周衛，安止无患。
Resting feet and easing shoulders; what is feared proves no hardship. Walls of gold, ramparts of bronze, gates barred with iron. Screens and shields guard the perimeter; resting secure, without calamity.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain above lake gives way to doubled water — the Abysmal, repeated danger. Yet the verse is paradoxically secure: one rests with feet propped up and shoulders eased, fearing nothing that others dread. Walls of gold and ramparts of bronze, gates forged of iron — the defenses are absolute. Screens and guards encircle on every side; one rests safely without worry. From Decrease to the Abysmal, the lake deepens into water upon water, doubling the danger. But the verse answers danger with preparation so thorough that peril becomes irrelevant. Decrease's discipline built these iron walls long before the flood arrived. The transformation reveals that true security within the Abysmal comes not from escaping danger but from having reduced all vulnerability in advance.
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