損 → 屯
Hexagram 41: Decrease → Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 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 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
羊腸九縈，相推稍前。止須王孫，迺能上天。
The sheep-gut path winds nine times; pushing one another, inching forward. Wait for the prince's son; then you may ascend to heaven.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain above lake gives way to water above thunder — the treacherous birth pangs of Difficulty at the Beginning. The path coils like a sheep's intestine through nine bends, each step pushed forward only by the pressure of those behind. The Yangyichang road through the Taihang Mountains was one of antiquity's most feared passes, so narrow that carts shattered against its walls. Yet the verse counsels patience: wait for the noble patron, and only then can one ascend to heaven. From Decrease to Difficulty at the Beginning, voluntary sacrifice meets the primal struggle of emergence. The winding path demands that one shed haste and pride — the very essence of Decrease — before the thunderous breakthrough of new life becomes possible.
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