損 → 恆
Hexagram 41: Decrease → Hexagram 32: Duration
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 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 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 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 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
良天孔姬，脅悝登臺。樂季不扶，叔輒走逃。
Lord Liang and Lady Kong Ji; Xie Kui ascends the terrace. Le Ji does not intervene; Uncle Zhe flees in haste.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain above lake transforms into thunder above wind — Duration, the constancy of established patterns. The verse alludes to the Wei state coup of 480 BC: Liang Tian and Kong Ji coerced Kong Kui onto the tower platform. When Yue Ji refused to support the usurper, Shu Zhe fled in panic. According to the Zuo Zhuan, the exiled former crown prince Kuai Kui returned to Wei, using his sister Kong Ji and armed men to seize her son Kong Kui as hostage atop a tower, forcing a political oath. Confucius's disciple Zilu died attempting a rescue. From Decrease to Duration, the mountain gives way to thunder over wind — forces that should endure but here are weaponized by those who subvert proper succession. Duration demands steadfastness, but the verse shows loyalty itself being coerced.
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