損 → 解
Hexagram 41: Decrease → Hexagram 40: Deliverance
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 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 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
鳧過稻廬，甘樂廣鰌。雖驚不去，田畯懷憂。
Wild ducks pass by the rice hut; happily delighting in the plentiful loach. Though startled, they do not leave; the field overseer harbors worry.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain above lake transforms into thunder above water — Deliverance, the release of tension after obstruction. Wild ducks pass the rice paddies and loach ponds, delighting in the abundance. Though startled, they refuse to leave, causing the field overseer constant worry. The ducks have found paradise and will not be chased away; the farmer watches helplessly as his crops are devoured. From Decrease to Deliverance, the mountain breaks open as thunder, releasing the lake's water in a sudden downpour. Deliverance is liberation — but liberation for whom? The ducks are delivered from hunger; the farmer is delivered into anxiety. Decrease here acquires an ironic edge: the field's abundance, meant to sustain the household, is decreased by uninvited guests who experience their own deliverance at the farmer's expense.
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