損 → 益
Hexagram 41: Decrease → Hexagram 42: Increase
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 5).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
雨師娶婦，黃岩季子。成禮既婚，相呼面南。膏澤應時，年豐大喜。
The Rain Master takes a bride, the youngest daughter of Huangyan. Rites completed, the marriage made; they face each other, turning south. Timely rain and rich moisture; a bountiful year, great rejoicing.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain above lake gives way to wind above thunder — Increase, Decrease's complementary opposite. The Rain Master takes a wife, the young lord of Huang Cliff. The rites are completed and the marriage sealed; the couple face south together. Timely rains and sweet dew fall in their season, bringing a year of great harvest and joy. The Rain Master's wedding is a fertility myth: when the rain deity finds his consort, the cosmic union produces the moisture that sustains all life. From Decrease to Increase, the reversal is complete. The mountain that suppressed the lake becomes wind that amplifies thunder — every sacrifice repaid with compound interest. The verse enacts the fundamental promise: decrease faithfully, and increase follows as surely as rain follows the marriage of heaven and earth.
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