損 → 萃
Hexagram 41: Decrease → Hexagram 45: Gathering Together
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 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 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 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 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
大都王市，稠人多寶。公孫宜賈，其貸萬倍。
The great capital's royal market; dense crowds, abundant treasures. Lord Gongsun trades well; his profits multiply ten thousandfold.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain above lake becomes lake above earth — Gathering, where abundance pools and people congregate. The great capital and royal market bustle with crowds and treasures. A nobleman named Gongsun proves adept at commerce, his profits multiplying ten thousandfold. The verse paints a metropolitan scene of concentrated wealth: dense population, piled goods, and merchants who turn investment into fortune. From Decrease to Gathering, the mountain disappears while the lake spreads across the earth, collecting everything that flows toward the lowest ground. Gathering's image is the lake upon earth — natural convergence. Decrease's careful pruning has created the conditions for accumulation: by reducing waste and concentrating resources, the market achieves the critical mass where wealth generates more wealth.
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