損 → 需
Hexagram 41: Decrease → Hexagram 5: Waiting
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 5, 6).
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 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
水流趨下，逯至東來。求我所有，買魴與鯉。
Water flows and tends downward; swiftly it arrives from the east. Seeking what I have to offer; buying bream and carp.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain above lake gives way to water above heaven — Waiting. Water flows downhill, arriving steadily from the east. One seeks what one already has: bream and carp, the bounty of the flowing current. The verse is remarkably tranquil: no struggle, no striving, just the natural convergence of supply and demand. From Decrease to Waiting, the lake's voluntary diminishment becomes the cloud that gathers above heaven, promising nourishment in due season. What is decreased below reappears as abundance above. The fish come to the buyer; there is no need to chase them. Decrease here enacts the Daoist paradox: by reducing effort and desire, one attracts exactly what is needed, as water naturally seeks its own level.
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