損 → 歸妹
Hexagram 41: Decrease → Hexagram 54: The Marrying Maiden
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 4, 6).
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
牧羊逐兔，使魚相捕。任非其人，卒歲无功，不免辛苦。
Herding sheep to chase rabbits; sending fish to catch one another. Entrusting the task to the wrong person; at year's end, no achievement, unable to escape bitter toil.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain above lake transforms into thunder above lake — the Marrying Maiden, where impetuousness leads to improper union. Shepherds chase rabbits, fish are set to catch fish — every task assigned to the wrong agent. The person is unfit for the role, and by year's end nothing is accomplished; hardship is the only reward. The verse is a catalogue of categorical errors: sheep cannot catch hares, fish cannot hunt fish, and a miscast appointee cannot fulfill a mandate. From Decrease to the Marrying Maiden, the mountain breaks into thunder crashing above the lake — impulsive action that disrupts the calm surface. The Marrying Maiden warns against unions made in haste without proper alignment. Decrease demands discernment about what to sacrifice; here, discernment itself has been sacrificed.
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