損 → 兌
Hexagram 41: Decrease → Hexagram 58: The Joyous Lake
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 4, 5, 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 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
兩罝同室，兔无誰告，與狂相觸，蒙我以惡。
Two snares in one room; the rabbit has no one to tell. Colliding with a madman; smeared with his malice.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain above lake transforms into doubled lake — the Joyous, where mutual delight overflows. Two snares share a single chamber, but the rabbit has no one to appeal to. Colliding with a madman, one is smeared with blame. The verse is claustrophobic: two traps in one room leave the rabbit no escape, and an encounter with a raving figure brings only disgrace. The 'madman' (狂) echoes the Shijing's 'not seeing Zidu, I meet only a madman' — expecting beauty but finding chaos. From Decrease to the Joyous, the mountain vanishes and the lake doubles — joy reflecting joy. But the verse reveals the shadow of doubled pleasure: when indulgence multiplies without restraint, the room becomes a cage and delight curdles into entrapment. Two joys without boundaries destroy the very creature they were meant to catch.
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