損 → 訟
Hexagram 41: Decrease → Hexagram 6: Conflict
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 5).
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 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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
春栗夏棗，少鮮希有。斗千石萬，貴不可販。
Spring chestnuts, summer jujubes; rare and seldom found. A peck costs a thousand, a stone ten thousand; too dear to sell.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain above lake transforms into heaven above water, their currents flowing in opposite directions — Conflict. Spring chestnuts and summer jujubes are out of season, rare to the point of nonexistence. When scarcity drives the price to a thousand per peck and ten thousand per stone, goods become too dear to trade. The verse captures a market frozen by absurd valuations: seeking fruit out of season guarantees failure. From Decrease to Conflict, the voluntary restraint of Decrease warps into the irreconcilable opposition of heaven and water. What should be patient waiting becomes contentious grasping. Demanding what the season cannot provide is the very definition of conflict with natural order — a loss compounded rather than transmuted.
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