損 → 既濟

Commentary

Mountain above lake gives way to water above fire — After Completion, where every element occupies its proper position yet stability remains precarious. Wolves and tigers prowl their territory, daily embroiled in fierce litigation. Their nature is rapacious and gluttonous; they cannot tolerate or accommodate. The verse depicts a domain where predators have established perfect mutual antagonism — each in its place, each at the other's throat. From Decrease to After Completion, the mountain settles as water perfectly atop fire: apparent order concealing imminent reversal. After Completion's warning is that the completed state is inherently unstable. The wolves and tigers have decreased nothing — neither appetite nor aggression. Without the discipline of genuine Decrease, After Completion becomes merely the organized expression of insatiable predation.