損 → 比
Hexagram 41: Decrease → Hexagram 8: Holding Together
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 5, 6).
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 2
九二 利貞。征凶。弗損益之。
Nine in the second place means: Perseverance furthers. To undertake something brings misfortune. Without decreasing oneself, One is able to bring increase to others.
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
大虵當路，使季畏懼。湯火之災，切直我膚。賴其天幸，歸于生廬。
A great serpent blocks the road, filling the youngest with dread. Calamity of boiling water and fire, searing my very flesh. Relying on heaven's fortune, returning to my living home.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain above lake transforms into water above earth — Holding Together. A great serpent blocks the road, terrifying the youngest brother. Scalding and burning calamity sears the very skin. Yet through heaven's protection, one returns alive to the house of the living. The verse builds from mortal peril to narrow escape: the snake, the fire, the near-fatal danger, all survived by grace rather than strength. From Decrease to Holding Together, the mountain's withdrawal allows water to gather upon earth, forming bonds of alliance and mutual protection. The verse enacts this precisely: survival depends not on personal power but on clinging to what sustains — heaven's favor, the shelter of home, the bonds that hold one together when individual resources are exhausted.
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