中孚 → 損
Hexagram 61: Inner Truth → Hexagram 41: Decrease
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 5).
Line 5
九五 有孚攣如。无咎。
Nine in the fifth place means: He possesses truth, which links together. No blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
雄聖伏名，人匿麟驚。走鳳飛北，亂潰未息。
The hero sage conceals his name; people hide, the qilin startles. The fleeing phoenix flies north; chaos and ruin do not cease.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind stirs above the lake, but the sage hero conceals his name while the hidden unicorn startles the people. The phoenix flies north; turmoil and collapse have not yet subsided. Sages vanish, auspicious creatures flee — the qilin hides and the phoenix migrates to the wrong direction. All portents of cosmic disorder: when worthies withdraw and sacred beasts take flight, the world's foundations are crumbling. From Inner Truth to Decrease, sincerity confronts the mountain above the lake, the image of restraining desire and subduing anger. Yet here the decrease is involuntary: the world is losing its best, and nobody chose this diminishment. The sage's concealment and the phoenix's flight northward are symptoms of a civilization in free fall.
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