Hexagram 41
Decrease
損
Upper
Mountain · 艮
keeping still
Lower
Lake · 兌
the joyous, open
Contemporary judgment
Decrease. Something is being asked to go: effort, possession, illusion, expectation. Release it willingly, and the loss becomes a making-room. Cling to it, and the loss happens anyway, bitterly. The voluntary decrease at one level becomes the quiet increase at another.
Image
The mountain above, the lake below: the peak drawing from the reservoir. The superior person restrains their anger and curbs their desires.
Counsel
Let go of what you are already privately aware is not working. Simplify. Reduce. Accept a smaller scope where the real work can be done well, rather than a sprawling one done poorly. What you release with sincerity now returns to you as freedom and depth.
The six lines
Numbered from the bottom upward; displayed here from first to sixth.
Line 1
A nine at the beginning means: When business is finished, to go there quickly is no blame. But one must consider how far one may decrease others.
Line 2
A nine in the second place means: Perseverance furthers. To undertake something brings misfortune. Without decreasing oneself, one is able to increase others.
Line 3
A six in the third place means: When three people wander together, they are decreased by one person. When one person wanders, they find their companion.
Line 4
A six in the fourth place means: If one decreases their own faults, one causes the other to come eagerly and have joy. No blame.
Line 5
A six in the fifth place means: Someone does indeed increase them. Ten pairs of tortoises cannot resist it. Sublime good fortune!
Line 6
A nine at the top means: If one is increased without decreasing others, this is no blame. Perseverance brings good fortune. It is favorable to undertake something. One gets servants, but no longer has a particular home.
Contemporary sections are original app interpretations. Line text comes from the CC0 translation in jesshewitt/i-ching.