# Hexagram 41: Decrease

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/41
Last updated: 2026-10-07

```
━━━━━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━
```

- **Upper trigram:** [Gen 艮](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/gen), Mountain, keeping still
- **Lower trigram:** [Dui 兌](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/dui), Lake, the joyous, open
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 110001 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## 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. These line texts are read when that line is changing in a cast.*

### 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.

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [24 Return](https://thefreeiching.com/library/24)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** [42 Increase](https://thefreeiching.com/library/42)
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [31 Influence](https://thefreeiching.com/library/31)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [4 Youthful Folly](https://thefreeiching.com/library/4) |
| Line 2 | [27 Nourishment](https://thefreeiching.com/library/27) |
| Line 3 | [26 Great Taming](https://thefreeiching.com/library/26) |
| Line 4 | [38 Opposition](https://thefreeiching.com/library/38) |
| Line 5 | [61 Inner Truth](https://thefreeiching.com/library/61) |
| Line 6 | [19 Approach](https://thefreeiching.com/library/19) |

Previous: [40 Deliverance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/40). Next: [42 Increase](https://thefreeiching.com/library/42). [All sixty-four hexagrams](https://thefreeiching.com/library).

*The judgment, image and counsel are original contemporary paraphrases written for The Free I Ching. The line text is the CC0 translation from [jesshewitt/i-ching](https://github.com/jesshewitt/i-ching), derived from Richard Wilhelm's 1924 German edition.*

## Cite this page

The Free I Ching. "Hexagram 41: Decrease." https://thefreeiching.com/library/41 (updated 2026-10-07).

*The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice. Short quotations with a link back are welcome. Please do not republish a page in full. The open data files at [/data](https://thefreeiching.com/data) are licensed CC BY 4.0.*

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Source: The Free I Ching (https://thefreeiching.com/library/41). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.