Hexagram 41
山泽损
Decrease
Hexagram 41, Sun (Decrease), is Mountain over Lake - the lake diminishing to feed the mountain above, the lower giving to the higher.
Upper Trigram
☶
艮 (土)
Lower Trigram
☱
兑 (金)
Palace
艮 Palace
Shi / Ying Lines
Shi: Line 3 · Ying: Line 6
The 艮 trigram (土) sits above the 兑 trigram (金), forming 山泽损. This hexagram belongs to the 艮 Palace.
Judgment (卦辞)
Decrease combined with sincerity brings about supreme good fortune without blame.
Judgment text follows the Wilhelm–Baynes translation (The I Ching or Book of Changes, Princeton University Press), quoted for commentary.
Image (象辞)
At the foot of the mountain, the lake: the image of Decrease.
Line Texts (爻辞)
Going quickly when tasks are finished. (已事遄往)
Perseverance furthers. Without decreasing oneself. (利贞)
When three journey together, their number decreases by one. (三人行)
If a man decreases his faults. No blame. (损其疾)
Someone does indeed increase him. Supreme good fortune. (或益之)
If one is increased without depriving others. (弗损益之)
Hexagram 41 in Love & Relationships
Relationships: Some sacrifice is the price of a deeper bond. Give willingly, not resentfully.
Hexagram 41 in Career & Decisions
Career: What can you decrease to increase? Cut the inessential to build what matters.
Hexagram 41 as a yes / no answer
Depends on timing
The hexagram counsels timing and care: the answer depends on how and when you proceed.
The I Ching reads situations, not fixed outcomes — your reading can weigh the moving lines with this leaning.
In-Depth Analysis[+]
Hexagram 41, Sun (Decrease), is Mountain over Lake - the lake diminishing to feed the mountain above, the lower giving to the higher. This is the hexagram of loss, but a loss that is also a form of sacrifice and refinement. The judgment: 'decrease combined with sincerity brings supreme good fortune.' The lines trace decrease's wisdom: going quickly when tasks are done, decreasing one's own faults, and the final line that increases without depriving others. Sun teaches that some things must be given up - desires, excess, the inessential - for something higher to be built. Decrease, entered with sincerity, is not loss but transformation.
Historical Stories[+]
The fasting of the ascetic, who decreases the body to feed the spirit - decrease as a deliberate sacrifice for a higher end.
A parent who goes without so a child can study - the lake diminishing to feed the mountain, the lower giving to the higher.
Practical Applications[+]
Career: What can you decrease to increase? Cut the inessential to build what matters.
Relationships: Some sacrifice is the price of a deeper bond. Give willingly, not resentfully.
Personal Growth: Decrease your faults, not your worth. The right loss is a gain in disguise.
Classical Sources for Hexagram 41
黄金策 (The Golden Strategy)明 (Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644)
The subject-category diagnostic framework and its mnemonic verse formulas for common life-domain questions.
Related Hexagrams
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