Hexagram 41: Sǔn (Decrease)

The Judgment

In (what is denoted by) Sun, if there be sincerity (in him who employs it), there will be great good fortune:--freedom from error; firmness and correctness that can be maintained; and advantage in every movement that shall be made. In what shall this (sincerity in the exercise of Sun) be employed? (Even) in sacrifice two baskets of grain, (though there be nothing else), may be presented.

损：有孚，元吉，无咎，可贞，利有攸往。曷之用，二簋可用享。

Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan)

In Sun (we see) the lower (trigram) diminished, and the upper added to. (But) the method (of action) implied in this operates also above (or, mounts upwards (also) and operates). 'If there be sincerity in this method of diminution, there will be great good fortune; freedom from error; firmness and correctness that can be maintained; and advantage in every movement that shall be made. In what shall this (sincerity in the exercise of Sun) be employed? (Even) in sacrifice, two baskets of grain, (though there be nothing else), may be presented:' - for these two baskets there ought to be the fitting time. There is a time when the strong should be diminished, and the weak should be strengthened. Diminution and increase, overflowing and emptiness: -these take place in harmony with the conditions of the time.

彖曰：损，损下益上，其道上行。损而有孚，元吉，无咎，可贞，利有攸往。曷之用，二簋可用享；二簋应有时，损刚益柔有时。损益盈虚，与时偕行。

The Great Image

(The trigram representing) a mountain and beneath it that for the waters of a marsh form Sun. The superior man, in accordance with this, restrains his wrath and represses his desires.

象曰：山下有泽，损；君子以惩忿窒欲。

The six lines

1. Line 1 (first): The first NINE, undivided, shows its subject suspending his own affairs, and hurrying away (to help the subject of the fourth line). He will commit no error, but let him consider how far he should contribute of what is his (for the other).

   'He suspends his own affairs and hurries away (to help the subject of the fourth line):' - the (subject of that) upper (line) mingles his wishes with his.

   In plain words: Setting one's own affairs aside and hurrying to help: no fault; but weigh how much to decrease oneself. The first line is strong and corresponds to the fourth, decreasing itself to increase the one above. The Small Image says it values being of one mind with the one above.

   初九：已事遄往，无咎，酌损之。 象曰：已事遄往，尚合志也。

2. Line 2 (second): The second NINE, undivided, shows that it will be advantageous for its subject to maintain a firm correctness, and that action on his part will be evil. He can give increase (to his correlate) without taking from himself

   'It will be advantageous for (the subject of) the second NINE, (undivided), to maintain his firm correctness:' - his central position gives its character to his aim.

   In plain words: It is favourable to be steadfast; setting out brings misfortune; without decreasing oneself, one can increase the other. The second line is strong and central; by keeping to the middle it gives the fifth line the best help, with no need to sacrifice itself. The Small Image says keeping to the middle is its aim.

   九二：利贞，征凶，弗损益之。 象曰：九二利贞，中以为志也。

3. Line 3 (third): The third SIX, divided, shows how of three men walking together, the number is diminished by one; and how one, walking, finds his friend.

   'One man, walking,' (finds his friend): - when three are together, doubts rise among them.

   In plain words: When three people travel together, one is lost; when one travels alone, one finds a friend. This hexagram comes from Tai: of its three lower yang lines, one is taken away and moved to the top; the third line, going alone, finds its partner in the top line. The Great Commentary quotes this line to speak of two becoming one. The Small Image says three together breed doubt.

   六三：三人行，则损一人；一人行，则得其友。 象曰：一人行，三则疑也。

4. Line 4 (fourth): The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject diminishing the ailment under which he labours by making (the subject of the first line) hasten (to his help), and make him glad. There will be no error.

   'He diminishes the ailment under which he labours:' - this is matter for joy.

   In plain words: Decreasing one's ailment and letting it mend quickly brings joy: no fault. The ailment stands for a fault. The fourth line is yielding and correct, corresponds to the first, and with its help corrects its own weakness. The Small Image says this too is cause for joy.

   六四：损其疾，使遄有喜，无咎。 象曰：损其疾，亦可喜也。

5. Line 5 (fifth): The fifth SIX, divided, shows parties adding to (the stores of) its subject ten pairs of tortoise shells, and accepting no refusal. There will be great good fortune.

   'The great good fortune attached to the fifth six, (divided),' is due to the blessing from above.

   In plain words: Someone increases it: even a tortoise worth ten strings of cowries cannot oppose it: supreme good fortune. The tortoise was a costly one used in divination, and even its verdict cannot go against this. The fifth line is yielding and central in the place of honour, humbly receives, and all under heaven come to help. The Small Image says this is heaven's help from above.

   六五：或益之，十朋之龟弗克违，元吉。 象曰：六五元吉，自上佑也。

6. Line 6 (sixth (top)): The topmost NINE, undivided, shows its subject giving increase to others without taking from himself. There will be no error. With firm correctness there will be good fortune. There will be advantage in every movement that shall be made. He will find ministers more than can be counted by their clans.

   'He gives increase to others without taking from what is his own:' - he obtains his wish on a grand scale.

   In plain words: Increasing others without decreasing oneself: no fault; steadfastness brings good fortune; it is favourable to go somewhere; one gains followers beyond any single household. The top line is at the end of decrease: decreasing below to increase above has gone its full course and turns into increase without loss. The Small Image says it fully achieves its aims.

   上九：弗损益之，无咎，贞吉，利有攸往，得臣无家。 象曰：弗损益之，大得志也。

Line positions

2 of the six lines stand in their proper place (strong lines in odd places, weak lines in even places).

The second and fifth lines hold the central places of the lower and upper trigrams; being one strong and one weak, they correspond.

Of the three pairs of corresponding places (first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top), 3 pairs are made of one strong and one weak line.

Strong lines belong in odd places and weak lines in even places; the second and fifth are the central places; first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top correspond, and they "respond" when one is strong and the other weak.

These are structural conventions, not scores of good or bad fortune. Commentators differ: Wang Bi treats the first and top places as beginning and end without fixed yin or yang positions. Read each line with its Small Image and the whole hexagram.

Place in Jing Fang's eight palaces

Jing Fang grouped the 64 hexagrams into eight "palaces" of eight, each headed by a doubled trigram. Changing the lines of the head hexagram one by one from the bottom gives the next five; the last two are the "wandering soul" and "returning soul" hexagrams. The Gen palace runs: Gèn (head), Bì (1st change), Dà Chù (2nd change), Sǔn (3rd change), Kuí (4th change), Lǚ (5th change), Zhōng Fú (wandering soul), Jiàn (returning soul).

A recorded case from Takashima

Sun to Lin: return a loss-making shipyard, or keep it?: Two Nagasaki merchants had taken over the Yokohama ironworks from the postal and transport bureau to repair ships, and were losing money; they wondered whether to hand it back or sell it on. The top line of Sun, "not decreasing but increasing", led Takashima to say the losses had bottomed out and gains would follow; they kept it, and ship repairs boomed the next year.

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English text: James Legge, The Yi King (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16, 1882), public domain, as transcribed by the Chinese Text Project. Chinese: the received text. Offered for study and reflection, not as prediction.

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