Hexagram 41: Sǔn 損

What hexagram 41 means

Giving up some of its depth, a Lake nourishes the Mountain rising above it. A deliberate reduction in one place, chosen rather than forced, can add real strength somewhere else.

A question to sit with

What deliberate reduction here would add strength somewhere else?

The six lines, bottom to top

A changing line is read on its own. These are original reflections written for this site, not a translation.

Line 1 · The beginning

Before you rush to help someone else, weigh how much you can spare without weakening yourself. Once your own work is in order, a quick and generous offering fits this beginning, provided it stays measured.

Line 2 · The inner position

Keeping to your centre, you can help others without giving away what is essential to you. If a request asks you to surrender something that matters at your core, declining can be the more useful gift.

Line 3 · The threshold

A group of three that settles into a pair describes how close bonds tend to form. Notice whether a crowded arrangement needs reducing, and whether going alone might bring the right companion.

Line 4 · Entering the outer

Lessening one of your own faults quickly can bring relief to the people around you. Trimming a habit that weighs on others is a reduction worth making.

Line 5 · The position of authority

Help may arrive in a form too valuable to refuse, like a gift of ten tortoise shells. Accept real support gracefully when it comes, without having schemed for it.

Line 6 · The end, and excess

Some gains can be kept while leaving everyone else as well off as before. Where that is possible, share them widely, since benefit that serves the whole circle outlasts any private hoard.