Hexagram 41 for work
Hexagram 41 Diminishing for work and career
At work Sun describes a time of cutting back: the lower trigram gives to the upper, a team gives up something so that the organisation above it can hold. The Tuan says plainly that there are times when the strong should be diminished and the weak strengthened, and that 'decrease and increase, filling and emptying, go with the time' (損益盈虛，與時偕行). This is not failure; it is the season for simplifying, for a lean offering sincerely made without bitterness.
For a project, a job or a negotiation, the hexagram favours trimming and plain dealing over expansion. Line one is the colleague who drops everything to help and must not overspend; line two is the adviser whose loyalty lies in keeping an independent judgement; line four is the manager who admits a gap and lets it be filled. The top line is the pay-off: a leader who returns what was given wins staff from every quarter. A changing line below means it is your turn to give; above, your turn to use what was given well.
The hexagram in brief
The lake at the foot of the mountain giving up its moisture: decrease. Sincerity makes even decrease supremely fortunate — two bowls of simple food suffice for the offering.
Cut what is excessive — anger, desire, expense — and give willingly; what is lost below strengthens what is above.
The judgment
損：有孚，元吉，无咎，可貞，利有攸往。曷之用，二簋可用享。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.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 損 Diminishing has its own page:
- 初九Nine at the beginningdrop your own business · hurry to help · measure the gift
- 九二Nine in the second placehold the centre · do not go · give without loss
- 六三Six in the third placethree become two · one finds a friend · doubt in a crowd
- 六四Six in the fourth placelessen the fault · accept help quickly · joy
- 六五Six in the fifth placegifts that cannot be refused · the oracle agrees · blessed from above
- 上九Nine at the topincrease without taking · beyond decrease · followers without a house
The same hexagram for
Questions
- What does hexagram 41, Diminishing, mean for a career question?
- At work Sun describes a time of cutting back: the lower trigram gives to the upper, a team gives up something so that the organisation above it can hold. The Tuan says plainly that there are times when the strong should be diminished and the weak strengthened, and that 'decrease and increase, filling and emptying, go with the time' (損益盈虛，與時偕行). This is not failure; it is the season for simplifying, for a lean offering sincerely made without bitterness.
- What does Hexagram 41, 損 Diminishing, mean?
- The lake at the foot of the mountain giving up its moisture: decrease. Sincerity makes even decrease supremely fortunate — two bowls of simple food suffice for the offering.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).