Hexagram 41 for love
Hexagram 41 Diminishing in love and relationships
Sun is the lake at the foot of the mountain giving up its moisture to the heights: decrease below so that something above can grow. In a relationship this is the picture of giving — time, attention, the small sacrifices that let the other flourish. The judgment says such giving is supremely fortunate 'if there is sincerity', and adds that two simple bowls suffice for the offering (二簋可用享): what matters is the truth of the gift, not its size. The Great Image warns about the other side of decrease: 'restrain anger, curb desire' (懲忿窒欲), the two things that make giving turn into resentment.
For a question about love, the hexagram asks who is giving and whether the giving is measured. The first line says help quickly but weigh how much; the second says keep your own centre; the third is the famous warning that three cannot walk together. The fifth and top lines show the giver rewarded. A changing line in the lower trigram is about what you are contributing; one in the upper trigram is about how you receive.
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
- Is hexagram 41, Diminishing, a good sign for love?
- Sun is the lake at the foot of the mountain giving up its moisture to the heights: decrease below so that something above can grow. In a relationship this is the picture of giving — time, attention, the small sacrifices that let the other flourish. The judgment says such giving is supremely fortunate 'if there is sincerity', and adds that two simple bowls suffice for the offering (二簋可用享): what matters is the truth of the gift, not its size. The Great Image warns about the other side of decrease: 'restrain anger, curb desire' (懲忿窒欲), the two things that make giving turn into resentment.
- 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).