DIANJI · 典籍
Hexagram 41 · Decrease
A source-aware reading page for I Ching hexagram 41, Decrease.
Read I Ching hexagram 41, Decrease, with its judgment, changing lines, textual layers, sources, and a clearly labeled modern reading.
Chinese text
有孚，元吉，无咎，可贞，利有攸往。曷之用，二簋可用享。
损象征减损奉献（损下益上）。怀诚信，大吉无咎，可守正、利于前行。用什么表达诚意？哪怕只有两簋粗粮（二簋）也可用以祭享——重精神之诚，减物质之华。
初九 已事遄往，无咎，酌损之。
九二 利贞，征凶。弗损益之。
六三 三人行，则损一人；一人行，则得其友。
六四 损其疾，使遄有喜，无咎。
六五 或益之十朋之龟，弗克违，元吉。
上九 弗损益之，无咎，贞吉，利有攸往，得臣无家。
English support translation
有孚，元吉，无咎，可贞，利有攸往。曷之用，二簋可用享。
Real sincerity here brings the highest good fortune and leaves nothing to fault. One can stay the course, and moving forward is favorable. What does this require? Even a simple offering, two plain bowls, is enough.
Initial Nine: Hurry to help once your own work is done -- no fault in that. But weigh honestly how much of yourself you can afford to give.
Nine in the second: Hold to your course; charging ahead now invites trouble. Give nothing of your own integrity away, and you will still find yourself able to help others rise.
Six in the third: Three traveling as one will shed a member along the way; one traveling alone will pick up a partner.
Six in the fourth: Correct your own flaw and the other side will move quickly toward you, glad of it. No fault.
Six in the fifth: Gifts arrive unbidden -- a fortune in tortoise shells so great that nothing could have refused it. Fortune at its height.
Nine at the top: Gain that costs no one else anything carries no blame. Stay steady and fortune holds; action is favored now. Followers gather to you until the line between your household and theirs disappears.