Hexagram 41 — Diminishing
King Wen #41 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Sincere decrease. Give up something real now, and the loss becomes gain.
What Hexagram 41 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 41 places lake (兑) beneath mountain (艮) — joy lifting what it touches below, stillness holding its ground above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Diminishing”: sincere decrease. Give up something real now, and the loss becomes gain. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
山下有澤，損；君子以懲忿窒欲。
(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.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
A marsh below the mountain: decrease. The wise curb anger and check desire.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 41 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Diminishing describes sincere decrease. Give up something real now, and the loss becomes gain — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: joy lifting what it touches, held inside a larger setting of stillness holding its ground. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Diminishing about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: sincere decrease. Give up something real now, and the loss becomes gain. When lines move in your cast, read them against this base — the moving lines show which part of the figure is awake for you, and the changed hexagram shows where it is heading.
Questions About Hexagram 41
What does 損 (sǔn) mean?
Hexagram 41 of the I Ching is named 損 (sǔn), usually rendered "Diminishing" in English editions. Its figure is built from lake (兑) below and mountain (艮) above — joy lifting what it touches beneath stillness holding its ground.
Is hexagram 41 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 41 is warm: it contains 3 occurrences of 吉 (good fortune), 1 of 凶 (misfortune), and 4 of 無咎 (no blame). The classical verdict is broadly favourable — with the lines' own conditions attached.
What does hexagram 41 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Diminishing points to sincere decrease. Give up something real now, and the loss becomes gain. The figure pairs lake (兑) beneath mountain (艮) — joy lifting what it touches meeting stillness holding its ground — which is the traditional picture of how this energy behaves between two people. For how to phrase a love question before casting, see our guide to asking the I Ching about love.
What does hexagram 41 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Diminishing through the figure itself: lake (兑) below, mountain (艮) above — joy lifting what it touches held inside stillness holding its ground. The plain reading: Sincere decrease. Give up something real now, and the loss becomes gain. The text carries 3 mentions of 吉 (good fortune) and 1 of 凶 (misfortune), so it is read as workable — provided the conduct the lines describe is kept.
What do the changing lines of hexagram 41 mean?
A cast of hexagram 41 can produce moving lines. Each of the six lines has its own statement (爻辭) in the classical text below, read from the bottom up, and a moving line is read as the part of the figure that is awake for your question. When a line moves it turns into its opposite, and the whole figure becomes a second hexagram: changing every line of 41 gives hexagram 31, 咸 (Conjoining). Every line also has a page of its own on this site — Line 1 through Line 6 under this hexagram — with the classical Chinese and Legge's translation side by side.
How is hexagram 41 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 41 gives hexagram 31 — 咸 (Conjoining). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 42 — 益 (Augmenting). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 24 — 復 (Returning).
Cast it yourself
Shake the tube, watch your own coins fall.
- The hexagram's classical meaning — judgment and all six lines
- Moving lines marked — but not read for you
- No account, no email, nothing to pay
Get the reading, not just the text
Same cast, read all the way through:
- Every line read for you — what each moving line means inside your question
- The changed hexagram — where your situation is heading, and how to read the turn
- A closing that answers you directly — act, wait, or say it out loud
New to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
The Classical Text 經文
有孚，元吉，無咎，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.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
已事遄往，無咎；酌損之。
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).
利貞，征凶；弗損益之。
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
三人行，則損一人；一人行，則得其友。
The third SIX, divided, shows how of three men walking together, the number is diminished by one; and how one, walking, finds his friend.
損其疾，使遄有喜，無咎。
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.
或益之十朋之龜，弗克違，元吉。
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.
弗損益之，無咎。貞吉，利有攸往，得臣無家。
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.
Line by Line 逐爻细读
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text.2 The Image (象傳) is an ancient text in the public domain; its plain-English gloss here is original to The Hexagrams, not a quotation from any copyrighted edition. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.