I Ching · Hexagram 41
Sǔn: Decrease
The lake at the foot of the mountain gives up its water to keep the heights green. Sun is reducing what is excessive, and the sincere giving that simplifies and strengthens.
- Keywords
- Decrease, simplicity, sacrifice, focus
- Upper trigram
- Mountain (Gen)
- Lower trigram
- Lake (Dui)
- Advice
- Cut back what you don't need; less, offered sincerely, can be enough.
Changing lines
When you cast this hexagram, any changing line is turning into its opposite: yang into yin, or yin into yang. Changing them gives a second hexagram that suggests where things are heading. Hexagram meanings are a starting point for reflection, not predictions.