Hexagram 41 of 64 · King Wen sequence

Decrease

损 · sǔn

Above: Mountain
Below: Lake

Mountain above the lake: decrease done sincerely — reducing what is below to strengthen what is above, and finding that sincerity carries it.

A bowl is emptied toward the altar: Decrease is the hexagram of deliberate reduction — giving something up, sincerely, and discovering that the sincerity itself carries the venture. Its motto is blunt: two bowls offered instead of three is no fault.

Decrease here is not loss but editing — removing what weakens to strengthen the essential. Its discipline is the sincerity clause: decrease done grudgingly damages; decrease done wholeheartedly, even in hardship, holds. And its practical note: cut fast — three people fleeing a tiger, rather than one alone.

Questions this hexagram asks

What should I reduce to strengthen the essential — and am I doing it wholeheartedly?
What does editing protect that hoarding does not?
Who should I be moving faster with, not slower?

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