Sun · Decrease

The meaning

What the name means Sun is decrease, giving something up.

The picture A lake under a mountain, its water slowly drawn off by the mountain, less below and more above.

The sense of the whole The whole hexagram is about giving up and getting. Sometimes less is the real gain: take away what is surplus and unnecessary and keep what is sincere and most important.

In plain words: what this hexagram says

Less is better. Cut the excess wanting and spending, and what is left is what really helps.

The upper trigram is Mountain and the lower is Lake: Mountain above, Lake below. When you read it, first picture the two together as a scene, then set it against the original below. The plain words speak only of stance and do not foretell.

The judgement

有孚，元吉，無咎，可貞，利有攸往。曷之用？二簋可用享。

The image

山下有澤，損；君子以懲忿窒欲。

The six lines

From the bottom up, the first line is the lowest. When you cast this hexagram and a line is changing, read the matching one. The original is classical Chinese.

1. 初九已事遄往，無咎；酌損之。
2. 九二利貞，徵兇，弗損益之。
3. 六三三人行，則損一人；一人行，則得其友。
4. 六四損其疾，使遄有喜，無咎。
5. 六五或益之十朋之龜，弗克違，元吉。
6. 上九弗損益之，無咎，貞吉，利有攸往，得臣無家。

To learn how to read a hexagram, see "How to read a hexagram"; for changing lines, see "Changing lines and the resulting hexagram".