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Decrease41
Simplify and reduce. Embrace minimalism to gain clarity and focus on what truly matters. Letting go can bring unexpected abundance.
↓ Line 3
In a group, resources may be stretched thin, but solitude can lead to new alliances.
↓ Line 5
External support is assured and unstoppable, leading to great success and prosperity.
↓ Small Restraint9
Focus on the small details and subtle actions. Gentle persistence and restraint will gradually lead you to success.
41 Decrease
Other titles: Decrease, The Symbol of Lessening, Loss, Diminishing, Reduction, Diminution of Excesses, Decline, Bringing into Balance, Dynamic Balance, Sacrifice, "Not necessarily material loss. Can mean decreasing the lower self to increase the higher." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Compensating Sacrifice means that sincerely maintained rectitude brings great success. Action is appropriate if one's sacrifice is sincere -- even two baskets of grain, though there be nothing else, may be offered.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Decrease combined with sincerity brings about supreme good fortune without blame. One may be persevering in this. It furthers one to undertake something. How is this to be carried out? One may use two small bowls for the sacrifice.
Blofeld: Loss accompanied by confidence -- sublime good fortune and no error! It is favorable to have in view some goal (or destination). If there is doubt as to what to use for the sacrifice, two small bowls will suffice.
Liu:Decrease with sincerity: great good fortune, no blame. One may continue. It is beneficial to go somewhere. How can this (decrease with sincerity) be done? One may use two bamboo containers of grain for a sacrifice.
Ritsema/Karcher: Diminishing, possessing conformity. Spring significant. Without fault, permitting Trial. Harvesting: possessing directed going. Asking-why: having availing of. Two platters permit availing-of presenting. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of sacrifice and loss. It emphasizes that lessening yourself and decreasing your involvements is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: There is a return; prime auspiciousness; there is no trouble. It can be determined. Beneficial to have someplace to go. Why use two tureens; you can use aromatic grass.
Cleary (1): Reduction with sincerity is very auspicious, impeccable. It should be correct. It is beneficial to go somewhere. What is the use of the two bowls? They can be used to receive.
Cleary (2): … It is beneficial to have somewhere to go, etc … They can be used for presentation.
Wu: Loss indicates that with confidence there will be great fortune, no error, perseverance, and advantage to have undertakings. What to use in offerings? Two boxes of grain are adequate.
The Image
Legge: The image of a mountain and beneath it the waters of a marsh form Compensating Sacrifice. The superior man, in accordance with this, restrains his wrath and represses his desires.
Wilhelm/Baynes: At the foot of the mountain, the lake: the image of Decrease. Thus the superior man controls his anger and restrains his instincts.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a marshy lake at the foot of a mountain. The Superior Man keeps his anger under control and is moderate in his desires.
Liu: The lake beside the mountain symbolizes Decrease. The superior man curbs his indignation and restricts his desires.
Ritsema/Karcher: Below mountain possessing marsh. Diminishing. A chun tzu uses curbing anger to block the appetites.
Cleary (1): There is a lake under a mountain, reducing it. Thus does the superior person eliminate wrath and cupidity.
Cleary (2): Lake below a mountain – Reducing. Thus do developed people eliminate anger and greed.
Wu: There is a marsh below the mountain; this is Loss. Thus the jun zi mitigates his anger and restrains his desires.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Compensating Sacrificethe lower trigram is diminished to increase the upper, and the flow is upward. The two baskets of grain accord with the time. There is a time when the strong should be diminished and the weak strengthened. Decrease and increase, overflowing and emptiness, take place in harmony with the demands of the time.
Legge: Ch'eng-tzu says: "Every diminution and repression of what we have in excess to bring it into accordance with right and reason is comprehended under Compensating Sacrifice. If there is sincerity in doing this it will lead to success and happiness, and even if the offering is small, yet it will be accepted."
The K'ang-hsi editors say: "What is meant by diminishing in this hexagram is the regulation of expenditure or contribution according to the time. This would vary in a family according to its poverty or wealth, and in a state according to the abundance or scantiness of its resources. If one supplements the insufficiency of his offering with the abundance of his sincerity, the insignificance of his two baskets will not be despised."
The waters of a marsh are continually rising up in vapor to bedew the hill above it, and thus increase its verdure. What is taken from the marsh gives increase to the hill.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: A sacrifice creates equilibrium.
The Superior Man sacrifices his appetites to a higher principle.
The traditional name for this hexagram is Decrease, but the lines and commentary all describe a compensating exchange of forces to attain equilibrium. The idea of "sacrifice" is mentioned in the Judgment, and that also might make a good title, though the image of two baskets of grain suggests a balancing scale: a "compensating" device. In this hexagram, the flow of energy moves from below upwards -- the waters of the lake or marsh are dispersed to enrich the mountain. In psychological terms we think of the ego sacrificing or decreasing its autonomy to achieve psychic equilibrium with the Self: we forfeit something valuable to obtain something even more valuable. Without this quid pro quo, the concept of sacrifice is meaningless and irrational.
A sacrifice is meant to be a loss, so that one may be sure that the egoistic claim no longer exists. Therefore the gift should be given as if it were being destroyed. But since the gift represents myself, I have in that case destroyed myself, given myself away without expectation of return. Yet, looked at in another way, this intentional loss is also a gain, for if you can give yourself it proves that you possess yourself. Nobody can give what he has not got. Jung -- Transformation Symbolism in the Mass
Compare the Image message from hexagram number 15, Temperance with the notion of a compensating balance: "The superior man, in accordance with this, diminishes his excesses to augment his insufficiencies, thus creating a just balance." We are reminded of another "Temperance" -- the 14th Arcanum of the Tarot, which depicts an angel pouring water from one vessel into another: "compensating." A comparison of its symbolism with that of hexagram number 41 yields many insights:
The Path of ... TEMPERANCE, leads from ... the Personality [ego] to the Higher Self ... The whole experience is one of preparation of the Personality [ego], and the body in which it is operating, to deal with an influx of Light which would be devastating to a system unready to handle such energy. Most important here is the monitoring of progress, the continual testing from above. It is the angel here which is at once the Higher Self and the initiatory forces of Nature, which pours the elixir from vase to vase. This is an ongoing process of testing; measuring to see how much the physical vehicle can bear. R. Wang --The Qabalistic Tarot
Without belaboring the point, we can see that all sacrifice is a kind of remuneration: it couldn't be otherwise in an interconnected universe. The Image instruction for the superior man to “control his anger” is also echoed in the Temperance card. This relates to:
...an aspect of the Mysteries only rarely discussed, and certainly germane to the Twenty-Fifth Path [the Kabbalistic equivalent of the relationship between lines one and four in this hexagram]: this is the very real hostility often felt by the student toward the Path itself, as he works day after day and seems to be getting nowhere. Such hostility and frustration is in itself a major test; it is part and parcel of the work prior to the emergence of inner proofs. -- Ibid
"Decrease with sincerity" (Liu) refers to one's continuous sacrifice for the goals of the Work, and "curbing anger" (Ritsema/Karcher) is how one handles the archetypal forces evoked when the decrease seems endless and you've yet to receive anything in return. Like any other hexagram, Compensating Sacrifice can symbolize an infinity of possible situations, but psychologically speaking we can first regard it as an image of sacrifice for the purpose of attaining a balance of power within the psyche. Without the sacrificial devotion of the ego, the Self cannot attain its will; and if the Self can't make it, the ego is doomed by default.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows how of three men walking together, the number is diminished by one; and how one, walking, finds his friend.
Wilhelm/Baynes: When three people journey together, their number decreases by one. When one man journeys alone, he finds a companion.
Blofeld: If three set forth together now, one will be lost on the way; whereas one man going forth alone will find company.
Liu: Three people walking together will lose one. When one walks alone, he will meet a friend.
Ritsema/Karcher: Three people moving, by-consequence Diminishing the-one-person. The-one-person moving. By-consequence acquiring one's friend.
Shaughnessy: If three men move then they will decrease by one man; if one man moves then he will obtain his friend.
Cleary (1): Three people traveling are reduced by one person; one person traveling finds a companion.
Cleary (2): … One person traveling gets companionship.
Wu: When three persons walk, one will be left out. When one walks alone, he will find a friend.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: When three are together, doubts arise among them. Wilhelm/Baynes: If a person should seek to journey as one of three, mistrust would arise. Blofeld: It is well to travel alone now, as three would give rise to suspicion. Ritsema/Karcher: Three by-consequence doubting indeed. Cleary (2): When one person travels, three then doubt. Wu: Three would create doubts.
The Master said: "Heaven and earth come together, and all things take shape and find form. Male and female mix their seed, and all creatures take shape and are born. In the Book of Changes it is said: `When three people journey together, their number decreases by one. When one man journeys alone, he finds a companion.' This refers to the effect of becoming one."
Legge: Chu Hsi says that the lower trigram was originally three yang lines, like "three men" walking together, and that the third line was removed and made into the topmost line of the upper trigram which was originally three yin lines. This exchange of places between lines three and six maintains their proper correlation and suggests the proper pairing of affinities. The K'ang-hsi editors observe that this line is true not only of three men, but of many repetitions of thought or action.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: A close bond is possible only between two persons. A group of three engenders jealousy. The lone man finds a complementary companion.
Wing: The closest bonds are now possible only between two persons. Groups of three create jealousy and mistrust and will eventually splinter. Yet someone who remains alone becomes lonely and will seek a companion. It is time to strike a proper balance.
Editor: The original condition described by Chu Hsi is an image of hexagram number eleven, Harmony, which represents the correct union of male and female forces. Psychologically the Syzygy archetype is suggested: the proper pairing of male and female which is seen in its supreme state in the hieros gamos or holy marriage. (See commentary on hexagram eleven for further detail.) A dialectical process is also implied.
God unfolds himself in the world in the form of syzygies (paired opposites), such as heaven/earth, day/night, male/female, etc ... At the end of this fragmentation process there follows the return to the beginning, the consummation of the universe through purification and annihilation. Jung -- Aion
A. The image suggests a sorting-out of affinities to attain balance or unity. Forces are seeking their natural level.
B. "Birds of a feather flock together."
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows parties adding to the stores of its subject ten pairs of tortoise shells, and accepting no refusal. There will be great good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Someone does indeed increase him. Ten pairs of tortoises cannot oppose it. Supreme good fortune.
Blofeld: There was one who enriched him to the extent of ten PENG of tortoise shells (2,100 of them) and who would accept no refusal -- sublime good fortune!
Liu: He is enriched by twenty tortoises and he cannot refuse. Great good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Maybe augmenting's ten: partnering's tortoise. Nowhere a controlling contradiction. Spring significant.
Shaughnessy: Increasing it by ten double-strands of turtles; you cannot deflect it; prime auspiciousness.
Cleary (1): One is given a profit of ten pairs of tortoise shells. None can oppose. Very auspicious.
Wu: He may be presented with ten pairs of tortoise shells and may not decline the gift. This is great fortune.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This is due to the blessing from above. Wilhelm/Baynes: The supreme good fortune comes from its being blessed from above. Blofeld: Good fortune coming from those above. Ritsema/Karcher: Originating-from shielding above indeed. Cleary (2): Help from above. Wu: He has been blessed from heaven.
Legge: Line five is the seat of the ruler, who is here humble, and welcomes the assistance of her correlate in line two. She is a ruler whom all her subjects of ability will rejoice to serve in every possible way, and the result will be great good fortune.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Fate has marked the man for good fortune. Nothing opposes him. He needs fear nothing.
Wing: You are marked by fate. Nothing stands in the way of this. It comes about through refined inner forces that have led you into this situation. Fear nothing. Good fortune.
Editor: The most ancient method of divination in China involved the use of tortoise shells (Plastromancy). The yarrow stalk and coin methods didn't come into vogue until after King Wen committed the I Ching to writing. At the time that this line was composed then, to receive ten pairs of tortoise shells was a very numinous gift -- perhaps equivalent to "having God on your side.” The "blessing from above” is mentioned by some commentators as a reference to the oracles obtained through divining with the tortoise shells, and could be construed as an endorsement of your interpretative skills. This line changes the hexagram to number sixty-one,Inner Truth, the corresponding line of which expresses the idea of a beneficial synthesis of forces.
Good fortune is a god among men, and more than a god. Aeschylus
A. A great reward -- the context of your query will tell you what it is.
B. Beneficial energy is on its way.
9 Small Restraint
Other titles: The Taming Power of the Small, The Symbol of Small restraint, The Lesser Nourisher, Taming the Small Powers, Small Accumulating, Small Harvest, Small Obstruction, Nurturance by the Small, Restraint by the Weak, Restrained, Minor Restraint, The Weak Force, The Force of the Small, Weak Forces Restrain Strong Forces "The restraint is small, success follows. Overcoming something small which is poisoning or nagging. Partially relieving a situation. Influencing that which one cannot change.” -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Passive Restraint brings about progress and success. We see dense clouds, but no rain coming from our western borders.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The Taming Power of the Small has success. Dense clouds, no rain from our western region.
Blofeld: The Lesser Nourisher. Success! Dense clouds giving forth no rain approach from the western outskirts. [On the whole, this hexagram presages good for us. The wind blowing across the heavens does not have the nourishing virtues of rain, but it refreshes us and makes us feel better. Thus, if things are going reasonably well with us, we may expect an improvement, especially in the future when, presumably, the nourishing rain will fall. However, as lines three and six indicate, if we are in serious trouble, we must not expect much help from the rather mild good fortune that is blowing our way. The conception of something weak or yielding bringing great benefit has been greatly developed by the Taoists who, as though they were familiar with judo, recognize the strength to be found in softness and the dangerous weakness sometimes occasioned by too much strength. The name of this hexagram understood somewhat differently may also be taken to mean that the time is propitious for undertaking additional activity or the care of the young.]
Liu: Taming the Small Powers: success. Thick clouds come from the west. No rain. [This situation symbolizes the preparation which precedes a new development.]
Ritsema/Karcher:Small Accumulating, Growing. Shrouding clouds, not raining. Originating-from my Western suburbs. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of a variety of seemingly unconnected events and impulses. It emphasizes that retaining and hoarding these experiences through adapting to them is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Small Harvest:Receipt; dense clouds do not rain from our western pasture.
Cleary (1):Nurturance by the small is developmental. Dense clouds do not rain, proceeding from one’s own western province.
Cleary (2): At small obstruction, nurturing the small succeeds… (etc.)
Wu:Restraint of the Small indicates pervasiveness. There are dense clouds, but no rain coming from our western countryside.
The Image
Legge: The image of the sky with the wind moving above it forms Passive Restraint. The superior man, in accordance with this, adorns the outward manifestation of his virtue.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The wind drives across heaven: the image of The Taming Power of the Small. Thus the superior man refines the outward aspect of his nature.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes wind blowing across the sky. The Superior Man displays his scholarly accomplishments.
Liu: The wind blows across the sky, symbolizing Taming the Small Powers. The superior man improves his ability and virtue.
Ritsema/Karcher: Wind moving above heaven. Small Accumulating. A chun tzu uses highlighting the pattern to actualize-tao.[Actualize-tao: ...ability to follow the course traced by the ongoing process of the cosmos... Linked with acquire, TE: acquiring that which makes a being become what it is meant to be.]
Cleary (1): Wind blowing up in the sky is small nurturance; thus do superior people beautify cultured qualities.
Cleary (2): Wind moving up in the sky, nurturing the small. Thus do leaders beautify cultured qualities.
Wu: The wind blows in the sky above; this is Restraint of the Small. Thus the jun zi refines his splendorous virtue.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In the ninth hexagram the magnetic line takes her proper place, and all the lines above and below obey her -- hence the name Passive Restraint. The figure is composed of the trigrams of Strength plus Flexibility. Dynamic lines occupy the central places, and their will is accomplished -- this means progress and success. Dense clouds but no rain depict the advancing dynamic lines, but their source in the west shows that their beneficial influence has yet to be felt.
Legge: The symbolism of the hexagram Passive Restraint is taken from the magnetic line in the fourth place which holds all of the dynamic lines in restraint. This is because the fourth place is properly passive (magnetic), and the response of the other lines is therefore one of submission to her authority.
The second sentence of the Judgment indicates the time and place of King Wen whose homeland was the western portion of China in the twelfth century B.C. Rain coming and moistening the ground causes the luxuriant growth of the natural world, and symbolizes the blessings which flow from good government. Therefore from the west, the hereditary territory of the legendary author of the I Ching, come the blessings which might enrich the whole kingdom. Here, however, they are somehow restrained -- the dense clouds do not yet empty their stores. Ch'eng-tzu, Wang Feng, and other scholars say, in effect: Dense clouds should give rain. That they exist without doing so shows the restraining influence of the hexagram at work. But the dynamic influence of the other lines still continues, and the rain will eventually fall. The wind moves in the sky and then ceases -- it can restrain for a time, but not indefinitely.
Cleary (1): Being strong, yet acting submissively, the submissiveness subdues the strength, and strength cannot act on its own. The heart grows daily humbler, while the virtue grows daily higher. One can thereby gradually get to the realm of sages. This is why nurturance by the small is developmental.
Cleary (2): When you encounter situations that obstruct you and bog you down, if you do not get resentful or bitter, but just nurture yourself to digest them, you will be successful … Indeed, events and situations that formerly obstructed you can become means of self-development; this is how you succeed …This line (Sic) indicates the value of not grabbing for easy success and the value of long-term results.
Wu:Restraint of the Small means literally small accumulation or small restraint. “Small” is another name for yin. “Small accumulation” or “small restraint” can also mean accumulation or restraint of the yin … When there are clouds, but no rain, it means that something has intervened and prevented the cycle from completion ... The judgment simply means: Many factors can derail a potential success and we should weigh them carefully before making a decision.
Anthony: Our influence is limited by the circumstances… We should avoid ambition to make progress as this exerts a negative pressure on people. It also indicates that we do not yet trust our path of non-action or the power of truth to change the situation…
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Power is accumulated by gently withholding its expression.
The Superior Man transforms his insights into components of his conscious will. Or: He works on his outer, conscious (as opposed to inner, unconscious), awareness. Or: He lives his beliefs.
Wilhelm's translation of the title of this hexagram is The Taming Power of the Small. I have substitutedPassive Restraintas a phrase more compatible with contemporary English. The titles rendered by the other translators, in my opinion, do not convey the meaning of the hexagram: Liu's Taming the Small Powers even seems diametrically opposed to it, though it is obvious that the title has multiple meanings. In describing the action of the trigrams in this hexagram, Wilhelm conveys its essential meaning. (From Lectures on the I Ching):
The function of wind is to tame creative forces, to accumulate these and to make them visible. It is exceedingly difficult to understand this relationship of forces, because the power used here is not expressed with might, but it is the softest, gentlest, force imaginable. Wind is the least visible of all phenomena, and this invisible wind is now needed to concentrate that which strives upward, the strongest of all phenomena ... The unconscious acts and creates as it must, and we should submit to the surgings of its waves. Only in the peripheral region, in the small free zone of consciousness, can work be taken up each day, and whatever needs refining can be refined. This is not superfluous work. Although this small zone of consciousness and freedom is only a thin rind, its contact with the forces of the unconscious is vigorous ... Hence, that which is seemingly small and insignificant is, after all, the power that succeeds in taming chaos by means of steady work and perseverance.
Lines one through four of the ninth hexagram show different forms of restraint during a time of building tension. The dark clouds are accumulating, and we know that eventually the rain will fall and the tension will be released. Rain always symbolizes a union between Heaven and Earth in the I Ching,which in turn means a synthesis of some sort. In the present instance, the synthesis is still building, and although the tension seems to demand action we are counseled to remain still. The magnetic force must hold the overwhelming pressure of the dynamic forces in check.
The fifth line depicts the focal point at which the forces are gathered, and the sixth line shows the restraint necessary to allow the new transformation to stabilize. If we turn the hexagram over we get Cautious Advance, which depicts a different situation in which very careful action is called for. In the present instance however, no action is correct action.
Through the activity of divine providence, an abundance of blessing descends on the creatures, but this awakening of the power of providence is dependent on the deeds of created beings, on "awakening from below." Gershom Scholem – Kabbalah