In love
As a couple, Sun emphasizes giving with no account to settle: give up a demand, offer a simple gesture, without expecting an immediate return.
Hexagram 41
I Ching hexagram 41: Decrease (Sun)
Sun means decrease, a lightening you choose: removing the superfluous, giving sincerely, and keeping what is essential.
- lightening
- chosen sacrifice
- sincerity
The essentials
Sun at a glance
For you, Sun invites you to lighten up: giving less, but more truly, keeps the essential and can make room for what comes back.
A strength
A chosen simplicity that frees: knowing what is too much lets you give better.
Something to watch
Depriving yourself out of duty or calculation: a lightening that is not sincere exhausts without freeing anything.
- What it advises
- Remove the superfluous without bitterness, give modestly but sincerely, and preserve the essential.
- Its opposite
- 31. Influence (Xian)
The situation
Sun places the Lake beneath the Mountain: water hollows out the base of the height, the low gives to the high. The Judgment says that if sincerity is present, the good outcome is great, without fault, and every movement becomes passable.
It adds a modest image: two small baskets of grain are enough for an offering. What counts is not the quantity, but the quality of the intention.
The hexagram invites you to tell what can be lightened without harm from what must be protected, and to give willingly, without making it a bargain.
The image: the Mountain above the Lake
- AboveMountain: the stillness that steadies
- BelowLake: joy that is shared
The Lake beneath the Mountain: the low hollowing itself so the high may rise. The Great Image reads in it a personal discipline: restrain your anger and curb your desires.
Consult the I Ching
Throw three coins six times: your hexagram, the lines that change, and the direction they point to.
Free, no account · nothing is sent · no predictions
The six lines
- 1st line (bottom) · solidSetting your own affairs aside to rush to help another: no fault, but you must gauge what you can give without stripping yourself.
- 2nd line · solidStaying firm is advantageous, rushing ahead would be unfortunate: you can give to the other without taking anything away from yourself.
- 3rd line · brokenThree people walk together, one is too many and leaves; the one who walks alone finds a companion. Union is measured by two.
- 4th line · brokenEasing what troubles by bringing the other quickly and making them glad: no fault. Help that arrives in time.
- 5th line · brokenTen pairs of tortoise shells are added for you, with no refusal accepted: very great good fortune, help flows toward whoever knows how to receive it.
- 6th line (top) · solidGiving to others without taking from yourself: no fault, integrity leads to the good outcome, and many supports appear.
Sun in your life
At work
In your activity, Sun invites you to simplify: remove tasks, tighten objectives, and concentrate your energy on what truly carries.
The I Ching helps you reflect on how to act: it does not say what is coming.
How is it built?
- Character
- 損 (sǔn)
- Number
- 41 in the King Wen sequence
- Trigrams
- Mountain (艮) above, Lake (兌) below
- Inner hexagram
- 24. Return (Fu) (lines 2 to 4 and 3 to 5)
- Read upside down
- 42. Increase (Yi)
- Symbol
- ䷨ (U+4DE8)
The English names are the usual renderings of the Chinese characters; the texts rely on the Chinese and on early public-domain translations (Legge, 1882; Philastre, 1885–1893).
Sources
- Wikipedia (English), “List of hexagrams of the I Ching,” read on October 15, 2026: numbers, characters, pinyin, lower and upper trigrams.
- Wikipedia (English), “Bagua,” read on October 15, 2026: lines of the eight trigrams, from bottom to top.
- James Legge (1815–1897), The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East, vol. XVI, 1882 (Wikisource): public domain.
- Paul-Louis-Félix Philastre (1837–1902), Le Yi King ou Livre des changements de la dynastie des Tsheou, Annales du Musée Guimet, 1885–1893: public domain (the author died more than 70 years ago).
Frequently asked questions about hexagram 41
What does I Ching hexagram 41 mean?
Hexagram 41, Sun, means decrease: a lightening that is chosen and sincere, giving up the superfluous to keep what matters.
Is the decrease of Sun a loss?
Not in the ancient text: it is presented as a gift that, made sincerely, calls for a return afterward. Its counterpart, Yi, Increase, comes right after it.