Decrease
Judgment
— I Ching · classical
有孚，元吉，无咎，可贞，利有攸往。曷之用，二簋可用享。
Real sincerity here brings the highest good fortune and leaves nothing to fault. One can stay the course, and moving forward is favorable. What does this require? Even a simple offering, two plain bowls, is enough.
Image
— Great Image
山下有泽，损，君子以惩忿窒欲。
Mountain above, lake below, its waters drawn down to build the height: this is Decrease. The wise person takes it as a cue to check their temper and rein in their appetites.
Six Lines
— Bottom to top
Modern Readings
— Interdisciplinary
Career & Management
Cost reduction, profit-sharing with ecosystem, restraint of internal reporting layers. Short-term P&L looks worse; long-term goodwill and loyalty rise.
Psychology & Cognition
The systems-theoretical version of 'taking the loss is a kind of gain.' Decrease ego and material craving; raise the purity of inner life.
Decision Guidance
Two bowls of sincere sacrifice (er gui) outweigh elaborate ones. Reduce yourself with intention, not depletion. Walk solo to find the true partner.
Integrated Reading
— Structure · timing · relations
Decrease places Keeping Still / Mountain above The Joyous / Lake. Read the lower trigram as the emerging ground and the upper trigram as the field, pressure, or constraint it must answer. The core theme is Decrease · Generous sacrifice · Two-bowl sincerity. Relations: the opposite hexagram shows the shadow/complement (Influence); the inverse shows the other-side view (Increase); the nuclear hexagram shows the hidden internal mechanism (Return).
Line Path
Line path: Initial Nine → Nine in the second → Six in the third → Six in the fourth → Six in the fifth → Nine at the top. Read from bottom to top to see how the situation emerges, develops, crosses thresholds, and resolves.
Reflection Prompt
Am I acting from the proper position of Decrease, or am I being pulled by reducing what should be protected? What is the smallest reversible next move that respects the timing?
Western Parallels
— Cross-cultural
The Stoic preferred indifferent — material reduction without distress; Tim Ferriss's 'low information diet' as personal subtraction; Marie Kondo's tidying as joyful subtraction; the Christian kenosis (self-emptying) tradition; modern minimalism (Joshua Fields Millburn).
· English renderings and modern readings are original editorial writing, cross-checked against public-domain and classical commentary lineages.
· Hexagram Cast does not predict, score, schedule, ward, or recommend rituals.
· Modern inputs are reproducible; traditional casts can be audited line by line from the stored coin/yarrow trace.