I Ching Hexagram 41: Decrease - Meaning, Changing Lines and Guidance

I Ching Hexagram 41, Decrease (Sun), is the hexagram of deliberate subtraction: giving something up on purpose so that what matters more can be supported. Lake sits under Mountain, the Judgement allows a sacrifice of two small bowls, and its six changing lines each describe a different way to cut back.

What does I Ching Hexagram 41, Decrease, mean?

I Ching Hexagram 41, Decrease, means giving something up on purpose so that something more important can be supported. The Chinese name is Sun, a character carrying the sense of reducing, diminishing or taking away, and Hexagram 41 treats that reduction as a working method rather than a misfortune. Decrease is not the hexagram of being robbed. It is the hexagram of choosing the cut yourself. The classical Tuan commentary gives the reduction a direction, describing Hexagram 41 as diminishing the lower to augment the upper, so whatever leaves one place is arriving somewhere else rather than evaporating. People who draw Hexagram 41 usually already sense they are overextended, and the answer is that the correction should be voluntary and made early. Two ideas run through the whole text. The first is that sincerity outranks scale, which is why the Judgement permits a sacrifice of two small bowls. The second is that whoever does the decreasing should count the cost falling on other people. Hexagram 41 approves of austerity with a purpose and has nothing good to say about austerity performed for an audience.

Hexagram 41 sits at a hinge in the King Wen order. It follows Hexagram 40, Deliverance, where a tension finally breaks and the pressure comes off, and the traditional Sequence commentary explains that relief costs something, so Decrease follows. That placement shapes the reading: Hexagram 41 is what you do after a crisis passes, when emergency spending, borrowed help and temporary arrangements have to be unwound. The received Zagua commentary pairs Sun and Yi, Decrease and Increase, calling them the beginnings of flourishing and decline, which puts Hexagram 41 at the start of an upswing rather than the end of a good run. The Tuan text adds a note on timing: the two bowls belong to their proper time, and decreasing the firm to increase the yielding has its season. That keeps Hexagram 41 from hardening into permanent thrift. The reduction answers a particular moment and ends when the moment does. Read that way, Hexagram 41 Decrease is closer to a controlled fast than to poverty.

Is Hexagram 41, Decrease, a negative hexagram in the I Ching?

Hexagram 41, Decrease, is not a negative hexagram. Its Judgement promises supreme good fortune and freedom from blame when reduction is joined to sincerity, and it says it furthers one to undertake something. Hexagram 41 turns unfavorable only when the cutting is done resentfully, hidden from the people it affects, or aimed at the wrong thing.

What is the Chinese name of I Ching Hexagram 41?

The Chinese name of I Ching Hexagram 41 is Sun, which English editions title I Ching Decrease and translators also render as Diminishing or Reduction. It should not be confused with Xun, the Wind trigram. Sun covers both the act of reducing and the thing given up.

What single keyword captures the Hexagram 41 meaning?

The keyword that best captures the Hexagram 41 meaning is trimming. Hexagram 41 does not describe collapse or renunciation of the world. It describes removing weight from a structure so the structure keeps standing, which is why translators reach for pruning, retrenchment and simplification when summarizing Sun.

Which trigrams form Hexagram 41, and why does Lake under Mountain produce Decrease?

Hexagram 41, Decrease, is built from Gen, Keeping Still, Mountain, in the upper trigram and Dui, the Joyous, Lake, in the lower trigram. Counting from the bottom the lines are solid, solid, broken, broken, broken, solid. The combination produces Decrease because of what a lake and a mountain do to each other. Water at the foot of a mountain erodes the base, quietly removing material from the thing above it, while the mountain bears down and confines the water so it cannot spread. Each reduces the other, and neither reduction is violent. Dui is the trigram of pleasure, appetite and the mouth, so what sits underneath in Hexagram 41 is desire. Gen is the trigram of stopping, of the boundary that does not move. Placing Gen over Dui sets a fixed limit on top of appetite, which is the structural reason Hexagram 41 reads as self-restraint rather than deprivation imposed from outside. The lake is not drained. It is held at a level. That separates Hexagram 41 from hexagrams of real hardship: nothing is destroyed, something is contained.

Line structure supplies a second explanation that commentators consider the more technical one. Hexagram 41 is read as derived from Hexagram 11, Peace, where three solid lines sit under three broken lines. Move the solid line from the third place of Peace up to the top and Hexagram 41 appears: the lower trigram loses a yang line and the upper trigram gains one. That is what the Tuan commentary means by diminishing the lower to augment the upper, and it explains the faint note of unfairness the text keeps addressing. Something strong has been taken from the base and given to the top, and the lines of Hexagram 41 spend much of their space managing that imbalance. Practically, the Gen over Dui image tells you where the restraint should sit. Do not attack the pleasure itself. Put a ceiling above it. Hexagram 41 favors a limit on spending over a vow of poverty.

What is the trigram order in Hexagram 41, Decrease?

In Hexagram 41, Decrease, Gen, Mountain, is the upper trigram and Dui, Lake, is the lower trigram, which is why the image is the lake at the foot of the mountain. Reversing the order gives a different figure: Dui over Gen produces Hexagram 31, Influence, not Hexagram 41.

Why is Dui, the Lake, the trigram reduced in Hexagram 41?

Dui is reduced in Hexagram 41 because it holds the lower position, and the Tuan commentary states that Decrease diminishes the lower to augment the upper. Dui also governs appetite and enjoyment, making it the natural candidate for trimming when a situation needs to be lightened.

How do the six lines of Hexagram 41 read from bottom to top?

Hexagram 41 reads solid, solid, broken, broken, broken, solid from the bottom. Two yang lines form the base, Dui is completed by a broken third line, then two more broken lines, then a single yang line at the top. Only three lines are yang, and the top one received what the base gave up.

What does the Judgement of Hexagram 41, Decrease, say?

The Judgement of Hexagram 41, Decrease, states that Decrease combined with sincerity brings supreme good fortune without blame, that one may be persevering in this, that it furthers one to undertake something, and then asks how this is to be carried out before answering that one may use two small bowls for the sacrifice. Every clause does work. Sincerity is the condition attached to the good fortune, so the reduction only pays if the person making it is honest about why. Perseverance is permitted, so Hexagram 41 is not a one-day gesture but a policy you can hold. The permission to undertake something is what readers most often miss: Hexagram 41 does not tell you to stop and wait, it tells you to cut and then move. Ritual offerings were expected to be generous, and Hexagram 41 authorizes a stripped-down version instead, accepted because what is measured is the intent behind it. As guidance, the Judgement says a smaller contribution given openly beats a large one financed by strain or pretense.

The Tuan commentary expands the two bowls with a remark about timing, saying the two bowls should have their time and that decreasing the firm and increasing the yielding also has its time. This is the strongest safeguard in Hexagram 41, since without it the hexagram could be read as endorsing permanent minimalism. The lean offering is correct for a lean season, and when the season turns so does the appropriate scale. A second detail matters: the Judgement never names the amount as the problem. It asks how the decrease is carried out, which makes Hexagram 41 a hexagram about method. The answer is that you choose one clean, visible reduction and declare it, rather than shaving a little from everything and hoping nobody notices. Two small bowls are conspicuous. They announce the new scale instead of disguising it, and that openness is what the sincerity clause protects.

What does sincerity mean in the Judgement of Hexagram 41?

Sincerity in the Judgement of Hexagram 41 means the reduction is genuine and openly acknowledged rather than performed. Someone cutting back while implying they could easily afford more has not met the condition Hexagram 41 attaches to its promise of good fortune.

Does the Judgement of Hexagram 41 allow you to start new projects?

Yes. The Hexagram 41 Judgement says it furthers one to undertake something, so Decrease is compatible with launching. The order matters: trim first, then commit the freed capacity. Hexagram 41 does not treat reduction as a reason to postpone action.

Why does the Judgement of Hexagram 41 mention a sacrifice?

The Judgement of Hexagram 41 mentions a sacrifice because a ritual offering was the clearest example of a cost that could not be skipped but could be scaled. Naming two small bowls shows the obligation honored at reduced size.

What is the Image of Hexagram 41, Decrease, and what does it ask of you?

The Image of Hexagram 41, Decrease, reads that at the foot of the mountain lies the lake, and that the superior person accordingly controls anger and restrains the instincts. It is one of the most personal Images in the book, turning inward before saying anything about resources. Anger and appetite are the two things named for decrease, and both come straight from the trigrams. Dui, the Lake, is pleasure and craving, the part of a person that wants more. Gen, the Mountain, is stopping, so anger becomes the thing to be checked and held. The Image says the first item on the reduction list is not money or obligations but your own reactivity. Practitioners read this as a diagnostic order: before cutting an expense or ending a commitment, examine whether irritation is driving the cut, because a reduction made while angry removes the wrong thing. Hexagram 41 wants the cut made from a settled state, and the mountain over the lake is the picture of that state, weight resting on desire without smashing it.

The two verbs in the Image are not identical and translations preserve the difference. Anger is controlled or checked, treated as a flare that must be caught in the moment. Instincts or desires are restrained, which implies ongoing containment rather than a single interception. That gives Hexagram 41 two distinct practices. One is fast and situational: do not send the message while the heat is on you. The other is slow and structural: set the ceiling, then live under it. Both decrease something belonging to you rather than to somebody else, since Hexagram 41 keeps steering the questioner toward reductions they control. There is a further reason the Image lands on anger. Where the lower has been diminished to augment the upper, resentment is the predictable emotion, because whoever absorbed the cut has a grievance available. Hexagram 41 heads that off by making management of the grievance the practical task, since resentment carried forward spends more of your resources than the original reduction did.

Why does the Image of Hexagram 41 single out anger?

The Image of Hexagram 41 singles out anger because it is the cost most easily overlooked in a decrease. When something has been taken from the base to supply the top, the person who gave it up carries a grievance, and Hexagram 41 makes that grievance the next thing to reduce.

What does the lake at the foot of the mountain describe in Hexagram 41?

The lake at the foot of the mountain in Hexagram 41 describes mutual wearing away. The water erodes the mountain's base while the mountain confines the water, so each holds the other down. It pictures the steady, undramatic reduction Hexagram 41 recommends for any cut.

Does the Image of Hexagram 41 apply to physical appetite?

Yes. The Image of Hexagram 41 restrains the instincts, and Dui, the trigram of the mouth and of pleasure, sits directly beneath the mountain. Readers apply Hexagram 41 to eating and consumption questions, where its guidance is a fixed ceiling held calmly rather than an aggressive purge.

What do the six Hexagram 41 changing lines mean individually?

The six Hexagram 41 changing lines each describe a different way of giving something up, moving from helping others to receiving help. Nine at the beginning says going quickly when your own tasks are finished is without blame, but that you must consider how much you may decrease others. Nine in the second place says perseverance furthers, that undertaking something brings misfortune, and that without decreasing oneself one can bring increase to others. Six in the third place says that when three people journey together their number decreases by one, and that one journeying alone finds a companion. Six in the fourth place says that if a person decreases their faults, the other hastens to come and rejoice, without blame. Six in the fifth place says someone does indeed increase him, that ten pairs of tortoises cannot oppose it, and that this brings supreme good fortune. Nine at the top says that being increased without depriving others is without blame, that perseverance brings good fortune, that it furthers one to undertake something, and that one obtains servants but no longer has a separate home.

The turn in Hexagram 41 happens at six in the fourth place, and it changes what the hexagram is asking you to reduce. The three lower lines deal with material and effort: how fast to help, how much of yourself to spend, how many people the venture can carry. From the fourth line upward the subject shifts to character and reception. Line four decreases faults rather than assets and the other comes gladly. Line five receives support so certain that consultation cannot contradict. Line six is increased without anyone being stripped, resolving the imbalance the hexagram opened with. That progression is the argument of Hexagram 41 in miniature: reduce your obligations, then reduce your defects, and the increase arrives on its own. Two lines carry warnings and both concern proportion. Nine at the beginning warns against generosity that drains the person you are helping. Nine in the second warns against emptying yourself, the most common way readers misapply Decrease.

What does nine in the second place of Hexagram 41 warn against?

Nine in the second place of Hexagram 41 warns against giving yourself away. It says undertaking something brings misfortune and that one increases others without decreasing oneself, which stops Decrease from being read as self-erasure. Changing, it produces Hexagram 27, The Corners of the Mouth, the hexagram of nourishment.

What does the three travelers line in Hexagram 41 mean?

Six in the third place of Hexagram 41 says three journeying together lose one, while one journeying alone finds a companion. It describes the arithmetic of partnership: a crowded arrangement sheds a member, a solitary person attracts one. Changing, it gives Hexagram 26, The Taming Power of the Great, so the smaller unit holds more concentrated strength.

Why is nine at the top the resolution of Hexagram 41?

Nine at the top resolves Hexagram 41 by describing increase gained without depriving anyone, cancelling the imbalance created when the lower was diminished to augment the upper. It grants good fortune and adds that one gains helpers but no longer keeps a separate household. Changing, it gives Hexagram 19, Approach.

What are the nuclear and opposite hexagrams of Hexagram 41, Decrease?

The nuclear hexagram of Hexagram 41, Decrease, is Hexagram 24, Return, and the opposite hexagram is Hexagram 31, Influence. The nuclear figure is built from the inner lines: lines two, three and four of Hexagram 41 form Zhen, Thunder, and lines three, four and five form Kun, Earth, giving Earth over Thunder, which is Hexagram 24. That hidden core matters because Return is the hexagram of the turning point, the single yang line reappearing at the bottom after decline. It says the inside of Decrease is a recovery already in progress, which is why practitioners refuse to read Hexagram 41 as a downward story. The opposite hexagram, produced by inverting every line of Hexagram 41, is Hexagram 31, Influence, with Mountain below and Lake above. That reversal shows what Decrease holds back: attraction without a ceiling. Hexagram 41 also has an inverse partner formed by turning the figure upside down, which gives Hexagram 42, Increase. Between Return, Influence and Increase, Hexagram 41 is surrounded by figures of renewal, none of them figures of ruin.

The nuclear Return is what experienced readers reach for when someone receives Hexagram 41 during a genuinely lean period and hears only bad news in it. Hexagram 24 describes the solstice moment when the light comes back, and it says friends arrive without blame and the movement returns on schedule. Finding that concealed inside Decrease reframes the whole hexagram: the reduction is not the end of a cycle but the quiet bottom of one. It also explains the confidence of the Judgement, which promises supreme good fortune to a hexagram whose name means diminishing. The relationship with Hexagram 42, Increase, works from outside on the same principle. Hexagram 41 diminishes the lower to augment the upper, Hexagram 42 diminishes the upper to augment the lower, so whichever you draw the transfer is one event seen from a different seat. Practitioners check which side of that pair a questioner is on, because someone reading Hexagram 41 as pure loss is frequently the beneficiary rather than the source.

How is the nuclear hexagram of Hexagram 41 calculated?

The Hexagram 41 nuclear hexagram is built by taking lines two, three and four as a new lower trigram and lines three, four and five as a new upper trigram. That gives Zhen, Thunder, below and Kun, Earth, above, which is Hexagram 24, Return, the hexagram of the turning point.

What does Hexagram 31 reveal as the opposite of Hexagram 41?

Hexagram 31, Influence, is the opposite of Hexagram 41 and reveals what Decrease restrains. Influence places Lake above Mountain, letting attraction run on top of a stable base. Hexagram 41 inverts that stacking, seating the limit above the appetite, which is why one reads as courtship and the other as restraint.

Are Hexagram 41 and Hexagram 42 read as a pair?

Yes. Hexagram 41, Decrease, and Hexagram 42, Increase, are inverse forms of each other and the tradition reads them together. Hexagram 41 moves resources upward from the base, Hexagram 42 moves them downward from the top, and the Zagua commentary calls the pair the beginnings of flourishing and decline.

What does Hexagram 41, Decrease, advise when you are facing a decision?

Hexagram 41, Decrease, advises that the decision in front of you is a subtraction problem and that the right move is to choose the cut yourself before circumstances choose it for you. Hexagram 41 rarely endorses either option as presented, because both compete for capacity you do not have, and the honest answer is to drop one and fund the other properly. The Judgement supports acting, since it says it furthers one to undertake something, so this is no counsel of delay. The sequencing is trim, then commit. The two small bowls set the standard for the reduced version: openly smaller and unapologetic, not a full-size plan quietly underfunded. Hexagram 41 also asks who pays. Nine at the beginning wants you to weigh how much you may decrease others, which means checking whether your efficiency is achieved by pushing the cost onto someone with less room than you have. The Image adds a timing condition: check whether irritation is driving the cut, because a decision made under Hexagram 41 while angry removes the wrong item.

There is one pattern where Hexagram 41 is unusually direct. If you are choosing between doing something at full scale and not doing it at all, Decrease offers a route the question did not contain: do it at two-bowl size. The hexagram treats a reduced, sincere version as fully valid rather than as a compromise, which frequently dissolves the deadlock. That is not a stalling answer, because the reduced version has to be real, declared and carried out now. The nuclear Hexagram 24, Return, adds that recovery is already underway inside the situation, so the decision does not have to solve everything. It needs to stop the drain and let the turn complete, which argues against irreversible choices while Hexagram 41 is in force. Note too where the hexagram places you. If the decision hands resources upward to a parent organization, an investor or a family obligation, you are the lower trigram being diminished, and the lines protecting you are nine in the second and nine at the top.

Does Hexagram 41 mean you should say no to an opportunity?

Hexagram 41, Decrease, does not automatically mean refusing an opportunity, since its Judgement says it furthers one to undertake something. It means the opportunity has to be paid for by dropping an existing commitment rather than added on top. If nothing is available to cut, Hexagram 41 reads as a refusal.

What timing does Hexagram 41 suggest for a decision?

Hexagram 41 suggests deciding early and calmly. The Tuan commentary ties the reduced offering to its proper time, and the Image asks you to check anger first. A cut made while there is still slack works, and a cut made in a temper or at the last moment removes the wrong thing.

Who bears the cost in a decision under Hexagram 41?

Under Hexagram 41 the person consulting usually bears the cost, because Decrease diminishes the lower to augment the upper. Nine at the beginning adds a check in the other direction, asking how much you may decrease others, so the cut should not be quietly relocated onto someone with less capacity.

How does Hexagram 41, Decrease, read for a relationship?

For a relationship, Hexagram 41, Decrease, reads as a bond that improves by removing something rather than by adding effort. The most quoted line here is six in the third place: when three journey together their number decreases by one, and when one journeys alone a companion is found. Hexagram 41 is saying a triangle will resolve itself and that solitude attracts partnership. That covers a third party in a romance, a friend group grown uncomfortable as a trio, and a couple with a permanently involved parent. Six in the fourth place is the other line that dominates relationship readings, and the more demanding one. It says decreasing your faults makes the other person hurry over gladly, locating the reduction in your own behavior rather than your partner's. That line changing produces Hexagram 38, Opposition, naming the estrangement the fault has caused. Hexagram 41 almost never asks you to give up more of yourself here, since nine in the second forbids it. What it asks you to drop is a habit, a grievance or a third presence.

The trigram picture adds a nuance for couples. Dui, the Lake, is the trigram of joy and of speech, and it sits underneath in Hexagram 41 with Gen, Keeping Still, on top. In a relationship reading that describes affection with a lid on it, which cuts two ways. Where the connection has become exhausting through constant processing, constant contact or constant appetite for reassurance, the mountain is a relief and the hexagram approves. Where the stillness has become withholding, Hexagram 41 is describing the problem rather than prescribing it, and the Image tells you which part is yours to fix, since controlling anger and restraining instincts are both self-directed. Nine at the top is the line to watch on questions of commitment. It says one obtains servants but no longer has a separate home, which reads as a life that stops being separately maintained. That is an unusually concrete signal of merging households, and it arrives with good fortune attached rather than warning.

Does Hexagram 41 mean a breakup?

Hexagram 41, Decrease, is not primarily a breakup hexagram. The reduction it names is usually a habit, an expense of energy or a third party, and its top line points toward households merging rather than parting. It signals a breakup mainly when line three casts the questioner as the third person.

What does Hexagram 41 say about a love triangle?

Hexagram 41 addresses a love triangle at six in the third place, which states that three journeying together lose one and that one journeying alone gains a companion. The traditional reading is that the arrangement will not hold at three and that the resolution is already in motion rather than something to be forced.

How should you apply the fourth line of Hexagram 41 to a partner?

Apply six in the fourth place of Hexagram 41 to yourself, not to your partner. The line says decreasing one's own faults brings the other hastening over with joy, and it changes into Hexagram 38, Opposition, which identifies the specific behavior keeping the two of you on opposite sides.

What does Hexagram 41, Decrease, mean for work, money and career?

For work, money and career, Hexagram 41, Decrease, means the correction belongs on the outgoing side: reduce commitments, overheads and scope rather than chasing more revenue or more hours. Hexagram 41 turns up for people carrying obligations they accepted when conditions were better, and it advises unwinding them deliberately instead of waiting for the shortfall to force the issue. The two small bowls give the method. Deliver the smaller version openly rather than promising the full version and underdelivering, because the Judgement attaches good fortune to sincerity and not to scale. In employment Hexagram 41 often describes contributing upward, since Decrease diminishes the lower to augment the upper: your work feeds a department, a client or an owner above you. That is not condemned, but nine in the second place sets the limit, saying you can increase others without decreasing yourself, which rules out funding your employer's results out of your own savings. Six in the fifth place is the encouraging line for career questions, describing support so decisive that ten pairs of tortoises could not argue with it.

Business readings of Hexagram 41 concentrate on a few moves. The first is pruning the product line, which is line three's arithmetic applied commercially: three offerings competing for the same attention will lose one and the survivors get stronger, which is why that line changes into Hexagram 26, The Taming Power of the Great. The second is resizing an offer downward and saying so plainly, which is the two-bowl instruction. The third is repairing a working relationship by removing your own contribution to the friction, which is line four changing into Hexagram 38, Opposition, and it fits a stalled negotiation as readily as a personal quarrel. On money, Hexagram 41 favors reducing fixed carrying costs over cutting the things that generate work, and telling creditors or clients the truth about the reduced scale over quietly missing commitments. Nine at the top marks the exit from austerity, describing increase that deprives nobody. Until that line appears, Hexagram 41 keeps the emphasis on subtraction.

What does Hexagram 41 say about asking for a raise or a loan?

Hexagram 41 does not favor pressing the request. Six in the fifth place describes support arriving unopposed to someone who has already reduced honestly, and that line changes into Hexagram 61, Inner Truth. A visible cut earns the increase more reliably than the argument for it.

Is Hexagram 41 a good sign for starting a business?

Hexagram 41 supports starting a business at reduced scale, since the Judgement says it furthers one to undertake something while permitting a two-bowl offering. The launch it endorses is lean, honestly described and funded by dropping an existing commitment, not one financed by stretching past what nine in the second place allows.

What should you cut first under Hexagram 41 at work?

Under Hexagram 41 cut fixed carrying costs and surplus commitments before cutting the activity that produces the work. Line three's arithmetic favors concentration, changing into Hexagram 26, so removing the weakest of several competing projects strengthens the rest rather than shrinking the operation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does I Ching Hexagram 41, Decrease, mean in one sentence?

I Ching Hexagram 41, Decrease, means voluntarily reducing something you have so that something more important can be supported, and doing it with sincerity rather than display. The Chinese name is Sun, and the classical commentary describes the movement as diminishing the lower to augment the upper. It is the hexagram of choosing the cut yourself, making it early, and keeping the reduced version honest.

What are the trigrams of Hexagram 41, Decrease?

Hexagram 41, Decrease, is Gen, Keeping Still, Mountain, in the upper position over Dui, the Joyous, Lake, in the lower position. From the bottom up the lines run solid, solid, broken, broken, broken, solid. The picture is a lake at the foot of a mountain: the water wears away the base while the mountain presses down and confines the water. Dui carries pleasure and appetite, Gen carries stillness and limit, so Hexagram 41 seats desire underneath a boundary.

What do the two small bowls in the Judgement of Hexagram 41 mean?

The two small bowls in the Judgement of Hexagram 41 refer to a stripped-down ritual offering, and they mean a modest gift given with real sincerity is fully acceptable. Sacrifices were expected to be lavish, and Hexagram 41 permits two bowls instead. Decrease does not ask you to apologize for a small contribution or to borrow so the gift looks generous. The Tuan commentary adds that the two bowls belong to their proper time, making this a concession for a lean season, not a permanent standard.

Which hexagram is the opposite of Hexagram 41, Decrease?

The opposite of Hexagram 41, Decrease, is Hexagram 31, Influence (Xian), formed by turning every line of Hexagram 41 into its contrary. That gives Gen, Mountain, below and Dui, Lake, above. Where Hexagram 41 puts appetite under a limit, Hexagram 31 puts the limit underneath and lets attraction move freely on top. Hexagram 41 also has an inverse partner, Hexagram 42, Increase, the same figure turned upside down.

Is Hexagram 41, Decrease, a bad answer to a money question?

Hexagram 41, Decrease, is not a bad answer to a money question, but it puts the correction on the outgoing side. It points at commitments, subscriptions and carrying costs taken on when conditions were better. The Judgement promises supreme good fortune when reduction is paired with sincerity, which in money terms means telling the truth about the shortfall instead of hiding it. Six in the fifth place is where outside support arrives, after the honest cut.

What does Hexagram 41 mean if six in the fifth place is changing?

Six in the fifth place of Hexagram 41 says that someone does indeed increase him, that ten pairs of tortoises cannot oppose it, and that this brings supreme good fortune. Tortoise shells were the instrument of consultation, so the support arriving is more certain than any oracle could contradict. Help comes unasked to a person who has already reduced honestly. With this line changing, Hexagram 41 becomes Hexagram 61, Inner Truth.

What is the difference between Hexagram 41, Decrease, and Hexagram 42, Increase?

Hexagram 41, Decrease, and Hexagram 42, Increase, are the same transfer seen from opposite ends, and they are inverse forms of each other. Hexagram 41 diminishes the lower to augment the upper, so the questioner is usually giving up resources or funding something above them. Hexagram 42 diminishes the upper to augment the lower, so the questioner is usually receiving backing. The Zagua commentary treats the pair as the opening move of rise and decline.