41
Hexagram 41, Sun: “Decrease,” “Diminishing.” A loss that can be meaningful.
The image of the hexagram
Below is the Dui trigram (lake), above is Gen (mountain). A mountain over a lake: the water drains under the mountain and the level drops — an image of decrease.
General meaning
The answer: you will have to give up a part. Sun speaks of reduction — expenses, refusal, cutbacks — and suggests treating it not as a misfortune but as an investment: by reducing the outer, you add to the inner. The classic text says plainly that a modest offering made sincerely is worth more than a rich and formal one.
In love and at work
In relationships: the need to yield, drop a demand, lower expectations; for a couple, this heals. At work: budget cuts, dropping some lines of business, working for less. For expansion, the answer is no.
What to do
Cut back yourself before someone does it for you, and choose what to cut. What you give up here comes back, but not as money.