Judgment
— I Ching · classical
有孚，元吉，无咎，可贞，利有攸往。曷之用，二簋可用享。
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.
Image
— Great Image
山下有泽，损，君子以惩忿窒欲。
At the foot of the mountain, the lake: the image of decrease. Thus the superior person controls their anger and restrains their instincts.
Six Lines
— Bottom to top
Initial Nine · 初九
⚊ yang
已事遄往，无咎，酌损之。
Going quickly when one's tasks are finished is without blame. But one must reflect on how much one may decrease others.
Help is quick; but one must measure honestly how much to sacrifice oneself.
Nine in the second · 九二
⚊ yang
利贞，征凶。弗损益之。
Perseverance furthers. To undertake something brings misfortune. Without decreasing oneself, one is able to bring increase to others.
Keep your own integrity; do not erode your principle to please above. Holding firm is itself the gift.
Six in the third · 六三
⚋ yin
三人行，则损一人；一人行，则得其友。
When three people journey together, their number decreases by one. When one person journeys alone, they find a companion.
Triangles fracture; the solo seeker meets the real partner mid-road. Subtraction can be the path to addition.
Six in the fourth · 六四
⚋ yin
损其疾，使遄有喜，无咎。
If a person decreases their faults, it makes the other hasten to come and rejoice. No blame.
Reduce your defects and the helpful other rushes to you. No fault.
Six in the fifth · 六五
⚋ yin
或益之十朋之龟，弗克违，元吉。
Someone does indeed increase him. Ten pairs of tortoises cannot oppose it. Supreme good fortune.
Selfless contribution earns a system-wide reciprocal blessing (ten pairs of tortoises — vast value) that no force can prevent. Sublime.
Nine at the top · 上九
⚊ yang
弗损益之，无咎，贞吉，利有攸往，得臣无家。
If one is increased without depriving others, there is no blame. Perseverance brings good fortune. It furthers one to undertake something. One obtains servants but no longer has a separate home.
Increase that takes nothing from anyone; the truly generous expand their family of allegiance to all.
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.
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).
· All texts here come from public-domain editions of the I Ching and supporting commentary.
· Anygua does not predict, score, schedule, ward, or recommend rituals.
· The same input via the same method will always reproduce the same hexagram — verifiable below.