Hexagram 41: Decrease (損) & Tzolkin
Hexagram 41 Decrease (損 Sǔn) in I Ching and Tzolkin: Mountain over Lake, reduction as the path to gain. It maps to kins 161–164 — the Dragon-Wind-Night-Seed chain.
損 sǔn · Decrease
Decrease (損, Sǔn) pairs Mountain above Lake: what is high diminishes to nourish what lies below. Decrease combined with sincerity brings supreme good fortune — what looks like loss can be the path to genuine gain. The image of a lake at the foot of a mountain recalls controlling anger and restraining the instincts: strength lies in restraint, not accumulation.
In the Argüelles Codon system, hexagram 41 corresponds to kins 161–164 of the Tzolkin calendar: Red Dragon (Birth, tone 5), White Wind (Spirit, tone 6), Blue Night (Abundance, tone 7), and Yellow Seed (Flowering, tone 8). This chain — from birth, through spirit and dream, to a ripened seed — echoes Decrease: something must be surrendered or set to rest before it can bear a harvest. Night’s abundance precedes Seed’s flowering exactly as, in the I Ching, loss precedes gain.
Read side by side, both traditions describe the same stretch of time in one voice: diminishment is not defeat but ground being prepared for what has yet to rise. The convergence is suggestive — an interpretive bridge, not a proven identity between systems.
The Judgment
Decrease combined with sincerity brings about supreme good fortune. Simplify and reduce — what seems like loss may be the path to genuine gain.
The Image
At the foot of the mountain, the lake. The superior person controls anger and restrains the instincts.