41.  Sun
       Decrease.

Upper Trigram: Ken; Inaction, a Mountain.
Lower Trigram: Tui; Joy, a Lake.

Constitutional Rulers: Six in the third place.
                                          Nine in the top-most place.
Governing Rulers:       Six in the fifth place.
____________________________________
____________________________________
The Image:
A lake at the foot of the mountain: the image of Sun.
The superior man, in accordance with this, restrains his wrath and represses his desires.
____________________________________
____________________________________
Miscellaneous Signs:                                 (42, 51, 52)
How fulness and decay their course begin,
is seen in Sun, in I again.
____________________________________
____________________________________
The Judgement:
In what is denoted by Sun, if there be sincerity in him who employs it, there will be great good fortune: freedom from error, firmness and correctness that can be maintained; and advantage in every movement that shall be made.
In what shall this sincerity be employed? Even in sacrifice, two baskets of grain, though there be nothing else, may be presented.

Appended Judgement:
Sun shows us the cultivation of virtue, implying difficulty in the beginning and ease in the end.
Sun appears in keeping injury at a distance.
See also Ta Chuan, section II, chapter VII, §§ 2-4.

Commentary:
In Sun we see the lower trigram diminished and the upper added to. The method of action implied in this operates upwards.
'If there be sincerity in his method of diminution, there will be great good fortune: freedom from error, firmness and correctness that can be maintained; and advantage in every movement that shall be made. In what shall this sincerity be employed? Even in sacrifice, two baskets of grain, though there be nothing else, may be presented': for these two baskets there ought to be the fitting time. There is a time when the strong should be diminished, and the weak should be strengthened. Diminution and increase, overflowing and emptiness: these take place in harmony with the conditions of the time.
____________________________________
____________________________________
The Lines:

Nine in the bottom place:
Showing its subject suspending his own affairs, and hurrying away to help the subject of the fourth line.
He will commit no error, but let him consider how far he should contribute of what is his, to the other.
____________________________________
Nine in the second place:
It will be advantageous for the subject of this line to maintain a firm correctness, and action on his part will be evil. He can give increase to his correlate without taking from himself.
____________________________________
Six in the third place:
 X
Showing how of three men walking together, the number is diminished by one; and how one, walking , finds his friend.
See also Ta Chuan, section II, chapter V, §13.
____________________________________
Six in the fourth place:
Showing its subject diminishing the ailment under which he labours, by making the subject of the first line hasten to his help, and pleasing him.
There will be no error.
____________________________________
Six in the fifth place:
 O
We see parties adding to the stores of its subject ten pairs of tortoise shells, and accepting no refusal.
There will be great good fortune.
____________________________________
Top-most nine:
 X
Showing its subject increasing others without taking from himself. There will be no error. With firm correctness there will be good fortune. There will be advantage in every movement that shall be made. He will find ministers more than can be counted by their clans.
____________________________________
____________________________________
Commentaries:

Nine in the bottom place:
'He suspends his own affairs, and hurries away to help the subject of the fourth line': the subject of that line mingles his wishes with his.
____________________________________
Nine in the second place:
'It will be advantageous for the subject of this line to maintain a firm correctness': his central position gives its character to his aim.
____________________________________
Six in the third place:
'One man, walking , finds his friend': when three are together, doubts rise among them.
____________________________________
Six in the fourth place:
'He diminishes the ailment under which he labours': this is matter for joy.
____________________________________
Six in the fifth place:
The 'great good fortune' attached to this line, is due to the blessing from above.
____________________________________
Top-most nine:
'He gives increase to others without taking from his own': he obtains his wish on a grand scale.
____________________________________