Hexagram 23 of 64 · King Wen order
剝Splitting Apart
Bō · ䷖ · above: Mountain ☶ 艮 Gèn · below: Earth ☷ 坤 Kūn
A time of collapse where old structures fall away; the only course is to wait and endure until the cycle turns.A one-line gloss written for this site (AI-assisted). Everything below it is the classical text.
The Judgment 卦辭
不利有攸往。
Po indicates that (in the state which it symbolises) it will not be advantageous to make a movement in any direction whatever.
James Legge, The Yî King (1882), the Text. Words in (parentheses) are Legge's own additions.
Commentary on the Judgment 彖傳 (Tuan, the first Wing)
1. Po denotes overthrowing or being overthrown. We see (in the figure) the weak lines (threatening to) change the (last) strong line (into one of themselves).
2. That 'it will not be advantageous to make a movement in any direction whatever' appears from the fact that the small men are (now) growing and increasing. The superior man acts according to (the exigency of the time), and stops all forward movement, looking at the (significance of the) symbolic figures (in the hexagram). He values the processes of decrease and increase, of fulness and decadence, (as seen) in the movements of the heavenly bodies.
The Image 象
山附于地，剝；上以厚下，安宅。
(The trigrams representing) the earth, and (above it) that for a mountain, which adheres to the earth, form Po. Superiors, in accordance with this, seek to strengthen those below them, to secure the peace and stability of their own position.
Legge's Great Image (Appendix II). The Chinese above also carries the Small Images of the six lines.
The six lines 爻辭
Read from the bottom (line 1) to the top (line 6). Each line: the Chinese, Legge's translation, and the Small Image commentary on it.
Line 1 初六
The first line from the bottom, yin (broken, six)
剝床以足，蔑貞凶。
The first SIX, divided, shows one overturning the couch by injuring its legs. (The injury will go on to) the destruction of (all) firm correctness, and there will be evil.
Small Image: 'He overthrows the couch by injuring its legs:'—thus (he commences) his work of ruin with what is lowest (in the superior man).
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 27, The Corners of the Mouth.
Line 2 六二
The second line from the bottom, yin (broken, six)
剝床以辨，蔑貞凶。
The second SIX, divided, shows one overthrowing the couch by injuring its frame. (The injury will go on to) the destruction of (all) firm correctness, and there will be evil.
Small Image: 'He destroys the couch by injuring its frame:'—(the superior man) has as yet no associates.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 4, Youthful Folly.
Line 3 六三
The third line from the bottom, yin (broken, six)
剝之，無咎。
The third SIX, divided, shows its subject among the overthrowers; but there will be no error.
Small Image: That 'there will be no error on the part of this one among the overthrowers' arises from the difference between him and the others above and below.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 52, Keeping Still, Mountain.
Line 4 六四
The fourth line from the bottom, yin (broken, six)
剝床以膚，凶。
The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject having overthrown the couch, and (going to injure) the skin (of him who lies on it). There will be evil.
Small Image: 'He has overthrown the couch, and (proceeds to injure) the skin (of him who lies on it):'—calamity is very near at hand.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 35, Progress.
Line 5 六五
The fifth line from the bottom, yin (broken, six)
貫魚，以宮人寵，無不利。
The fifth SIX, divided, shows (its subject leading on the others like) a string of fishes, and (obtaining for them) the favour that lights on the inmates of the palace. There will be advantage in every way.
Small Image: 'He obtains for them the favour that lights on the inmates of the palace:'—in the end there will be no grudge against him.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 20, Contemplation.
Line 6 上九
The sixth line from the bottom, yang (solid, nine)
碩果不食，君子得輿，小人剝廬。
The topmost NINE, undivided, shows its subject (as) a great fruit which has not been eaten. The superior man finds (the people again) as a chariot carrying him. The small men (by their course) overthrow their own dwellings.
Small Image: 'The superior man finds himself in a carriage:'—he is carried along by the people. 'The small men (by their course) overthrow their own dwellings:'—they can. never again be of use to them.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 2, The Receptive.
Related hexagrams
lines 2-4 below, 3-5 aboveOpposite 錯卦43. Break-through 夬
every line changedInverse 綜卦24. Return 復
turned upside down
A hexagram is a mirror, not a command: read it to reflect, never to obey. Sources: James Legge (tr.), The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (Oxford, 1882; 2nd ed. 1899), public domain; the Chinese text from Project Gutenberg ebook #25501 (易經), public domain. The trigram facts and the related hexagrams are computed from the line pattern. The gloss, selection and arrangement are CC-BY-SA-4.0 (PlayfulProcess). Data: github.com/PlayfulProcess/recursive-iching.