Hexagram 23: Bō (Splitting Apart)

The Judgment

Bo indicates that (in the state which it symbolises) it will not be advantageous to make a movement in any direction whatever.

剥：不利有攸往。

Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan)

Bo denotes overthrowing or being overthrown. We see (in the figure) the weak lines (threatening to) change the (last) strong line (into one of themselves). 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.

彖曰：剥，剥也，柔变刚也。不利有攸往，小人长也。顺而止之，观象也。君子尚消息盈虚，天行也。

The Great Image

(The trigrams representing) the earth, and (above it) that for a mountain, which adheres to the earth, form Bo. Superiors, in accordance with this, seek to strengthen those below them, to secure the peace and stability of their own position.

象曰：山附地上，剥；上以厚下，安宅。

The six lines

1. Line 1 (first): 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.

   'He overthrows the couch by injuring its legs:' - thus (he commences) his work of ruin with what is lowest (in the superior man).

   In plain words: Splitting the bed starts with its legs; what is right is cast aside: misfortune. In this hexagram yin is strong and yang weak, eating away from the bottom up; the first line starts at the foundation. The Small Image says destruction begins from below.

   初六：剥床以足，蔑贞凶。 象曰：剥床以足，以灭下也。

2. Line 2 (second): 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.

   'He destroys the couch by injuring its frame:' - (the superior man) has as yet no associates.

   In plain words: Splitting the bed reaches the frame where the legs join; what is right is cast aside: misfortune. The second and fifth lines are both yin, so there is no support. The Small Image says it has no helpers.

   六二：剥床以辨，蔑贞凶。 象曰：剥床以辨，未有与也。

3. Line 3 (third): The third SIX, divided, shows its subject among the overthrowers; but there will be no error.

   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.

   In plain words: In the midst of splitting apart: no fault. The third line corresponds to the top line; it is the only yin line that turns toward yang, leaving its own kind to answer the noble person. The Small Image says it parts from those above and below.

   六三：剥之，无咎。 象曰：剥之无咎，失上下也。

4. Line 4 (fourth): 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.

   'He has overthrown the couch, and (proceeds to injure) the skin (of him who lies on it):' - calamity is very near at hand.

   In plain words: Splitting the bed reaches the skin: misfortune. The first three lines split the legs and frame of the bed; at the fourth line the splitting reaches the person lying on it, and the damage turns from things to oneself. The fourth line has entered the upper trigram, where yin is stronger still. The Small Image says disaster is now close at hand.

   六四：剥床以肤，凶。 象曰：剥床以肤，切近灾也。

5. Line 5 (fifth): 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.

   'He obtains for them the favour that lights on the inmates of the palace:' - in the end there will be no grudge against him.

   In plain words: A string of fish: leading the others as court ladies to win the ruler's favour; nothing is unfavourable. The fifth line is the head of the yin lines and leads them in good order to follow the top line instead of wearing yang away. The Small Image says in the end there is no fault.

   六五：贯鱼，以宫人宠，无不利。 象曰：以宫人宠，终无尤也。

6. Line 6 (sixth (top)): 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.

   '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.

   In plain words: A large fruit left uneaten: the noble person gains a carriage, the petty person strips his own house. The top line is the one yang line left, like the last fruit on the branch, holding the seed of new life. For the noble person it means the people's support; the petty person tears down even his own shelter. The Small Image says the noble person is carried by the people, and the petty person in the end cannot be used.

   上九：硕果不食，君子得舆，小人剥庐。 象曰：君子得舆，民所载也。小人剥庐，终不可用也。

Line positions

2 of the six lines stand in their proper place (strong lines in odd places, weak lines in even places).

The second and fifth lines hold the central places of the lower and upper trigrams; both are weak, so they do not correspond.

Of the three pairs of corresponding places (first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top), 1 pair is made of one strong and one weak line.

Strong lines belong in odd places and weak lines in even places; the second and fifth are the central places; first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top correspond, and they "respond" when one is strong and the other weak.

These are structural conventions, not scores of good or bad fortune. Commentators differ: Wang Bi treats the first and top places as beginning and end without fixed yin or yang positions. Read each line with its Small Image and the whole hexagram.

Place in Jing Fang's eight palaces

Jing Fang grouped the 64 hexagrams into eight "palaces" of eight, each headed by a doubled trigram. Changing the lines of the head hexagram one by one from the bottom gives the next five; the last two are the "wandering soul" and "returning soul" hexagrams. The Qian palace runs: Qián (head), Gòu (1st change), Dùn (2nd change), Pǐ (3rd change), Guān (4th change), Bō (5th change), Jìn (wandering soul), Dà Yǒu (returning soul).

The twelve waxing and waning hexagrams

This is one of the twelve "waxing and waning" hexagrams, matched to the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. The series starts from Fu, with one strong line returning at the bottom, grows to Qian, then gives way to weak lines until Kun, tracing the rise and fall of yang through the year; it belongs to the Han-dynasty gua qi system of Meng Xi and Jing Fang.

A recorded case from Takashima

Bo to Gen: a silver dealer who went against the crowd: A Yokohama dealer in foreign silver asked about his fortunes and received the third line of Bo, "stripping away; no fault". Takashima said that though in the same trade as the rest, he could go his own way, and that prices now high as a mountain would fall flat as the ground; the dealer sold at the top and made a fortune.

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English text: James Legge, The Yi King (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16, 1882), public domain, as transcribed by the Chinese Text Project. Chinese: the received text. Offered for study and reflection, not as prediction.

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