Hexagram 23, Bō (Splitting Apart): Line 3

剥卦六三 · 山地剥 · 中文版

六三:剥之,无咎。

The line (Legge)

The third SIX, divided, shows its subject among the overthrowers; but there will be no error.

Small Image commentary

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.

象曰:剥之无咎,失上下也。

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.

Applying it to your situation

If you are in a group that is going bad, this line suggests you can choose to stand on the right side. What would it cost you not to go along?

Position

A broken (yin) line in the third place, which is a yang (odd) place, so it is not in its proper place. Its partner is line 6; one is yin and the other yang, so they respond to each other.

If this line moves

With this line moving alone, Bō changes into Hexagram 52 Gèn (Keeping Still). The Jiaoshi Yilin verse for this change (Chinese): 焦氏易林·剥之艮.

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.

The hexagram

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.

Previous: Line 2 · Next: Line 4

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. Plain-English readings and position notes by this site.

Cast a hexagram · All 64 hexagrams · Worked examples