HEXAGRAM 23 · bō

Splitting Apart

Stripping away: protecting what can still carry life while the outer structure falls

山地剥Classical Chinese included

Translation approach

The Chinese source stays visible. Where an editorial close rendering is available, it stays near the wording before Astro I Ching expands into cultural interpretation. Why we separate these layers →

CLASSICAL CHINESE

The source anchor

Read the source first. The English layer below remains accountable to these passages rather than replacing them with a simplified verdict.

卦辞 · Judgment

剥：不利有攸往。

Close rendering

Splitting Apart: not favorable to have somewhere to go.

《大象》 · Image

山附地上，剥；上以厚下，安宅。

Close rendering

Mountain resting on Earth: Splitting Apart. Those above therefore strengthen what is below in order to secure the dwelling.

How to read the middle layer

Close rendering stays near wording and sequence. It is not presented as the only possible translation; the cultural reading below is where Astro I Ching explains image, structure, and practical logic in fuller English.

ASTRO I CHING · CULTURAL READING

Why this hexagram says what it says

Cultural reading of the image

Mountain rests on Earth while five yielding lines press upward against the last firm line. Bo shows a structure losing support layer by layer from below.

Cultural reading of the judgment

In a period of decline, the first questions concern the foundation: what can still be preserved, what expenditure can be stopped, and what seed must survive for another cycle to remain possible.

SIX LINES · ONE STORY

How the hexagram develops from bottom to top

Line 1 · 初六

Classical Chinese

剥床以足，蔑贞凶。

Close rendering

The bed is split at the legs; constancy is undermined. Misfortune.

Cultural reading

Damage often begins in basic support. Seeing it early creates the best chance to limit loss.

Line 2 · 六二

Classical Chinese

剥床以辨，蔑贞凶。

Close rendering

The bed is split at the frame; constancy is undermined. Misfortune.

Cultural reading

When erosion reaches the frame itself, the problem is no longer a small defect at the edge.

Line 3 · 六三

Classical Chinese

剥之，无咎。

Close rendering

Splitting away from it. No blame.

Cultural reading

Maintaining a different direction during collective decline can be a form of self-preservation.

Line 4 · 六四

Classical Chinese

剥床以肤，凶。

Close rendering

The bed is split up to the skin. Misfortune.

Cultural reading

Once deterioration reaches the body of the structure, it can no longer be treated as a distant possibility.

Line 5 · 六五

Classical Chinese

贯鱼，以宫人宠，无不利。

Close rendering

A string of fish, ordered like palace women receiving favor. Nothing is unfavorable.

Cultural reading

Even in decline, sequence, arrangement, and gentle organization can reduce the amount of harm.

Line 6 · 上九

Classical Chinese

硕果不食，君子得舆，小人剥庐。

Close rendering

A large fruit remains uneaten. The noble person gains a carriage; the petty person has the hut stripped away.

Cultural reading

What remains at the end becomes the seed of the next phase. Preservation here is about future regrowth, not nostalgia.

BRING IT BACK TO LIFE

What this can help you notice

Useful when a structure is visibly losing support and preserving the seed of the next phase matters more than pretending the old form is intact.

A common misreading

Splitting Apart is not a demand to save every layer. Sometimes preservation means protecting only what can carry the next cycle.

Keep the classical text and the interpretive layer separate: one is the source, the other is Astro I Ching's explanation of how the source can be read.

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