Hexagram 11: Peace → Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart

Peace
Earth / Heaven
Splitting Apart
Earth / Mountain
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 2).

Line 1

初九 拔茅茹。以其彙。征吉。

pulling
máothatch
by the roots
thereby
uprooting its
huìwhole cluster
zhēngto expedite
promising

Nine at the beginning means: When ribbon grass is pulled up, the sod comes with it. Each according to his kind. Undertakings bring good fortune.

Line 2

九二 包荒。用馮河。不遐遺。朋亡。得尚于中行。

bāoembrace
huāngthe wilderness
yòngpractical
píngto cross
river
avoid
xiáaloofness
neglect
péngcompanions
wángimpermanent
learn
shàngthe value
in
zhōngbalanced
xíngaction

Nine in the second place means: Bearing with the uncultured in gentleness, Fording the river with resolution, Not neglecting what is distant, Not regarding one's companions: Thus one may manage to walk in the middle.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramEarth Earth
Lower TrigramHeaven MountainThe Creative → Keeping Still

Yilin Verse

淵涸龍憂,箕子為奴;午叔隕命,殷破其家。

The pool dries up, the dragon grieves; Jizi is made a slave. Wu Shu loses his life; Yin shatters its own house.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Earth above heaven, Peace drains away as the pool runs dry and the dragon despairs. Jizi, the Viscount of Ji, uncle of the Shang tyrant Zhou, is reduced to slavery — feigning madness to survive his nephew's murderous court. 'Wu Shu' likely refers to Bigan (比干), another uncle of King Zhou, who was disemboweled for his remonstrance. Yin is shattered and its ruling house destroyed. The verse catalogs the final collapse of the Shang dynasty through its three loyal ministers' fates. From Peace to Splitting Apart, the mountain crumbles upon the earth. The transformation mirrors the dynasty's disintegration: what was once elevated is stripped layer by layer until nothing remains.

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