Hexagram 23: 剝 Bō — Splitting Apart

This is Bō (剝), Splitting Apart—the character showing a knife cutting away from whole cloth. The hexagram shows Mountain (Gèn) above Earth (Kūn): stillness perched precariously over the receptive. Five yin lines rise from below, with only one yang line remaining at the top—an image of systematic erosion, layer after layer stripped away until almost nothing holds. In Zhou Dynasty divination, this configuration appeared when collapse had progressed too far for repair, when the wise withdrew rather than resist the inevitable. Blake illustrated the Biblical story of King Nebuchadnezzar, who was driven from his throne and lived as a beast in the wilderness as punishment for pride. The color print shows the fallen king on all fours with wild hair and long fingernails, crawling on the ground. Blake's depiction portrays a figure experiencing psychological and spiritual disintegration. The Judgment text offers stark counsel: "Splitting Apart. It does not further one to go anywhere." When disintegration reaches this stage, action accelerates decay. Ancient practitioners understood this as the time to yield, to accept diminishment, to preserve what little remains rather than exhaust it fighting entropy. Blake depicts the moment when Nebuchadnezzar's reason splits from his body—no action he might take could prevent what divine judgment set in motion. The text does not promise recovery; it counsels stillness. The Image Text observes: "The mountain rests on the earth: the image of Splitting Apart. Thus those above can ensure their position only by giving generously to those below." Even in decay, there are responses. When the foundation erodes, those who remain at the top survive only by distributing what they have, by releasing their grip on position. Blake painted this late in life, having witnessed both French and American revolutions—moments when old orders split apart beneath the pressure of accumulated grievances. In the I-Ching sequence, Splitting Apart follows Grace: when decoration can no longer hide structural failure, disintegration proceeds. The next hexagram is Return, the winter solstice point where decline finally reverses.

Upper Trigram

☷

坤 Kūn

Earth — Receptive

ElementEarthDirectionNorthFamilyMotherQualitiesreceptive, yielding, nurturing

Lower Trigram

☶

艮 Gèn

Mountain — Stillness

ElementEarthDirectionNortheastFamilyYoungest SonQualitiesstill, stopping, resting

Classical Texts

The Judgment

It does not further one to go anywhere. Inferior forces push forward, crowding out the remaining strong. The time favors dissolution, not action. Wait. Give generously to those below to stabilize what remains.

The Lines

Line 1

The bed is split at the legs. Perseverance destroyed. Misfortune. The foundation breaks first. What rests on it cannot survive. Collapse begins below.

Line 2

The bed is split at the frame. Perseverance destroyed. Misfortune. The support structure fails. The splitting continues upward, unstoppable now.

Line 3

Splitting among them. No blame. You can split from the decaying situation without incurring blame. Sometimes separation is the only right action.

Line 4

The bed is split to the skin. Misfortune. Now the person themselves is affected. The collapse has reached living flesh. Very bad.

Line 5

A string of fishes. Favor through the palace ladies. Nothing that does not further. Even in collapse, order can be restored through right sequence, like fish strung together, like court ladies in rank.

Line 6

The large fruit is not eaten. The person of character gains a carriage. Small people split apart their huts. The seed remains—the great fruit that isn't consumed becomes the next cycle. The worthy survive; the petty destroy even their own shelter.

Yilin: Forest of Changes

From Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — the verse for Hexagram 23 in its unchanging form. A Han dynasty collection of four-character verses interpreting every hexagram transformation.

行觸大忌，與司命牾。執囚束縛，拘制於吏。幽人有喜。

Actions transgress a great taboo, offending the Lord of Fate. Seized and bound as a prisoner, restrained in an official's custody. The secluded one finds cause for joy.

Read full commentary ↓

Mountain upon earth doubled — Splitting Apart meets itself. One's actions collide with the greatest taboo, offending the Lord of Fate himself. Bound and fettered, one is detained under an official's control. Yet the verse closes with a paradox drawn from the hexagram's own sixth line: 'The secluded person has joy.' To transgress against cosmic authority and be imprisoned by mortal authority is the worst of Splitting Apart's imagery. But confinement, in the Yi's logic, can also be protection. The 'secluded person' who finds joy in captivity has discovered that being stripped of everything external reveals an irreducible inner freedom. From Splitting Apart to itself, the lesson is recursive: at the nadir of dissolution, the single remaining fruit contains the seed of renewal.

中文注释

山附於地，剝之自返。行觸大忌，與司命牾——所為觸犯最大禁忌，冒犯司命之神。執囚束縛，拘制於吏——被捕綁縛，受官吏管制。然末句「幽人有喜」直引剝卦上九爻辭。觸犯天條而入獄，為剝之極；然囚禁中反得喜悅，此為《易》之辯證：一切外在皆被剝盡之時，內在之自由不可再剝。從剝至剝，遞歸之象：消融之底點恰含重生之核。碩果不食——最後一顆果實不被吃掉，正因其中藏有復生之種。幽人之喜即此種子發芽之兆。

Transformations

Hexagram 23 transforming into each of the 64 hexagrams, with Yilin verses.

Related Hexagrams

Same upper trigram: Earth (坤)

䷁坤The Receptive ䷆師The Army ䷊泰Peace ䷎謙Modesty ䷒臨Approach ䷗復Return ䷣明夷Darkening of the Light ䷭升Pushing Upward

Same lower trigram: Mountain (艮)

䷎謙Modesty ䷞咸Influence ䷠遯Retreat ䷦蹇Obstruction ䷳艮Keeping Still Mountain ䷴漸Development

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