剝 → 乾
Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart → Hexagram 1: The Creative
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 5, 6).
Line 1
初六 剝牀以足。蔑貞凶。
Six at the beginning means: The leg of the bed is split. Those who persevere are destroyed. Misfortune.
Line 2
六二 剝牀以辨。蔑貞凶。
Six in the second place means: The bed is split at the edge. Those who persevere are destroyed. Misfortune.
Line 4
六四 剝牀以膚。凶。
Six in the fourth place means: The bed is split up to the skin. Misfortune.
Line 5
六五 貫魚。以宮人寵。无不利。
Six in the fifth place means: A shoal of fishes. Favor comes through the court ladies. Everything acts to further.
Line 6
上九 碩果不食。君子得輿。小人剝廬。
Nine at the top means: There is a large fruit still uneaten. The superior man receives a carriage. The house of the inferior man is split apart.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
穿胸狗邦，僵離旁舂。天地易紀，日月更始。
The old calendar burns to ash and scatters; new peach-wood charms hang before the gate. The east grows white as stars withdraw — all living things raise their voices to welcome the new beginning.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain rests upon earth, but when the old order strips away, pure heaven emerges. The original verse speaks of cosmic renewal: 'Heaven and Earth reset their records; sun and moon begin anew.' The strange opening — a 'dog with a pierced chest' — evokes the Han custom of hanging a dog above a gate to drive off pestilence at year's end, clearing corruption so that the celestial cycle can restart. The phrase 'tian di yi ji' directly echoes the resetting of the astronomical calendar, the supreme emblem of sovereign authority. From Splitting Apart to the Creative, the transformation is total: when every yin line has been stripped away, the single remaining yang seed becomes six unbroken lines of pure initiative. Decay completed is not death but the precondition for heaven's self-generating power.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store