剝 → 賁
Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart → Hexagram 22: Grace
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 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 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
蹇裳涉河，流深漬衣。賴幸舟子，濟脫無他。
Lifting robes to ford the river, the current runs deep and soaks the garments. Fortunately a boatman comes; one crosses safely without mishap.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain upon earth strips away, revealing mountain above fire — Grace, the hexagram of adornment and civilized beauty. One hitches up one's skirts to ford the river, but the current runs deep and soaks the clothing. Fortunately a boatman appears, ferrying one safely across without further harm. The image is of a traveler caught between necessity and danger: the crossing must be attempted, the preparation proves inadequate, but rescue comes from an unexpected quarter. The boatman is pure grace — help that arrives not because it was earned but because it was needed. From Splitting Apart to Grace, the mountain's erosion strips away pretense, and what emerges is not raw wilderness but civilized assistance. The fire beneath the mountain illuminates the path; the boatman adorns the crossing with skill and generosity.
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