剝 → 屯
Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart → Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 5).
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 3
六三 剝之无咎。
Six in the third place means: He splits with them. No blame.
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
北山有棗，橘柚於聚。荷囊載香，盈我筐筥。
On the northern mountain there are jujubes; tangerines and citrons gathered together. Carrying a pouch laden with fragrance, filling my baskets and hampers.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain attached to earth strips away, but from this barren ground thunder stirs beneath gathering clouds. The verse presents an unexpected harvest: jujubes on the northern hill, tangerines and pomelos clustering together, pouches brimming with fragrance, filling baskets and hampers to overflowing. Against the backdrop of Splitting Apart, this abundance reads as a paradox — the mountain is decaying, yet the land yields its riches precisely because the old structures are clearing. From Splitting Apart to Difficulty at the Beginning, the transformation moves from late-stage erosion into the first stirrings of new life. Thunder beneath water is birth through struggle: the very collapse of the old order scatters seeds that take root in fresh soil.
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