剝 → 中孚
Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart → Hexagram 61: Inner Truth
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 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 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.
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
郤大墻壞，蠹眾木折。狼虎為政，天降罪伐。
When the crack is wide the wall crumbles; when the borers are many the wood snaps. Wolves and tigers hold sway; heaven sends down punishment.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain upon earth erodes into wind above lake — Inner Truth, the hexagram of sincerity that reaches even pigs and fishes. The great wall cracks and crumbles; termites swarm and the timber snaps. Wolves and tigers govern as they please, and heaven sends punishment to strike them down. The Xi clan of Jin — whose combined wealth was 'half the ducal treasury' and whose military power was 'half the three armies' — may be the historical echo. When parasites consume the structural wood from within, the wall collapses outward. The wolves and tigers who govern represent officials ruling through predatory force rather than moral authority. From Splitting Apart to Inner Truth, the mountain's external decay mirrors the internal hollowing. Inner Truth demands sincerity that penetrates to the marrow; here the marrow is already eaten by termites. Heaven's punishment falls because sincerity has been entirely replaced by corruption.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store