剝 → 小畜
Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart → Hexagram 9: Small Taming
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 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 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
天火大起，飛鳥驚駭。作事不時，自為身咎。
A great fire blazes from heaven; flying birds scatter in alarm. Acting at the wrong time, one brings blame upon oneself.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain upon earth decays, and wind blows across heaven — a gentle restraining force too mild for the crisis. A great fire blazes from the sky, and birds scatter in terror. Actions taken at the wrong moment bring calamity upon oneself. The 'heavenly fire' may allude to a meteor or lightning strike, both read as celestial warnings in Han astrology. The birds, creatures of wind and heaven, should be at home in the sky but find it turned hostile. The verse emphasizes poor timing: 'zuo shi bu shi' — undertaking something out of season. From Splitting Apart to Small Taming, the mountain's collapse unleashes forces that the gentle wind of Xun cannot contain. When structural decay has gone too far, modest restraint is inadequate, and the ill-timed actor becomes the author of his own disaster.
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