Hexagram 23, line 4
六四Line 4 of Peeling Away
Six in the fourth place · 剝 bō
爻辭 The line text
剝床以膚，凶。The fourth line, divided, shows its subject having overthrown the couch, and (going to injure) the skin (of him who lies on it). There will be evil.
剝床以膚，切近災也。'He has overthrown the couch, and (proceeds to injure) the skin (of him who lies on it):'—calamity is very near at hand.
In plain words
The bed is gone; the stripping reaches the skin of the one lying on it. Line four is the first line of the upper trigram, and the decay has crossed from the structure to the person. The text says only 'evil', with no condition, and the small Image says why: disaster is right at hand (切近災也). Line four is yin in a yin place, correct, and that is no help either — this is the point in Bo where the harm can no longer be averted, only endured. 朱熹 notes that from here the question is no longer how to stop the stripping but how to survive it.
If this line is changing
The damage has reached you personally and cannot now be prevented; stop spending effort on averting it and attend to coming through it intact.
Where the line stands
- A broken line, yin — written 六 (six), the number of an old yin line that moves when cast.
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
- It belongs to the upper trigram 艮 Gen (Keeping Still) (mountain).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 1: both lines are yin, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.
之卦 When this line moves
剝 Peeling Away becomes ䷢ 35 晉 Advancing
The sun rising over the earth: progress. The capable prince is rewarded with horses and received three times in a day — advancement in the light.
What it becomes35 · 晉 AdvancingjìnThe six lines of 剝 Peeling Away
- 初六Six at the beginningthe bed's legs · stripping the base · quiet ruin
- 六二Six in the second placethe bed's frame · no allies · decay spreads
- 六三Six in the third placeamong the strippers · yet no blame · loyal to the top
- 六四Six in the fourth placestripping the skin · disaster near · evil
- 六五Six in the fifth placea string of fish · leading the court · favour without fault
- 上九Nine at the topthe great fruit · the carriage · the small man's hut
Read 剝 Peeling Away for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Six in the fourth place of hexagram 23, Peeling Away, mean?
- The bed is gone; the stripping reaches the skin of the one lying on it. Line four is the first line of the upper trigram, and the decay has crossed from the structure to the person. The text says only 'evil', with no condition, and the small Image says why: disaster is right at hand (切近災也). Line four is yin in a yin place, correct, and that is no help either — this is the point in Bo where the harm can no longer be averted, only endured. 朱熹 notes that from here the question is no longer how to stop the stripping but how to survive it.
- What does hexagram 23 become when line 4 changes?
- Peeling Away becomes hexagram 35, 晉 Advancing: The sun rising over the earth: progress. The capable prince is rewarded with horses and received three times in a day — advancement in the light.
- Is line 4 of Peeling Away in its correct place?
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).