Hexagram 23, line 6
上九Line 6 of Peeling Away
Nine at the top · 剝 bō
爻辭 The line text
碩果不食，君子得輿，小人剝廬。The topmost line, undivided, shows its subject (as) a great fruit which has not been eaten. The superior man finds (the people again) as a chariot carrying him. The small men (by their course) overthrow their own dwellings.
君子得輿，民所載也。小人剝廬，終不可用也。'The superior man finds himself in a carriage:'—he is carried along by the people. 'The small men (by their course) overthrow their own dwellings:'—they can never again be of use to them.
In plain words
The top line is the last strong line, 'a great fruit not eaten': the seed that survives the stripping and will become the returning yang of the next hexagram, Fu. The text then divides: 'the superior person gets a carriage, the small man strips his own hut.' The small Image explains both — the people carry the superior person (民所載也), because what endures is wanted back; the small man who tears down the last shelter has made himself useless for good (終不可用也). 程頤 reads the uneaten fruit as the principle of good that can be reduced but never exhausted; this line is the reason the Tuan says the superior person 'honours waxing and waning'.
If this line is changing
You are the last of something, and the point is not to be consumed: hold on to the principle without spending it, and those who stripped everything else will find they need you.
Where the line stands
- A solid line, yang — written 九 (nine), the number of an old yang line that moves when cast.
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
- It belongs to the upper trigram 艮 Gen (Keeping Still) (mountain).
- It corresponds (應) with line 3: one yin and one yang, the two lines answer each other across the hexagram.
之卦 When this line moves
剝 Peeling Away becomes ䷁ 2 坤 Earth
Pure yin: the earth that carries everything. Strength through receptiveness, patience and service; success comes from following a good lead rather than forcing the front, like a mare steady on the open plain.
What it becomes2 · 坤 EarthkūnThe 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 Nine at the top of hexagram 23, Peeling Away, mean?
- The top line is the last strong line, 'a great fruit not eaten': the seed that survives the stripping and will become the returning yang of the next hexagram, Fu. The text then divides: 'the superior person gets a carriage, the small man strips his own hut.' The small Image explains both — the people carry the superior person (民所載也), because what endures is wanted back; the small man who tears down the last shelter has made himself useless for good (終不可用也). 程頤 reads the uneaten fruit as the principle of good that can be reduced but never exhausted; this line is the reason the Tuan says the superior person 'honours waxing and waning'.
- What does hexagram 23 become when line 6 changes?
- Peeling Away becomes hexagram 2, 坤 Earth: Pure yin: the earth that carries everything. Strength through receptiveness, patience and service; success comes from following a good lead rather than forcing the front, like a mare steady on the open plain.
- Is line 6 of Peeling Away in its correct place?
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).