Hexagram 23 for love
Hexagram 23 Peeling Away in love and relationships
Bo is the mountain resting on the earth, worn down from beneath: five yielding lines have risen under a single strong one, and the judgment is blunt — 'not favourable to go anywhere.' In a relationship it describes erosion rather than rupture: support stripped away from the legs of the bed to the frame to the skin, by habits or people nobody confronted while there was time. The Tuan's counsel is 'yield and stop', watching the pattern of waxing and waning rather than fighting it.
The lines give the stages. The first two are decay no one feels; the third keeps faith with what is right while others pull it down; the fourth is harm that has reached the body and cannot be undone; the fifth is the surprising turn in which the many choose to serve the one; the sixth is the fruit not eaten — the one thing worth keeping, which seeds what comes next. The stance is to stop, protect what remains, and give to those beneath you, as the Great Image says.
The hexagram in brief
The mountain worn down by the earth beneath: yin has grown until one yang line remains at the top. Not a time to go anywhere; the structure is peeling away.
Hold still, give generously to those below, and preserve the last seed — the big fruit at the top is not eaten and will sprout again.
The judgment
剝：不利有攸往。Po indicates that (in the state which it symbolises) it will not be advantageous to make a movement in any direction whatever.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 剝 Peeling Away has its own page:
- 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
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Is hexagram 23, Peeling Away, a good sign for love?
- Bo is the mountain resting on the earth, worn down from beneath: five yielding lines have risen under a single strong one, and the judgment is blunt — 'not favourable to go anywhere.' In a relationship it describes erosion rather than rupture: support stripped away from the legs of the bed to the frame to the skin, by habits or people nobody confronted while there was time. The Tuan's counsel is 'yield and stop', watching the pattern of waxing and waning rather than fighting it.
- What does Hexagram 23, 剝 Peeling Away, mean?
- The mountain worn down by the earth beneath: yin has grown until one yang line remains at the top. Not a time to go anywhere; the structure is peeling away.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).