An undertaking need not fail suddenly: the conditions supporting it may have been dwindling for some time. Splitting Apart depicts erosion from the outside inward through bed legs, bed frame, and skin, yet ends with a large fruit left uneaten. Reading it can help us recognize loss seriously without declaring collapse inevitable.
Identifying the hexagram
Bō is hexagram 23 in the traditional King Wen sequence, with the symbol ䷖. Its lower trigram is Kun ☷ and its upper trigram is Gen ☶; their traditional images are earth and mountain, respectively. Count the lines from the bottom: 初六, 六二, 六三, 六四, 六五, 上九. A solid line is yang and a broken line is yin. Nine and six in the line headings identify yang and yin; they do not indicate additional lines.
The six lines are numbered from the bottom upward; the figure below displays their actual positions from top to bottom.
━━━━━━ 上九
━━ ━━ 六五
━━ ━━ 六四
━━ ━━ 六三
━━ ━━ 六二
━━ ━━ 初六
Hexagram statement
剝：不利有攸往。
Editorial rendering: Splitting Apart: it is not favorable to have somewhere to go.
Following the Commentary on the Judgment and Legge’s reading, this article reads the statement continuously as advising against rash advance in this situation. The source webpage uses different modern punctuation, so the choice of phrasing is made explicit here.
This does not prohibit action forever. A contemporary approach first checks whether support is insufficient: which is being depleted, time, people, information, or trust? Expanding your investment before the answer is clear may make the problem harder to handle.
[zhouyi-23; legge1882-23]
Interpretation in the Ten Wings
The Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan zhuan) and the Commentary on the Images (Xiang zhuan) belong to the Yi zhuan, the commentaries commonly called the Ten Wings. Their interpretations are kept separate below from the hexagram and line statements, followed by applications for contemporary learning.
The Commentary on the Judgment discusses waxing and waning, fullness and emptiness, and stopping in accord with conditions. The Commentary on the Images uses a mountain resting on the earth and proposes “厚下，安宅”: strengthening what lies below to secure the dwelling. The commentaries connect stability with foundations.
Today this can prompt a check on usually inconspicuous conditions. Safeguarding core records, reallocating essential work, and removing parts that cannot be sustained are everyday analogies proposed by this article.
[zhouyi-23; hon-sep]
Six lines, from bottom to top
The quotations below are line statements; the explanations that follow are original learning commentary. Good fortune, no blame, and regret belong to ancient divinatory language and cannot be turned directly into guarantees about an individual’s future.
初六 · First notice erosion at the base
剝牀以足，蔑貞凶。
Editorial rendering: Stripping the bed at its legs; undermining right constancy brings misfortune.
The bed legs are damaged first. Legge places this within the gradual destruction of support. The image points to foundations; it does not predict broken furniture for the reader.
If an activity always relies on the same person filling gaps, ask how long that support can last. A genuine burden still exists even if nothing has yet gone wrong.
[zhouyi-23; legge1882-23]
六二 · The problem may have reached the connections
剝牀以辨，蔑貞凶。
Editorial rendering: Stripping the bed at its frame; undermining right constancy brings misfortune.
Bian, in Legge’s reading of the bed frame, moves the erosion upward. This and the first line are not interchangeable warnings, but changes in different parts of the image.
When handovers begin to break down, clarify missing information and responsibilities. Patching one surface error may not fix the failing connection that keeps producing errors.
[zhouyi-23; legge1882-23]
六三 · You can still make distinctions within change
剝之，无咎。
Editorial rendering: Taking part in stripping away: no blame.
This line is brief. Legge uses relationships among the lines to explain how someone among those involved in stripping away may still remain without blame. It cannot directly sort real people into good and bad.
A contemporary question is whether you are still enabling a harmful repeated practice and can stop participating in one part of it. That choice needs concrete reasons, not merely a declaration that the problem has nothing to do with you.
[zhouyi-23; legge1882-23]
六四 · Respond seriously when the effects reach the people concerned
剝牀以膚，凶。
Editorial rendering: Stripping the bed reaches the skin. Misfortune.
The image moves from a bed’s supports to skin, making erosion directly personal. Legge likewise preserves this increase in severity.
When depletion clearly affects ordinary life or safety, a casual appeal to positivity is not enough. Real problems need real support. This article does not diagnose health conditions or require anyone to wait for a hexagram to change.
[zhouyi-23; legge1882-23]
六五 · Recognize an image different from the preceding erosion
貫魚，以宮人寵，无不利。
Editorial rendering: Fish strung in order, with favor as for palace women. Nothing is unfavorable.
This line abruptly introduces strung fish and palace women receiving favor. Legge explains it through ancient court life and an ordered submission. Its historical setting must be acknowledged rather than treated as an ideal for contemporary relationships.
A contemporary association could be reorganizing relationships and arrangements so that each part has a clear place. This does not endorse flattering the powerful or controlling members, and does not predict who will be favored.
[zhouyi-23; legge1882-23]
上九 · Notice what can still be preserved
碩果不食，君子得輿，小人剝廬。
Editorial rendering: A large fruit remains uneaten. The exemplary person gains a carriage; the petty person strips away the dwelling.
A large uneaten fruit, someone receiving a carriage’s support, and someone stripping away a dwelling present different outcomes. Legge uses them to discuss remaining strength and support.
Even if a plan must end, useful records, experience, and trustworthy connections can be preserved. What to keep must be decided from facts; this does not mean losses will automatically be compensated afterward.
[zhouyi-23; legge1882-23]
A longstanding publication prepares to reduce its scope
Original contemporary scenario
The following contemporary scenario was created for learning.
The main editor of a volunteer publication has less and less time, while other members often supply material at the last minute. Instead of announcing an expanded next issue, the coordinator calculates the workload people can actually sustain and asks which sections still have willing owners.
The group reduces the number of sections, preserves materials already organized, and clearly informs readers of the changes. Collaborations that cannot continue are properly concluded, rather than maintaining appearances through one person’s constant overextension.
This is more than comforting oneself after failure. The learning question in Splitting Apart is to acknowledge changing support, protect what remains valuable, and then decide whether and how to continue.
Common misreadings
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Splitting Apart does not predict bankruptcy, illness, or the inevitable end of a relationship. Depletion requires assessment through actual evidence.
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Images of the bed, skin, and dwelling cannot replace medical or building-safety judgments. Where real danger is involved, appropriate professional help is needed.
Three practices
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List three conditions that sustain an undertaking and check which shows clear signs of weakening.
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Choose one drain that can be reduced and explain how the reduction protects core needs.
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If the undertaking must close, write down the experience and records worth preserving and the handover responsibilities to fulfill.
Related reading
Return (hexagram-24)
Splitting Apart helps examine loss and preservation; Return helps consider coming back and correcting course. Read together, they do not form an automatic timetable for better luck, but offer two learning perspectives that require real-world conditions.
Closing question
When reading Splitting Apart, ask: am I caring for the real supports, or merely trying to make things look as they did before?
Textual note
Following the Commentary on the Judgment and Legge, the statement is read continuously as “不利有攸往.” The top nine uses the explicitly listed variant 得輿; the source page’s main text has 德車.
Sources
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legge1882-23: The Yî King — Hexagram 23, chapter XXIII, judgement, six lines and notes
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unicode-hexagrams: Yijing Hexagram Symbols — U+4DC0–U+4DFF
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legge-scan-rights: Sacred Books of the East volume16 scan metadata
Classical quotations retain the Chinese source’s character forms and modern punctuation. The commentary is translated from original Simplified Chinese learning prose. The historical English source and received Chinese text are used together, and interpretations by later translators are attributed in the article. This article is not a basis for medical, investment, or other professional decisions.