剝
“Stripping” — King Wen #23
Things are being stripped away. Decline runs its course — endure, preserve, do not force action.
The Judgment 卦辞
不利有攸往。
Bo indicates that (in the state which it symbolises) it will not be advantageous to make a movement in any direction whatever.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
剝床以足，蔑貞；凶。
The first SIX, divided, shows one overturning the couch by injuring its legs. (The injury will go on to) the destruction of (all) firm correctness, and there will be evil.
剝床以辨，蔑貞凶。
The second SIX, divided, shows one overthrowing the couch by injuring its frame. (The injury will go on to) the destruction of (all) firm correctness, and there will be evil.
剝之，無咎。
The third SIX, divided, shows its subject among the overthrowers; but there will be no error.
剝床以膚，凶。
The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject having overthrown the couch, and (going to injure) the skin (of him who lies on it). There will be evil.
貫魚以宮人寵，無不利。
The fifth SIX, divided, shows (its subject leading on the others like) a string of fishes, and (obtaining for them) the favour that lights on the inmates of the palace. There will be advantage in every way.
碩果不食，君子得輿，小人剝廬。
The topmost NINE, 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.
Reading the Picture
Hexagram 23 places earth (坤) beneath mountain (艮) —receptive ground holding all things below, stillness holding its ground above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Stripping”:things are being stripped away. Decline runs its course — endure, preserve, do not force action Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
Questions About Hexagram 23
What does 剝 (bō) mean?
Hexagram 23 of the I Ching is named 剝 (bō), usually rendered "Stripping" in English editions. Its figure pairs earth (坤) below with mountain (艮) above.
Which trigrams form hexagram 23?
艮 (Mountain) sits above and 坤 (Earth) sits below — the classical picture is receptive ground holding all things beneath stillness holding its ground.
How is hexagram 23 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 23 gives hexagram 43 — 夬 (Displacement). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 24 — 復 (Returning). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 2 — 坤 (Field).
Ask your own question
Reading about hexagram 23 is looking it up. Casting it — shaking the tube, watching your own coins fall — is how an answer becomes yours.
Cast this question yourselfNew to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.