Hexagram 23, Bō (Splitting Apart): Line 6 (top)

剥卦上九 · 山地剥 · 中文版

上九:硕果不食,君子得舆,小人剥庐。

The line (Legge)

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.

Small Image commentary

'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.

象曰:君子得舆,民所载也。小人剥庐,终不可用也。

In plain words

A large fruit left uneaten: the noble person gains a carriage, the petty person strips his own house. The top line is the one yang line left, like the last fruit on the branch, holding the seed of new life. For the noble person it means the people's support; the petty person tears down even his own shelter. The Small Image says the noble person is carried by the people, and the petty person in the end cannot be used.

Applying it to your situation

If things have been stripped down to the last bit, this line suggests keeping that "seed" safe. What most needs to be kept right now?

Position

A solid (yang) line in the top place, which is a yin (even) place, so it is not in its proper place. Its partner is line 3; one is yin and the other yang, so they respond to each other.

If this line moves

With this line moving alone, Bō changes into Hexagram 2 Kūn (The Receptive). The Jiaoshi Yilin verse for this change (Chinese): 焦氏易林·剥之坤.

The hexagram

Hexagram 23 Bō (Splitting Apart). The Judgment: Bo indicates that (in the state which it symbolises) it will not be advantageous to make a movement in any direction whatever.

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English text: James Legge, The Yi King (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16, 1882), public domain, as transcribed by the Chinese Text Project. Chinese: the received text. Offered for study and reflection, not as prediction. Plain-English readings and position notes by this site.

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