Splitting Apart
剝Bo
No. 23 · Mountain over Earth
Bo (Splitting Apart)
Five yin lines eat their way up from below until only one yang line is left at the top. Good things are peeling away layer by layer. It is not a time to push outward; protect what matters most.
Cast your own hexagramThings are peeling away. What is good is draining off, and the wrong forces are growing. The Judgment says plainly that going forward doesn't pay. The job now is to hold on to what is essential, cut losses and wait for the tide to turn.
Favorable
- Protect your core resources
- Cut losses and hold cash
- Keep your home steady
- Distance yourself from saboteurs
Avoid
- Opening a new front
- Doubling down
- Pushing people to commit
- Following the petty crowd
Work and money
- Job search
- Job hunting or switching is unfavorable right now; the Judgment says going forward doesn't pay. If your company is sliding, hold your seat and your skills, update your resume quietly, and move once things hit bottom.
- Business
- Little room for launching or new deals. Bo (Splitting Apart) starts rotting at the bed's legs, so trouble tends to sit at the base: cash flow, staffing, supply. Stop the bleeding, close losing lines and keep the uneaten fruit as seed money.
- Money
- Your assets are at risk of erosion, such as ongoing losses or being slowly drained. Stop the bleeding and hold cash. Don't add to positions, and don't borrow to expand.
Love and people
- Single
- Meeting someone is hard for now, and your confidence feels like it is being worn down. Look after yourself and your life first, pause with the season, and don't lower your standards just to pair up.
- In a relationship
- The relationship is slowly wearing thin, with cracks starting in small daily things and creeping upward. Don't push them to declare anything now. Take care of the basics at home; the Image's secure house matters more than winning the argument.
- Getting back together
- The odds are low while things are still sliding, and chasing only strips more away. Step back and live well for now. The hexagram after Bo (Splitting Apart) is Fu (Return); if a way back exists, it comes later.
- People and partnerships
- Someone in the partnership is dragging things down, and the petty side is gaining ground, so don't widen the collaboration. The third line stands alone among the yin lines and answers the top line, hence no blame: keep your distance and side with the right person.
Daily life
- Exams and study
- Your grades or focus are slipping, like a mountain wearing away point by point. Don't switch study methods or add new subjects now. Rebuild the basic concepts and protect the marks you already have.
- Moving and travel
- Long trips and moves somewhere unfamiliar are unfavorable. If you must move, choose a place with a sound foundation and good condition; the image is a mountain resting on the earth, so stability comes first.
- Body and mind
- You may feel drained, your energy seeping away bit by bit. Protect your sleep first and cut back on the people and tasks that use you up. If something physical is wrong, don't just tough it out; book a visit with a doctor.
Traditional questions
- Something you are waiting for
- Slow. Things are likely still getting worse for now, and news tends to come only once the slide hits bottom and turns. Don't keep chasing it; pushing usually brings the bad news first.
- Disputes and lawsuits
- Unfavorable to you. The other side is gaining strength, and fighting hard tends to mean losing round after round. Settle if you can and contain the losses. The fourth line's split reaches the skin; don't let it get that far.
- Lost things and people
- Hard to recover; it may have been broken up or taken. If you search, look low, on the floor or in piles of fabric (Kun), or in stone corners, wall corners and spots by the door (Gen).
Making a decision
Hold off for now. Push big decisions back and put your energy into patching the holes at the bottom.
If you are…
Bo (Splitting Apart) peels away from the bottom up, and it is hard to say whether the next round reaches you. Do your work well, keep your skills and contacts current, and update your resume quietly. Don't grab a new project or quit on a gamble now.
Bo (Splitting Apart) wears things down from below, and so does a house: foundation and plumbing problems left alone spread upward. Spend first on the structure and the leaks, and put the remodel and new furniture on hold. The Image says to secure the house; sound beats pretty.
This is the reading when no line is changing. With changing lines, Zhu Xi’s method says which line to read, and the result page after a casting tells you directly.
不利有攸往。
It does not pay to have somewhere to go.
Mountain over Earth: Gen (Mountain) above, Kun (Earth) below. Five yin lines sit under a single yang line, and the yin wears the yang away from beneath, like a high mountain weathering until it nearly collapses onto the ground. That is Bo (Splitting Apart).
Six at the beginning
剝牀以足，蔑貞凶。
The bed is split apart starting at its legs. The upright is worn away. Misfortune.
Problems are surfacing at the lowest level, such as frontline staff quitting or small rules being broken again and again. It doesn't look serious yet, but the line text warns of misfortune. Patch it now, before it climbs.
Small Image: 剝牀以足，以滅下也。
Six in the second place
剝牀以辨，蔑貞凶。
The bed is split apart at the frame where it meets the legs. The upright is worn away. Misfortune.
The erosion has reached the structure, and no one nearby can help. The risk is trying to hold it all up alone. Protect the core first, actively ask for support, and stop it from spreading further.
Small Image: 剝牀以辨，未有與也。
Six in the third place
剝之，无咎。
In the midst of the splitting apart. No blame.
The whole environment is sliding and people are grabbing what they can. You choose the right side and don't join in. You may drift away from your old circle, but you are not wrong to do it.
Small Image: 剝之无咎，失上下也。
Six in the fourth place
剝牀以膚，凶。
The bed is split apart down to the skin of the one lying on it. Misfortune.
The problem now cuts into you directly, touching your income, your position or your reputation. The line text calls this misfortune. Stop waiting to see, cut your losses now and pull back to safe ground.
Small Image: 剝牀以膚，切近災也。
Six in the fifth place
貫魚，以宮人寵，无不利。
Like fish strung on a line, leading the palace ladies to receive favor in turn. Nothing is unfavorable.
You lead a group. In an unfavorable situation, guide everyone to work with those above in an orderly way, without fighting for attention or acting on impulse. Done this way, things go smoothly on all sides.
Small Image: 以宮人寵，終无尤也。
Nine at the top
碩果不食，君子得輿，小人剝廬。
A great fruit is left uneaten. The noble person gains a carriage; the petty person strips away his own house.
The damage has run its course, and you are the seed that remains. Those who hold steady are carried forward by others and start again. Those who only hollow things out end up tearing down their own shelter.
Small Image: 君子得輿，民所載也。小人剝廬，終不可用也。
剝，剝也，柔變剛也。不利有攸往，小人長也。順而止之，觀象也。君子尚消息盈虛，天行也。
Bo (Splitting Apart) means stripping away: the yielding is changing the firm. It does not pay to have somewhere to go, because the petty person is growing. Go along with the times and stop: this comes from contemplating the image. The noble person honors the rhythm of waning and waxing, fullness and emptiness, because this is the course of heaven.
The Image山附於地，剝；上以厚下，安宅。
The mountain rests upon the earth: this is Bo (Splitting Apart). Those above, seeing this, make the foundation below generous and solid, so that the house stands secure.
The Sequence: why it comes here致飾然後亨，則盡矣，故受之以剝；剝者剝也。
The previous hexagram, Bi (Grace), is about adornment. Once adornment is pushed to the limit, success is used up, so Bi is followed by Bo (Splitting Apart). Bo means stripping away and wearing down.
Miscellaneous Notes剝爛也，復反也。
Bo (Splitting Apart) is rotting, like fruit so ripe it spoils and falls apart; its pair, Fu (Return), is coming back. One is decline run to its end, the other is the start of the return.
Related hexagramsFAQ
What does Bo mean for love?
Meeting someone is hard for now, and your confidence feels like it is being worn down. Look after yourself and your life first, pause with the season, and don't lower your standards just to pair up. The relationship is slowly wearing thin, with cracks starting in small daily things and creeping upward. Don't push them to declare anything now. Take care of the basics at home; the Image's secure house matters more than winning the argument.
What does Bo mean for work?
Job hunting or switching is unfavorable right now; the Judgment says going forward doesn't pay. If your company is sliding, hold your seat and your skills, update your resume quietly, and move once things hit bottom. Your team or company may be on a downhill stretch, with people leaving and systems loosening. Look after your core skills and key relationships first. This is not the moment to open a new front.
With Bo, will what I am waiting for come?
Slow. Things are likely still getting worse for now, and news tends to come only once the slide hits bottom and turns. Don't keep chasing it; pushing usually brings the bad news first.
With Bo, will I find what I lost?
Hard to recover; it may have been broken up or taken. If you search, look low, on the floor or in piles of fabric (Kun), or in stone corners, wall corners and spots by the door (Gen).
A hexagram answers one question; your chart shows the whole of you and your year.
The classical text follows the standard edition of the Zhouyi. The plain readings are Xingge’s own, offered as a reference, not as the final word.