The 64 hexagrams · Hexagram 23

What does I Ching hexagram 23, Stripping Away, mean?

The judgment

剝：不利。有攸往。Stripping away: it doesn't pay to set out.Zhou Yi 周易, 剝, judgment. Source

The image

山附地上，剝；上以厚下，安宅。A mountain rests on the earth. Those above are generous to those below and make their homes secure.Zhou Yi 周易, 剝, image. Source

The six lines

Read from the bottom up. In a cast, only the lines that move are read, and they turn the hexagram into another one. Here they are in the original; a reading translates the moving lines and reads them for the question asked.

1. First line初六：剝牀以足，蔑貞凶。
2. Second line六二：剝牀以辨，蔑貞凶。
3. Third line六三：剝之，无咎。
4. Fourth line六四：剝牀以膚，凶。
5. Fifth line六五：貫魚，以宮人寵，无不利。
6. Top line上九：碩果不食，君子德車，小人剝廬。

The Chinese is the received text of the Zhou Yi; the English is ours. Lines and images that speak of punishments, prisons, illness or money are left out. For entertainment and self-reflection.

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