Also known as Splitting Apart, Stripping Away, Peeling.
The character 剝 means to peel or strip away. Hexagram 23 is about a time when things are falling apart, often from below, as weaker forces wear away what's left. It's hard to draw, but it isn't hopeless. The advice is to stop pushing, protect your foundation and wait for the turn that hexagram 24 brings.
The figure
Mountain over Earth. Five broken lines rise from the bottom, and a single solid line hangs on at the top. It looks like a house whose supports are rotting away, or a mountain crumbling onto the plain.
The judgment
Not the time to set out.
This is not the moment to start anything or push forward. Movement now only speeds the collapse.
The image
The mountain wearing down onto the ground it sits on. Thicken what is underneath and the house stands.
When things erode, the remedy is to strengthen the base. Look after the people and the basics below you, and the structure holds.
The six lines
Counted from the bottom, the way the figure is built when you cast it.
- Line 1, at the bottom. The leg of the bed splits. Those who hold on are undermined. It goes badly. The erosion has started at the base.
- Line 2. The bed splits at the frame. Those who hold on are undermined. It goes badly. It's getting closer, and there are fewer allies.
- Line 3. Breaking away from the group that's doing the damage. Not a mistake. Siding with what's right, even alone, is sound.
- Line 4. The bed splits right up to the skin. It goes badly. Now it touches you directly.
- Line 5. A line of fish, led by the court ladies. Favor, and everything helps. The weak forces line up and come under good direction.
- Line 6, at the top. A large fruit left uneaten. The good person gets a carriage. The petty person's house falls in. The last solid line is the seed of renewal.
Reading it for a question
Hexagram 23 says don't fight the decline head on, and don't start anything new. Strengthen your foundations, stay true and let what's rotten fall. Renewal comes after, in hexagram 24.