Splitting Apart

Bo 剝

Something is falling apart and dwindling, and it makes sense to let it go, not to force it together.

Lower trigramEarth (Kun 坤)

Upper trigramMountain (Gen 艮)

Themedisintegration, loss of support, patience

A question to reflect onWhat is peeling away from you and is not worth gluing back into place?

AdviceDo not take great steps — strengthen what still holds, and wait for strength to return from the lower end.

The sayings of the six lines

The disintegration begins from below and in secret — when you do not notice how your support vanishes, one day you stand on emptiness.
The dwindling moves higher and nearer — do not wait until it takes even what you lean on, and strengthen in time what still holds.
Even amid a general collapse you can calmly part from what drags you down and stay yourself.
When the collapse touches even those close to you, do not overlook it — here looking is no longer enough, you must act.
Even in a time of losses, order and good relations can be kept — take care of what still holds together around you.
At the very bottom of the collapse a hard core remains, from which strength returns — protect it, so there is something to begin again from.

The reading in practice

When to read Splitting Apart

When this image comes up

Hexagram 23, Splitting Apart, is best read at a moment when something like this is in play: something is falling apart and dwindling, and it makes sense to let it go, not to force it together. The main motif is not a label for the situation, but the direction in which your attention is meant to move.

What the situation asks for

The lower trigram Earth (Kun 坤) shows the inner movement, while the upper trigram Mountain (Gen 艮) shows the shape that turns outward. Do not take great steps — strengthen what still holds, and wait for strength to return from the lower end.

Work

At work, Splitting Apart does not ask only about performance. It leads you to let the theme "disintegration, loss of support, patience" show in your next step, your pace or your responsibility.

Relationships

In relationships this image is not a verdict on the other person. It rather opens the question of what should be said, borne or left to ripen: What is peeling away from you and is not worth gluing back into place?

Shadow / risk

The risk is to overdo the image's main motif: disintegration, loss of support, patience. The top line recalls the extreme form of the situation: At the very bottom of the collapse a hard core remains, from which strength returns — protect it, so there is something to begin again from.

A question for your journal

What is peeling away from you and is not worth gluing back into place? Write down one small step and come back to it in a few days.