Splitting apart — decline as the dark steadily undermines.
Conditions deteriorate and support falls away beneath you. Do not struggle against the inevitable; preserve yourself and wait. What is stripped bare will, in time, renew.
declinecautionendurancepatience
Splitting Apart places Mountain (still, resting) above Earth (receptive, devoted). The interplay of these two trigrams gives the hexagram its character.
The Classical Textoriginal Chinese
The Judgment · 卦辞
不利有攸往。
The Image · 大象
山附于地，剥；上以厚下，安宅。
The Six Lines · 爻辞
- 初六剥床以足，蔑贞凶。象曰：剥床以足，以灭下也。
- 六二剥床以辨，蔑贞凶。象曰：剥床以辨，未有与也。
- 六三剥之，无咎。象曰：剥之无咎，失上下也。
- 六四剥床以肤，凶。象曰：剥床以肤，切近灾也。
- 六五贯鱼，以宫人宠，无不利。象曰：以宫人宠，终无尤也。
- 上九硕果不食，君子得舆，小人剥庐。象曰：君子得舆，民所载也。小人剥庐，终不可用也。
The judgment, image and line texts above are quoted from the original Zhou Yi. A modern Chinese translation of the full classic is available on the original-text page.