Hexagram 23 — Stripping
King Wen #23 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Things are being stripped away. Decline runs its course — endure, preserve, do not force action.
What Hexagram 23 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 23 places earth (坤) beneath mountain (艮) — receptive ground holding all things below, stillness holding its ground above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Stripping”: things are being stripped away. Decline runs its course — endure, preserve, do not force action. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
山附於地，剝；上以厚下安宅。
(The trigrams representing) the earth, and (above it) that for a mountain, which adheres to the earth, form Po. Superiors, in accordance with this, seek to strengthen those below them, to secure the peace and stability of their own position.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
A mountain wearing down onto the earth: splitting apart. Those above strengthen what is below, and so secure their own house.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 23 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Stripping describes things are being stripped away. Decline runs its course — endure, preserve, do not force action — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: receptive ground holding all things, held inside a larger setting of stillness holding its ground. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Stripping about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: things are being stripped away. Decline runs its course — endure, preserve, do not force action. When lines move in your cast, read them against this base — the moving lines show which part of the figure is awake for you, and the changed hexagram shows where it is heading.
Questions About Hexagram 23
What does 剝 (bō) mean?
Hexagram 23 of the I Ching is named 剝 (bō), usually rendered "Stripping" in English editions. Its figure is built from earth (坤) below and mountain (艮) above — receptive ground holding all things beneath stillness holding its ground.
Is hexagram 23 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 23 contains no promise of easy good fortune — its six lines carry cautionary language instead of blessings. That is the point of the figure: it names a real difficulty, and its reading is about how to move through it, not whether it is comfortable.
What does hexagram 23 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Stripping points to things are being stripped away. Decline runs its course — endure, preserve, do not force action. The figure pairs earth (坤) beneath mountain (艮) — receptive ground holding all things meeting stillness holding its ground — which is the traditional picture of how this energy behaves between two people. For how to phrase a love question before casting, see our guide to asking the I Ching about love.
What does hexagram 23 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Stripping through the figure itself: earth (坤) below, mountain (艮) above — receptive ground holding all things held inside stillness holding its ground. The plain reading: Things are being stripped away. Decline runs its course — endure, preserve, do not force action. The text promises no easy good fortune; it names a difficulty to be worked through, so its counsel for money and work is caution before gain.
What do the changing lines of hexagram 23 mean?
A cast of hexagram 23 can produce moving lines. Each of the six lines has its own statement (爻辭) in the classical text below, read from the bottom up, and a moving line is read as the part of the figure that is awake for your question. When a line moves it turns into its opposite, and the whole figure becomes a second hexagram: changing every line of 23 gives hexagram 43, 夬 (Displacement). Every line also has a page of its own on this site — Line 1 through Line 6 under this hexagram — with the classical Chinese and Legge's translation side by side.
How is hexagram 23 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 23 gives hexagram 43 — 夬 (Displacement). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 24 — 復 (Returning). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 2 — 坤 (Field).
Cast it yourself
Shake the tube, watch your own coins fall.
- The hexagram's classical meaning — judgment and all six lines
- Moving lines marked — but not read for you
- No account, no email, nothing to pay
Get the reading, not just the text
Same cast, read all the way through:
- Every line read for you — what each moving line means inside your question
- The changed hexagram — where your situation is heading, and how to read the turn
- A closing that answers you directly — act, wait, or say it out loud
New to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
The Classical Text 經文
不利有攸往。
Bo indicates that (in the state which it symbolises) it will not be advantageous to make a movement in any direction whatever.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
剝床以足，蔑貞；凶。
The first SIX, divided, shows one overturning the couch by injuring its legs. (The injury will go on to) the destruction of (all) firm correctness, and there will be evil.
剝床以辨，蔑貞凶。
The second SIX, divided, shows one overthrowing the couch by injuring its frame. (The injury will go on to) the destruction of (all) firm correctness, and there will be evil.
剝之，無咎。
The third SIX, divided, shows its subject among the overthrowers; but there will be no error.
剝床以膚，凶。
The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject having overthrown the couch, and (going to injure) the skin (of him who lies on it). There will be evil.
貫魚以宮人寵，無不利。
The fifth SIX, divided, shows (its subject leading on the others like) a string of fishes, and (obtaining for them) the favour that lights on the inmates of the palace. There will be advantage in every way.
碩果不食，君子得輿，小人剝廬。
The topmost NINE, undivided, shows its subject (as) a great fruit which has not been eaten. The superior man finds (the people again) as a chariot carrying him. The small men (by their course) overthrow their own dwellings.
Line by Line 逐爻细读
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text.2 The Image (象傳) is an ancient text in the public domain; its plain-English gloss here is original to The Hexagrams, not a quotation from any copyrighted edition. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.