Upper trigram
☶
Mountain (Gen) above
Stillness and limit.
FamilyYoungest son
ElementEarth
Hexagram 23 of 64
I Ching hexagram 23 ☶☷ Splitting Apart
I Ching hexagram 23, Splitting Apart, is mountain above, earth below. In brief: decay from below; do not resist, wait. Its one solid line stands in place 6, counting from the bottom; the other five are broken.
- Lines, bottom up
- ⚋⚋⚋⚋⚋⚊ 000001 · 1 = solid
- Trigrams
- Mountain over Earth Gen ☶ / Kun ☷
- Every line changed
- № 43 Breakthrough
- In Legge, 1882
- p. 105 Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16
Legge, The Yî King, 1882.
Lower trigram
☷
Earth (Kun) below
Receptive yielding.
FamilyMother
ElementEarth
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What the text says, in plain terms
The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 23
The Judgement
Things are coming apart from below. The situation favors holding still rather than starting anything; resisting the decline directly only speeds it.
The Image
A mountain resting on the earth, its base wearing away. The lesson is that those who hold a high position stay secure only by giving generously to those who support them.
A summary of meaning written for this site, not a translation — James Legge’s 1882 translation of the full text follows below. How the Judgement and the Image are read, and which translations to use →
Primary source
Hexagram 23 in James Legge’s translation
“Po indicates that (in the state which it symbolises) it will not be advantageous to make a movement in any direction whatever.”
“(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 lines
- Line 1 · bottom The first line, 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.
- Line 2 The second line, 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.
- Line 3 The third line, divided, shows its subject among the overthrowers; but there will be no error.
- Line 4 The fourth line, divided, shows its subject having overthrown the couch, and (going to injure) the skin (of him who lies on it). There will be evil.
- Line 5 The fifth line, 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.
- Line 6 · top The topmost line, 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.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 105 — read the original text.
Words in parentheses are Legge’s own: in his preface he explains that they supply what the original writer left unsaid. “Undivided” and “divided” are his terms for yang and yin lines, counted from the bottom. The Image comes from the second appendix of the book, the Treatise on the Symbolism.
Splitting Apart for a decision
Do not launch, expand or fight right now. Protect what is essential, strengthen your base and let what is collapsing finish collapsing.
I Ching 23 in love and relationships
Erosion of trust or closeness. Pushing for answers can make it worse; patience and care for the foundation are the better course.
Hexagram 23 at work
Decline, cuts or undermining from within. Conserve resources and look after the people who keep things running.
The six lines of hexagram 23
Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yin yin yin yin yin yang — what each position means.
One line is yang and five are yin. Two of the six stand in their proper place, and the pair 3–6 answers.
What the two trigrams do to each other
Inner and outer
Earth below — receptive yielding — is the private, inner side of hexagram 23.
Mountain above — stillness and limit — is the world that side meets.
The five-element relation
Both trigrams are Earth, so nothing in the figure pulls against anything else. That makes the reading unusually single-minded — and unusually short of internal correction.
Read as a family
The youngest son sits above and the mother below. A child over a parent — an inversion of the expected order, and usually read as a situation where the junior position carries the initiative.
Calculated from the lines
Hexagrams connected to hexagram 23
Nuclear hexagram
2 · The Receptive
What is happening beneath the surface.
Lines 2–4 give Kun (Earth) as the lower trigram, lines 3–5 give Kun (Earth) as the upper.
Opposite hexagram
43 · Breakthrough
The situation turned inside out.
Change all six lines and Mountain over Earth becomes Lake over Heaven.
Inverse hexagram
24 · Return
The situation seen from the other side.
Turn the figure upside down and Mountain over Earth becomes Earth over Thunder.
None of these are assigned by an author — each follows from the arrangement of lines.
The image
Mountain above, Earth below.
Mountain over Earth: stillness and limit meeting receptive yielding.
Sources
Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “I Ching Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart.” Accessed October 27, 2026. https://astrohot.com/i-ching/hexagram/23/
For Wikipedia
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