23.	 Po
     	 Disintegration.

Upper Trigram: Ken; Inaction, a Mountain.
Lower Trigram: K'un; Passive Principle, Earth.

Governing Rulers: Top-most nine.
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The Image:
A mountain resting on the earth: the image of Po.
Superiors, in accordance with this, seek to strengthen those below them, to secure the peace and stability of their own position.
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Miscellaneous Signs:                                             (24)
In Po we see its subject worn away,
In Fu recovering from decay.
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The Judgement:
Po indicates that in the state which it symbolises, it will not be advantageous to make a movement in any direction whatever.

Commentary:
Po denotes overthrowing or being overthrown. We see the weak lines threatening to change the last strong line into a weak one.
That 'it will not be advantageous to make a movement in any direction whatever', appears from the fact that the small men are now growing and increasing. 
The superior man acts according to the exigency of the time, and stops all forward movement, looking at the significance of the symbolism in the hexagram. He values the processes of decrease and increase, of fulness and decadence, as seen in the movements of the heavenly bodies.
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The Lines:

Six in the bottom place:
Showing its subject overthrowing the couch by destroying its legs. Destruction will proceed to include all firm correctness; and there will be evil.
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Six in the second place:
Showing its subject overthrowing the couch by destroying its frame. Destruction will proceed to include all firm correctness; and there will be evil.
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Six in the third place:
Showing its subject among the overthrowers; but there will be no error.
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Six in the fourth place:
Showing its subject having overthrown the couch, and proceeding to injure the skin of him who lies on it. There will be evil.
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Six in the fifth place:
Showing its subject leading 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.
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Top-most nine:
 O
Showing 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.
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Commentaries:

Six in the bottom place:
'He overthrows the couch by destroying its legs', thus he begins his work of ruin with what is lowest in the superior man.
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Six in the second place:
'He overthrows the couch by destroying its frame': the superior man has as yet no associates.
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Six in the third place:
That 'there will be no error on the part of this one among the overthrowers', arises from the difference between him and the others above and below.
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Six in the fourth place:
'He has overthrown the couch, and proceeds to injure the skin of him who lies on it': calamity is very near at hand!
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Six in the fifth place:
'He obtains for them the favour that lights on the inmates of the palace': in the end there will be no grudge against him.
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Top-most nine:
'The superior man find himself in a carriage': he is carried along by the people.
'The small men, by their course, overthrow their own dwellings': and never again can they be of use to them.
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