Top line of Po / Splitting Apart

The Judgment in Hexagram 23, Po says:
Splitting Apart. It does not further one to go anywhere.

Due to the time, it is not favorable for the superior man to undertake anything. Therefore he waits for a more favorable time.

Nine at the top means:
There is a large fruit still uneaten. The superior man receives a carriage. The house of the inferior man is split apart.

Commentary:

Here the splitting apart reaches its end. When misfortune has spent itself, better times return. The seed of the good remains, and it is just when the fruit falls to the ground that good sprouts anew from its seed.

The superior man again attains influence and effectiveness. He is supported by public opinion as if in a carriage. But the inferior man’s wickedness is visited upon himself. His house is split apart.

A law of nature is at work here. Evil is not destructive to the good alone but inevitably destroys itself as well.
[W/B]

Comments:

If we look at the recent upheavals in the high street and investment banks in the US, perhaps Yi students can understand the wisdoms contained in the Judgment, the Great Image and the six lines of Po.

The Junzi at the top line has ensured his or her position by giving generously to those below. Therefore the public gives their support carrying him, going forward.

The Xiao Ren who wielded influence by sharing pecuniary gains with others through possible collusion and hoodwinking ‘less intelligent’ investors (the old fools) are now forced upon to retire and held accountable for their failures. Many innocent bystanders (the investors) have suffered more than them in monetary terms in the recent turmoil and credit crunch in the global financial markets, a consequence of previous wrongful actions by these inferior men.

Payback time has come and the inferior men’s houses are beginning to split apart. If regulators are allowed to properly discharge their duties, the real culprits have nowhere to hide. (Think of recent investigations into global ratings agencies and a back-to-back arrangement to dispose of CDOs ‘with recourse’ to the seller)

It seems that Citibank has quickly forgotten its dilemma back in the early 1990s where it had to source the world for an investor to take up 25% of new share capital for about 900 millions of dollars. According to recent reports, there is a much bigger hole to fill in, this time round. The worst thing is that no one knows the collateral damage.

The total expected fallout from the CDOs and other derivatives can be frightening if readers know the published figures since the amount of US home loans is so huge, more than doubled the current size of the US Government debt securities. (Read Bloomberg online for more information, if interested.)

Therefore if you decide to wade into the stock market after a huge plunge, be careful.

Meanwhile try not to stand in the middle of the mountain.

Cheerio!