About Harmen Mesker

“Although I have met Harmen only once, I have corresponded with him for over a decade concerning problems in the interpretation of the Yi jing. He is completely abreast of all of the latest discoveries and publications in this field, and is fully able to make his own contributions both to the history of the text and also to its current interpretation. In his reading of the text, he is able to make use of ancient bronze inscriptions, medieval medical texts, and contemporary practice. The only other scholar in the field that I know who is equally well versed in the entire history of the Yi jing is Richard Smith, George and Nancy Rupp Professor of Humanities Emeritus of Rice University. Although I have never visited Harmen in the Netherlands, I understand from colleagues there that he is a respected member of their Sinological community, often participating in the reading of diverse types of texts written in classical Chinese. I know from his work on the Yi jing that he is a very careful scholar, and I am sure that this carries over to all aspects of his professional life. I recommend him very highly.”

“Harmen and I share a deep and abiding interest in the Yijing, and I have learned a great deal from him over the years. Harmen is a supremely gifted autodidact, with what I think of as a particularly Dutch gift for languages. He is well-versed in Classical Chinese (the language of the Yijing), and his English is excellent. He also has experience teaching about the Yijing in English, as one can see from his personal website and his cleverly conceived and executed YouTube channel called YiTube. YiTube has already shown, and it will continue to show, useful instructional videos on the history, theories and practices of the Yijing. Another example of Harmen’s useful English-language pedagogy is his “Translation Notes”. From our robust correspondence, and from reading his published and unpublished work in English, I can see that Harmen Mesker is a person of incisive intelligence, with a probing, inquisitive mind and an extremely generous intellectual spirit.”

“I have known Mr. Mesker over two decades, since he first contacted me with questions about the meaning of passages in the Yijing. Mr. Mesker is a rare example of the classical Chinese autodidact. In the years I have known him, his knowledge has grown from that of the neophyte to the level of accomplished scholar without the advantage of formal academic training. Such an achievement is unheard of in the contemporary scholarly world and is indisputable testimony of his intellect. While Harmen Mesker has not published in traditional scholarly venues, he is well-known in the field of Yi studies, at the very least because of the intellectual dialogues he has maintained with leaders in the field. I personally cited him in my own recent translation of the Zhouyi (Harrassowitz, 2015), and consulted his work on Jing Fang's bagong "Eight Palaces" system in my book on Ancient Chinese Divination (Hawaii, 2008). Mesker's online "Translation Notes" are enlightening, and Yijing aficionados worldwide eagerly await additions to his website. We are fortunate that Harmen Mesker has chosen to share his substantial knowledge with practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine in the West. I recommend him without qualification.”