What if the I Ching we know today—a deep book of wisdom and philosophy—is not the book its creators originally wrote?
This big question drives the work of Harmen Mesker, a Dutch scholar who studies ancient China. He believes that to truly understand the I Ching, we must go back to its roots using archaeology, language study, and newly found ancient texts. His research tries to find the original meaning of the Zhouyi, the core text of the I Ching, often challenging what people have believed for hundreds of years.
This article will explore who Harmen Mesker is and explain his groundbreaking methods. We will look at a real example of his work and discuss what his findings mean for anyone studying the I Ching today. Think of it as a trip back in time to the raw, vivid world of ancient China.
Who is Harmen Mesker?
To understand why his claims matter, we first need to know about the scholar himself. Harmen Mesker's work is based on deep knowledge of early Chinese history and language, not just guesswork.
A Profile in Sinology
Harmen Mesker is a Dutch scholar who focuses on ancient Chinese culture and texts, especially from the Shang and Zhou dynasties. You can find his work on his blog, YouTube channel, and in books like The Original I Ching, where he carefully shows how he does his research.
His authority comes from his special skills in reading China's oldest written records. He's not just a philosopher but more like a language detective. His main expertise is in paleography, which means studying ancient writing systems.
He studies the earliest Chinese writing, which helps him understand the Zhouyi in its original setting.
- Paleography & Archaic Chinese
- Excavated Manuscripts
- Zhou Dynasty History and Ritual
This lets him read the I Ching through the eyes of its first writers, not later commentators, by comparing its language to texts written on bone, bronze, and bamboo from the same time period.
Traditional vs. Original
The key to Harmen Mesker's work is an important difference: the Yijing is not the same as the Zhouyi. People often use these terms to mean the same thing, but they are two different layers of the text, created centuries apart.
The Core: Zhouyi
The Zhouyi is the original part of the text, from the Western Zhou Dynasty. It only includes the 64 hexagrams, their names, and the short, often puzzling statements for each of the six lines.
It was probably used as a practical divination manual. It dealt with real Zhou Dynasty concerns: war, farming, royal hunts, sacrifices, and court appointments. The language is concrete and straightforward.
The Classic: Yijing
The Yijing, or Book of Changes, combines the Zhouyi text with later commentaries called the "Ten Wings." These were added hundreds of years later, mainly during the late Warring States and Han Dynasty periods.
The Ten Wings turned the practical Zhouyi into the philosophical classic we know today. These later writers, influenced by early Confucian and Daoist ideas, filled the text with concepts about the cosmos, ethics, self-improvement, and the balance of yin and yang.
This difference isn't just an academic detail; it's the foundation for an archaeological reading. To understand the original building, we must first identify and set aside the later additions.
| Feature | Zhouyi (The Original Text) | Yijing (The Classic) |
|---|---|---|
| Time Period | Western Zhou (~1046-771 BCE) | Text + Commentaries from Warring States/Han (~475 BCE - 220 CE) |
| Content | Hexagrams, Line Statements | Zhouyi text + The "Ten Wings" commentaries |
| Primary Use | Practical Divination (war, harvest, ritual) | Philosophical inquiry, cosmology, ethics, moral cultivation |
| Language | Archaic, concrete, often literal | Abstract, symbolic, philosophical |
Mesker's Archaeological Method
Harmen Mesker reads the I Ching like an archaeologist digs at a site. He tries to carefully remove layers of built-up soil—in this case, centuries of philosophical commentary—to reveal the original structure underneath.
Primacy of Archaic Language
The basic idea is simple: a text must be read in the language of its time. Chinese characters have changed their meanings dramatically over 3,000 years. A character that meant "river" in 1000 BCE might have come to mean "danger" or "flow" by 200 CE, and something even more abstract by 1000 CE.
Using a Han Dynasty dictionary to understand a Western Zhou text doesn't work well. It would be like trying to understand Beowulf using only a modern English dictionary; you might get some words right but miss the real meaning and cultural context.
Tools of the Trade
So how do we recover these ancient meanings? Harmen Mesker compares the characters in the Zhouyi with other texts written during the same period. His main tools are the oldest surviving written records from China.
The most important sources are oracle bone inscriptions from the late Shang and early Zhou, and bronze inscriptions from the Zhou Dynasty. These texts aren't philosophical works; they record real life events. An oracle bone might record a king asking about a toothache or an upcoming battle. A bronze vessel might celebrate a military victory or a royal gift.
When a character from the Zhouyi appears on one of these artifacts, it provides a valuable clue. It shows how the word was used in a real, non-metaphorical context, helping us better understand its original meaning.
Challenging Received Tradition
This method requires discipline. It means temporarily setting aside the Ten Wings and all the philosophical tradition that comes from them. The goal isn't to prove that the philosophical interpretations of Confucius or Wang Bi are "wrong."
Instead, the goal is to see what the text says without them. It's an act of historical recovery. The philosophical tradition is valid and profound, but it is a later layer. Harmen Mesker's work is to dig up the foundation upon which that later philosophy was built.
The process can be summed up in five steps:
- Isolate the original Zhouyi text, separating it from the Ten Wings.
- Identify a key character or phrase within a line statement.
- Search for this character's usage in contemporary sources like oracle bones and bronze inscriptions.
- Reconstruct the character's original, concrete meaning based on its use in these practical contexts.
- Re-read the I Ching line with this new, historically-grounded understanding.
Case Study: Hexagram 2
To see how powerful this method is, let's look at Hexagram 2, Kūn. This example shows the dramatic difference an archaeological reading can make.
The Traditional View
In the traditional, philosophical Yijing, Hexagram 2 is known as Kūn (坤), The Receptive. It perfectly balances Hexagram 1, The Creative. It represents Yin: the Earth, motherhood, yielding, submission, and all things feminine and nurturing.
The judgment text, "The Receptive brings about sublime success, furthering through the perseverance of a mare," is seen as advice to achieve success through gentle, supportive action rather than aggressive force. This reading is central to the entire philosophical structure of the I Ching.
An Archaeological Re-reading
Harmen Mesker's research offers a radical alternative. He notes that the character kūn (坤) hardly appears in Western Zhou texts. It's a scholar's character, likely chosen much later. He suggests that the original hexagram was not kūn but a similar-looking and much more common character: chuān (川).
In oracle bone and bronze inscriptions, chuān (川) means "river." It appears often in contexts about journeys, travel, and military campaigns. The question was practical: "Should we cross the river?"
This one character change changes everything. The hexagram is no longer an abstract lesson about receptivity. It becomes a concrete divination about a real journey, probably a military campaign, involving crossing a major river. The "mare's divination" becomes literal advice about whether your horses are fit for the journey ahead.
Side-by-Side Comparison
The contrast is clearest when we look at the lines side-by-side. The traditional reading sees metaphor and cosmic principles. The reconstructed reading sees a vivid, literal account of real events.
| Line from Hexagram 2 | Traditional Philosophical Reading (The Receptive) | Mesker's Reconstructed Reading (Crossing the River) |
|---|---|---|
| Judgment | "The Receptive brings about sublime success..." | "Crossing the river. Favorable. A mare's divination." |
| Line 1: "Treading on hoarfrost..." | "When there are early signs of trouble, caution is needed." | "Treading on the riverbank's frost. The hard ice is coming." |
| Line 2: "Straight, square, great..." | "Embodying sincerity and righteousness leads to success." | "A straight course across the plain. Favorable without repetition." |
| Line 6: "Dragons fighting in the wild..." | "When Yin tries to usurp Yang's position, conflict ensues." | "A battle at the edge of the river plain. Their blood is dark and yellow." |
The first line is no longer a metaphor for early trouble; it's a literal weather report for a commander planning a river crossing. The sixth line is not a cosmic battle between Yin and Yang; it's a brutal, vivid description of a real battle, with blood soaking the dusty plains.
What This Changes
This archaeological approach might feel unsettling. It seems to strip the I Ching of its deep wisdom. But this misunderstands the project. The goal isn't to diminish the text, but to enrich it.
Is the Philosophy Wrong?
The immediate question is whether this invalidates two thousand years of philosophical and spiritual use. The answer is clearly no. Harmen Mesker's work doesn't erase the rich legacy of the Yijing.
Instead, it reveals that the I Ching is a layered document. The philosophical meaning of the Ten Wings is a real and powerful interpretation that has guided millions. But it is one layer, added at a specific time. The archaeological reading reveals an older, different layer. One doesn't cancel out the other.
Enriching Modern Practice
Knowing this older layer deeply enriches a modern student's relationship with the text. It adds historical authenticity that is both grounding and awe-inspiring.
We gain a new connection to the text's original users. Reading about a "lost goat" and understanding it not as a metaphor for losing our spiritual way, but as the very real, economically disastrous loss of a key sacrificial animal for a Zhou Dynasty clan, creates a powerful bond across time. It connects us to the real-world fears and hopes of the people who created the oracle.
This approach offers several benefits for the modern practitioner:
- Deeper historical appreciation: It provides a window into the world of the Zhou Dynasty, making history come alive.
- Clarity on evolution: It helps us distinguish what the text originally said from what later sages interpreted it to mean. Both have immense value, but they are not the same.
- A demystified layer: It provides a new, concrete layer of meaning that can be incredibly practical and direct, free from complex metaphysical concepts.
- A richer understanding: Ultimately, it makes the I Ching a more complex, interesting, and multi-dimensional book. We can appreciate both the raw oracle of the Bronze Age and the sophisticated philosophy of the classical age.
The Evolving Classic
Harmen Mesker's vital contribution is applying a rigorous, evidence-based archaeological and linguistic method to the I Ching. He peels back the layers of commentary to reveal the original Zhouyi in its raw, historical context.
His work doesn't diminish the I Ching. It enhances it, proving the text to be an even more complex, resilient, and fascinating document than we imagined. It is a living text whose enduring power lies in its unique ability to be both a window into an ancient world and a timeless mirror for the deepest human questions.
0 comments