1. The Foundation

If you like my content: buy me a coffee! ko-fi.com/harmenmesker
"Distracting background." 2/5 - Zhouyi News Network
"Lack of spontaneity. " 3/10 - Yijing Faith College newsletter
"Reading from auto-cue." ** - Changes Galore Boston
"Inappropriate lumberjack attire." ** - Changes Galore Fulford, Colorado
"Plosives in the sound." - Sound I Ching Initiative, Fenwick, Connecticut
"Stupid accent." - British Yi Council, Giggleswick, Yorkshire
"Still waiting for the subtitles." - Yi King Societé, France
"Who is this mr. Mesker anyway?" - Li Xueqin
By popular demand: my first English Yi video. Enjoy.

[@advandepol7537]

The best I Ching channel, and badly catched by the youtube algorithm.

[@MazelTov1981]

In 22 minutes of video I have learned more than in 8 years of reading incomprehensible and ambiguous sentences impossible to fit with the question. Now my unscrambled queries are more decipherable. I have found the characteristics of the trigrams so interesting that I have transcribed it to print and have it on hand.

[@candidx7057]

A breath of fresh air, a drink of clear water. Thanks, Harmen.

[@carlosreys9]

Thank you very much. I am 55 years old and I have an interest in I Ching and everything he has learned since he was 22 years old. I was frustrated several times that I did not find an answer to my questions. When I saw your video by accident I was thrilled and I felt that I had found the answers since long sought, as well as the incentive to continue to look for them. I can not thank you enough, but I want you to find what you are looking for.

[@YiTubeChannel]

Hi Carlos, thank you for your kind comment. What is it exactly that you are looking for, and what are the questions that you have?

[@carlosreys9]

In a very broad sense I seek wisdom and truth. My questions are many! I will think carefully and present to you in a timely manner. In Brazil where I live we usually send a hug to the people as a form of retribution and affection. In this way I send a hug to you and my sincere wishes for a new year with much peace, health and prosperity.@@YiTubeChannel

[@YiTubeChannel]

Hi Carlos, thank you for the hug :-) If you have questions you can mail them at [e-mail] . That might work better than a thread on KZbin. Best wishes for 2019!

[@marjanpennings7949]

Love the lumberjack! To get right through - to the essence - that is what Harmen does. That is probably only possible if one returns to the utmost simplicity. And that is what he does. With or without wooden shoes: not intimidated by scientists of old, or new, nor by magic - he only cares about reality. Though his knowledge goes far. To courageously leave behind everything that distracts from that same essence: it is an art! Pure and simple. And art counts if it WORKS. Harmen makes it work. (And ofcourse I love the accent: it's my own, hahaha! )

[@Luvsofine]

Brilliant video. Thanks for all you hard work in making this such a clear and concise presentation.

[@YiTubeChannel]

Thanks Devon. There is more to come. Soon, I hope.

[@jasonmeade2669]

Excellent video! I wish I could give two thumbs up!

[@kahtang1954]

A deep and clear thinker who has found a neat way of explaining complex ideas in modern terms. Thank you for your significant contributions to the advancement of human civilisation.

[@YiTubeChannel]

Thank you for your kind comment Kah.

[@johnboy1536]

Thanks. Looking forward to the next one.

[@YiTubeChannel]

Working on it as we speak...thank you for your support!

[@pfeifenderleidender7320]

Note: 14:52 Trigram associations

[@svenchristensen6987]

Just: Thank You

[@hanlinacademy]

Excellent work!

[@AdeleAldridge]

Love it! Thank you.

[@askauntieamy]

Thank you your description of the individual trigrams brought tears to me. They really touched my heart.

[@Yijingman]

Very well done, Harmen!

[@kevinu.k.7042]

Magnificent and very exciting. Now I have a basis for what were my unfounded beliefs and a lot of confusions have just exited the plane. I'm looking forward to your next video. Thank you.

[@ognyanv]

Excellent job, Harmen! Please keep it going on!

[@MichaelDohertyxx]

Excellent video. Love the accent. Thank you and keep up the good work.

[@mariovargas9575]

Gracias!

[@jimmybee440]

Thank you so much, Harmen!

[@jimmybee440]

*cracks whip* Where's the next video!

[@rodrigo1vera]

Congrats Harmen!!! Very nice production. I'm sharing it as much as I can.

[@YiTubeChannel]

Thanks Rodrigo! Much appreciated.

[@maggiemayshapiro8633]

I freaking love it.....especially the trigrammy parts. Nice music. I would have liked some images along with the trigram explanations. I like pictures. I was not bothered by the 'lumberjack attire' or background as was stated in the comments above. The Dutch accent makes you sound knowledgeable.

[@frankcallo6630]

Wow! These videos are super interesting. Been learning from the Yi for over 30 years. Always seeking more knowledge. I am very great fun to have found this.

[@daomonk]

Thanks and i hope you make more Videos like this :-)

[@YiTubeChannel]

I am working on it! But it takes a lot of time :-|

[@16Epiphany]

WOW! Love your shirt! Great to hear and see ya, put the name with a face! Confirming and learning about the Yi is so much fun for me. Within the differences is there ever a instance where the trigrams are labeled differently? Yin (earth) and yang (creative/heaven) lines would seem completely consistent however mountain and thunder have they been consistent too? Fu Shu had the arrangement in pre Heaven and then the change occurred and flipped the hexagrams, wondering about how that influenced or not the trigrams.

[@YiTubeChannel]

That Fu Xi came with the pre-Heaven arrangement is just a legend - the Xiantian Bagua (pre-Heaven arrangement) is much younger than the Houtian Bagua. It dates from around 800AD. The names and associations for the trigrams have been fairly consistent through the centuries - I don't recall having seen any different interpretations. The excavated manuscripts don't add different views either. But I don't think the history and usage of the trigrams have been studied very much. The next few weeks I will look fore the oldest info on them.

[@16Epiphany]

There really isn't much written about the trigrams and yet they are used often ie; the Korean flag. It is true water makes me feel frightened in a way that lake just doesn't. The view of the mountains surrounding a lake does fill me with breath taking joy!

[@jucavaac]

Gracias Harmen por tus excelentes videos. Enriquecen mucho a quienes hace relativamente poco tiempo vamos haciendo camino en este sendero de sabiduría. Me animo a preguntarte si es posible que todos tengan traduccion a español ya a que quienes no dominamos el inglés se nos hace muy difícil acceder a la idea plena de tus exposiciones. Gracias y con afecto desde Uruguay.

[@YiTubeChannel]

Gracias por los cumplidos, Juan. Los subtítulos en español para los otros vídeos serían muy bienvenidos, pero no soy capaz de hacerlos. Tal vez haya un reto para ti aquí :-)

[@misopickle]

Very nice, I've always relied upon Trigrams more, please let us know forther developmt. of this Daoist study.

[@tristate0mind]

Amazing work, thx for your dedication. Some of the most in-depth coverage around in English. it would be really great to hear further details on the Hexagram numerology. What are the symbols for the full set of 4-9 numbers? If I'm correct the large ^ is 6 and ' ' is 8. I guess the infinite sign is 5 and cross is 4? How does it work with the Shifa script? I see there is a number that looks like a Oraclebone arm w/hand. It's been tough finding these details in english. Working to learn chinese, doing it through the oracle script first.

[@YiTubeChannel]

Starting with oracle bones is a good idea although keep in mind that the OBI shapes might be completely different from the current forms. This image postimg.cc/30d4sNzz shows you how the numbers 4-9 are written in the Shifa manuscript where indeed ∧ is 6 and 八 is 8 (of course). If you are interested in the Shifa manuscript you could start with Cook & Zhao, 'Stalk Divination' (no, it is not about divination for stalkers.) Thanks for the compliment and happy studying!

[@rickschrager]

I find it interesting how, on the bamboo slips, the yin lines are sloped rather than as how they are written today. I wonder if this is unique to this manuscript or a widely used practice that was abandoned in favor of the simpler broken line.

[@YiTubeChannel]

This is probably a remnant from the numerical origin of the Yi: all these 'sloped' yin lines are nothing else but the Chinese number eight - ba 八. Especially in the related Shifa, Baoshan and Xincai Geling manuscripts this is obvious. Although to me it often looks like liu 六, 'six', which with regard to the Yijing might make more sense.

[@davemason913]

xiangshu really makes sense to me. Can you recommend texts that deal with xiangshu please.

[@YiTubeChannel]

There are not much (Western) books that deal with xiangshu theory or practice. A seminal book that you should have when you are interested in this is Bent Nielsen, 'A Companion to Yijing Cosmology and Numerology' but this is more of a dictionary. Another book is Hermann G. Bohn, 'Die Rezeption des Zhouyi in der Chinesischen Philosophie, von den Anfängen bis zur Song-Dynastie' but as you will guess it is written in German. Then there is Jack Chiu's 《易卜縱橫》 but that's written in Chinese. All these books mainly cover the theory of xiangshu and its philosophy. The practical side is found in different branches of the system: Meihua Yishu (Plumblossom Numerology), Wenwang Gua, Liu Ren, etc. For the latter I don't know any books because I have not yet studied that system. But for Plumblossom Numerology you can begin with Da Liu, 'I Ching Numerology'. For Wenwang Gua you can read Jack Chiu, 'The Secret of Wen-wang -Gua' (or wait for my book which I hope to finish in about 6 months). As you can see xiangshu and it's application is still in its infancy here in the West. I hope that will change in the next few years.

[@davemason913]

@@YiTubeChannel Thank you. Unfortunately, I can't read German or Chinese which is a shame. I have looked at Bent Nielsen's book on Amazon, it looks interesting but I see what you mean. I look forward to your book!

[@benquinney2]

No wooden shoes

[@YiTubeChannel]

No. They walk terrible on the street.

Trots!

[@smokinmassage2585]

Are there any good books in English on the Plum Blossom oracle?

[@YiTubeChannel]

Unfortunately the best book is still Da Liu's 'I Ching Numerology' - 'unfortunately' because it doesn't come close to the full contents of the original Meihua Yishu book. But if you are looking for an entry book you can't go wrong with that one.

[@catherineblakley1356]

I don’t understand the trigram Lake (Dui). I am not able to see where the characteristics associated with her come from.

[@YiTubeChannel]

Early characteristics/associations for trigrams were drawn from many facets - shape of the trigram, its name, associated numbers etc. Maybe my 2nd video can help you a bit in understanding these early associations. In it I discuss several of the trigram associations as mentioned in the Shuogua: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3TJnaOHfN6bfZo

[@terminalmoraine7803]

Pfft, your fidget spinner ain't all that. Check out my trigram pajamas.

[@YiTubeChannel]

:-D Show me!