University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER VIII.

What is meant by Destiny? (Ming-yi.)

The Mèhists[1] hold that man's death is not predestinated, whereas
the Confucianists are of opinion that it is. The believers in Destiny
rely on the authority of Tse Hsia[2] who says, "Life and death
depend on Destiny, wealth and honour come from Heaven."[3] Those
who deny the existence of Destiny refer to the city of Li-yang,[4]
which sunk into a lake in one night, and to Po-Ch`i, a general of
Ch`in, who buried alive the troops of Chao after their submission
below Ch`ang-p`ing,[5] altogether 400 000 men, who all died at the
same time.[6] When in the Ch`un-ch`iu period[7] armies were defeated,
sometimes, they say, the grass was hidden by thousands of dead
bodies. In time of famine, all the roads are full of starving people.
During epidemics caused by malarial exhalations, thousands of families
are extinguished. If there really should be Destiny, how is
it, they ask, that in Ch`in all were involved in the same catastrophe?

The believers in Destiny will reply, "When the vastness of
the earth, and the great number of its inhabitants is taken into
account, it is not to be wondered at that the people at Li-yang
and Ch`ang-p`ing should equally be doomed to die. Those whose
destiny it was to be drowned, assembled at Li-yang, and those
who were to be crushed to death, came together at Ch`ang-p`ing
for that purpose."—

When Han Kao Tsu[8] began his career, a fortune-teller, who
entered the territory of Fêng and P`ei, found many persons who
were made counts afterwards. But not all the old and young people,
men and women bore the mark of nobility. As a rule exceptional

persons are met with occasionally only. Yet at Li-yang men and
women were all drowned, and at Ch`ang p`ing the aged and the
young were buried to the last. Among tens of thousands there
were certainly many who had still a long life before them, and
ought not to have died. But such as happen to live in a time of
decay, when war breaks out everywhere, cannot terminate their
long lives. The span allotted to men is long or short, and their
age flourishing or effete. Sickness, disasters, and misfortunes are
signs of decay. The States of Sung, Wei, Ch`ên, and Ch`êng were
all visited with fire on the same day.[9] Among the people of the
four kingdoms were certainly not a few whose prosperity was still
at its height, and who ought not to have been destroyed. Nevertheless
they all had to suffer from the conflagration, being involved
in their country's doom, for the destiny of a State is stronger than
that of individuals.

The destiny regulating man's life-time is more powerful than
the one presiding over his prosperity. Man shows by his appearance,
whether he will die old or young, and there are signs indicating,
whether he will be rich or poor, high-placed or base. All
this is to be seen from his body. Length and shortness of life
are gifts of Heaven. Whether the structure of the bones be good
or bad, is visible in the body. If a man's life must be cut off in
its prime, he cannot live long, although he be endowed with extraordinary
qualities, and if it be decreed that he shall be poor and
miserable, the very best character is of no avail to him.—When
Hsiang Yü[10] was going to die, he turned to his followers, and said,
"I am vanquished, but by fate, not by force of arms." This is
true, for in warfare Hsiang Yü was superior to Kao Tsu. The latter's
rise was due to Heaven's decree only.

The destiny of the State is connected with the stars. Just
as their constellations are propitious or unpropitious, the State is
happy or unhappy. As the stars revolve and wander, men rise
and fall. Human prosperity and distress are like the abundance
and the scarcity of a year. Destiny is flourishing or declining;
things are either expensive or cheap. Within the space of one
year, they are sometimes expensive, and at others cheap, as during

a long life prosperity and distress alternate. The prices of things
do not depend on the abundance or scarcity of the year, nor is
human prosperity the outcome of ability or ignorance.

How is it that Tse Hsia says, "Life and death depend on
Destiny, wealth and honour come from Heaven" instead of saying,
"Life and death come from Heaven,[11] wealth and honour depend
on Destiny?"—For life and death there are no heavenly signs, they
depend on the constitution. When a man has got a strong constitution,
his vital force is exuberant, and his body strong. In
case of bodily strength life's destiny is long; the long-lived do not
die young. Conversely, he who has got a weak constitution possesses
but a feeble vital force, and a delicate bodily frame. Delicacy
is the cause of the shortness of life's destiny; the short-lived
die early. Consequently, if we say that there is a destiny, destiny
means constitution.

As regards the transmission of wealth and honour, it is like
the vital force, viz. an effluence emanating from the stars. Their
hosts are on heaven, which has their signs. Being born under a
star pointing at wealth and honour, man obtains wealth and honour,
whereas under a heavenly sign implying poverty and misery, he
will become poor and miserable. Thus wealth and honour come
from Heaven, but how is this brought about? Heaven has its
hundreds of officials[12] and multitudes of stars. Just as Heaven emits
its fluid, the stars send forth their effluence, which keeps amidst
the heavenly fluid. Imbibing this fluid, men are born, and live, as
long as they keep it. If they obtain a fine one, they become men
of rank, if a common one, common people. Their position may
be higher or lower, and their wealth bigger or smaller, according
as the stars distributing all this, rank higher or lower, are larger
or smaller.—Heaven has many hundred officials and multitudes
of stars, and so we have on earth the essence of tens of thousands
of people, of the Five Emperors and the Three Rulers.[13] Heaven
has his Wang Liang and Tsao Fu,[14] men have them also. He who
is endued with their essence, becomes skilled in charioteering.

It is said that three different kinds of destiny can be distinguished,
the natural, the concomitant, and the adverse one. One

speaks of natural destiny, if somebody's luck is the simple consequence
of his original organisation. His constitution being well
ordered, and his bones good, he needs not toil in order to obtain
happiness, since his luck comes of itself. This is meant by natural
destiny. Concomitant destiny comes into play, when a man becomes
happy only by dint of hard work, but is pursued by misfortune,
as soon as he yields to his propensities, and gives rein to his desires.
This is to be understood by concomitant destiny. As for adverse
destiny, a man may, contrary to his expectations, reap bad fruits from
all his good deeds; he will rush into misfortune and misery, which will
strike him from afar. Therefore, one can speak of adverse destiny.

Every mortal receives his own destiny; already at the time
of his conception, he obtains a lucky or an unlucky chance. Man's
nature does not correspond to his destiny: his disposition may be
good, but his destiny unlucky, or his disposition bad, and his fate
lucky. Good and bad actions are the result of natural disposition,
happiness and misfortune, good and bad luck are destiny. Good
deeds may lead to mishap, then the disposition is good, but destiny
cruel, and likewise misdeeds may result in happiness, in that case
man's nature is wicked, but fate smiling. Nature is good or bad of
its own accord, and so is fate lucky or unlucky. A favourite of
fate, though not doing well, is not, of necessity, deprived of happiness
for that reason, whereas an ill-fated man does not get rid of
his misfortune, though trying his best.

Mencius said:—"To strive for a thing, one must have wisdom,
but whether he attains it, depends upon destiny."[15] With a good
disposition one can struggle for it and, if fate be favourable,
obtain it; should, however, fate be averse, one may with a good
nature strive for it, but never get it.

Bad deeds are followed by misfortune. Yet the robbers Chê
and Chuang Ch`iao[16] were scourges to the whole empire. With some
thousands of other bandits, whom they had collected, they assaulted
and robbed people of their property, and cut them to pieces. As
outlaws they were unequalled. They ought to have been disgraced;
far from it, they finished their lives as old men. In the face of
this, how can the idea of a concomitant destiny be upheld?

Men with an adverse destiny do well in their hearts, but
meet with disasters abroad. How is it that men like Yen Yuan[17] and

Po Niu came to disgrace? They were both virtuous, and should
have been rewarded by a concomitant destiny with bliss and happiness.
Wherefore did they meet with misfortune? Yen Yuan, confined
to his study, killed himself by his great talents,[18] Po Niu, while living
quite alone, caught a horrible disease. Ch`ü P`ing and Wu Yuan
were the most loyal ministers of their sovereigns, and scrupulously
fulfilled their duties as servants to the king.[19] In spite of this, the
corpse of Ch`ü P`ing was left unburied in Ch`u, and in Wu Yuan's
body was cooked. For their good works they should have obtained
the happiness of concomitant destiny, but they fell in with the
misfortune of adverse fate. How is such a thing possible?

Concomitant destiny excludes adverse destiny, and adverse
destiny, a concomitant one. On what basis can the scholastic distinction
of three kinds of destiny then be established? Moreover,
fate is already visible from the structure of bones at the time of
birth, now, if it be said to follow the actions, it comes afterwards,
and is not yet there from the beginning. Wealth and honour,
poverty and misery are determined at the first moment of receptibility
of the human being, they do not arrive only in company with
his actions, after the individual has grown up.

A man with a natural fate will die at the age of a hundred
years, another with a concomitant fate at the age of fifty, but he
whose fate is adverse, meets with distress from the moment he
receives vitality; as people say, he is confronted with ill-luck already
as an embryo. He may have been born during a thunderstorm
and, when he is grown up, die young.

These are what they call the three destinies, there are also
distinguished three kinds of natures: natural, concomitant, and adverse.
Naturally man is endowed with the five virtues, concomitant nature
corresponds to that of father and mother, and adverse nature is
caused by meeting some unpropitious object.[20] Thus a pregnant

woman eating a hare will bear a harelipped son. In the Yüeh-ling[21]
it is stated that, in the same month the thunder is about to utter
its voice, and that those who are not careful of their behaviour,
will bring forth crippled children, and have great calamities.

They become dumb or deaf, lame or blind. The embryo
having been affected by external influences, the child's character
will be violent and rebellious. Yang Shê Shih Wo's[22] voice, after his
birth, sounded like that of a wolf. When he grew older, he showed
a wicked disposition; he met with misfortune, and died. He got
this character already, when still in his mother's womb. The like
holds good for Tan Chu[23] and Shang Chün.[24] Character and destiny
are there from the beginning. Therefore the Li points out a method
to instruct embryos.[25] As long as the child is in the uterus, the
mother must not sit down, if the mat be not properly placed, nor
eat anything not cut in the proper manner. Her eyes must see
but the proper colours, and her ears hear but the proper sounds.
When the child grows up, it must be given intelligent teachers
and good instructors, who will make it familiar with the relations
of sovereign and subject, father and son, for at that period its
virtue or depravity will become manifest. If at the moment, when
the child receives the vitalising fluid, the mother does not take
care to keep her heart free from wild fancies and fears of wickedness,
her child, when grown up, will not be good, but fierce and
refractory, and look ugly and wicked. A heavenly maiden explained
to Huang Ti[26] that to have five wives not only entails bodily
injury on father and mother, but also most seriously affects the
characters of sons and daughters.

Men have their destiny and luck, contingencies and chance.
By destiny they are wealthy and poor, exalted and base; their
luck is thriving or declining, flourishing or fading. Those whose
destiny it is to be rich and honoured, meet with a thriving luck;
they enjoy perpetual tranquillity, and are never in jeopardy. On

the other hand do such as are doomed to poverty and misery, fall
in with a declining luck; they are the victims of ill-fortune; always
in trouble, they know no pleasure.

A contingency is some extraordinary change, such, for instance,
as were experienced by Ch`êng T`ang,[27] when he was kept a prisoner
in Hsia-tai and by Wên Wang,[28] when detained at Yu-li. For sages,
with all their perfections, to be thrown into jail, this certainly can
be called an extraordinary contingency. But however great the
change may be, in the case of a favourable destiny and a thriving
luck it does no harm. This it what they call a contingent mishap.
That which befell Yen Tse[29] must be regarded as a great one. Let
us suppose that a weapon be pointed at a man's breast, that the
bright blade be already touching his neck, that he rush forward
to certain death, or that he oppose himself to the points of swords
and halberds, let such a man be saved just at the moment, when
he expects to die, then his destiny is so good, and his luck
so flourishing, that the misfortune he encounters cannot injure
him. At Li-yang and Ch`ang p`ing, where the catastrophe took place,[30]
were certainly people with a propitions fate and a thriving luck,
who were all crushed to death in the same night. The disaster
they met with was so paramount, that their good fate and thriving
luck could not ward it off. This may be compared to the antagonism
between water and fire. If the water is stronger, it quells
the fire, and if the fire is stronger, it overcomes the water. To
find employment, a man must get hold of an employer. In spite of
a propitious fate and thriving luck nobody will be able to show
what he is capable of, unless he comes into contact with a master
who takes an interest in him.[31]

The word chance conveys the idea of good and evil derived
from accidents. A culprit, who succeeds in making his escape, has

good fortune, whereas it is bad fortune, if an innocent man be
arrested. He who after a short incarceration obtains his release,
has a propitious destiny and thriving luck so, that the misfortune
of an untimely end cannot affect him.

Now for the meaning of incident, which will be illustrated by
the service offered to a sovereign. Provided that somebody serve
the sovereign in the proper way, that the latter appreciate his
words, and afterwards employ him, this is a lucky incident. Conversely,
if the prince disprove of the man's ways so, that he dismisses
him, and sends him away, this is an unlucky incident. Should a
man after a short period of disgrace still get an appointment through
the recommandation of a higher official, he owes it to his good
destiny and thriving luck, which do not allow that the harm caused
by an unlucky incident keeps on for long.

Contingencies and chance either tally with destiny and luck
or disagree with them. To hit on good chances, and thus reach
the goal, or to meet with bad ones, and be ruined, is tallying with
destiny and luck. To fall off in mid-career, without completing what
is to come, good being suddenly turned into evil, this is contrary
to fate and luck. In this world men's dispositions and destinies
are auspicious or unfavourable, their happiness and misfortune
flourish or decline. All depends on contingencies. According to
the chances they have, they either live or die. But those who
accomplish all their good or bad deeds, and obtain all their heart's
desires, are few.