introduction
Confucianism, as a school that has been passed down for more than 2,000 years, has a deep-rooted influence on the ideas of Chinese. In addition to its influence on social ethics and worldly governance, it also had a great influence on the formation of the worldview of Chinese.
The fatalism of "life and death have a destiny, and wealth is in heaven" is one of the embodiments of this. We cannot fully control the social reality of our own life and death and wealth, and many of us have a "life and death and fate, rich and noble in the sky" cognition of the world and fate.
It is undeniable that from the perspective of human success or failure, this is an extremely true sentence, after all, the world is unpredictable and fate is unpredictable. But on the other hand, we have to admit that this sentence is too pessimistic, because it directly negates the meaning of our efforts.
In fact, this sentence with fatalistic meanings derived from Confucianism is not the only sentence in its initial period, and its next sentence is more classic and more essential.
"Life and death have a destiny, and wealth is in heaven" source
"Life and death have destiny, and wealth is in heaven" is from the chapter of the Analects of Yan Yuan. As a collection of essays that record the words and deeds of Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, and his disciples, the Analects embodies the ideas and ideas of the Confucian school.
In the chapter "Analects of Yan Yuan", a series of questions raised by Confucius's disciples Yan Yuan, Sima Niu, Zigong, Zixia and others about "Ren" are recorded.
"Life and death have a destiny, and wealth is in heaven" comes from the dialogue between Sima Niu and Zi Xia. In the dialogue, Sima Niu sighed: Everyone has brothers, but I do not.
In fact, Sima Niu did not have no brothers, but just did not admit that he had brothers. As for the reason, it is related to the theme of this chapter, "Benevolence".
Sima Niu was originally a native of the Song Dynasty, and his brother Huan Lu (桓魋) was said to have served as a doctor in the Song Dynasty. This was something to be proud of, but this Huan Yu did not obey the etiquette and participated in the rebellion, and after the failure of this rebellion, it was even more troublesome for his family, and Sima Niu was forced to flee the country of Lu.
During this period, it is also recorded in the Analects that Huan Lu once plotted to kill Confucius when he was passing through the Song Dynasty during his visit to the Song Dynasty. Fortunately, under the protection of the students, Confucius was able to escape.
It can be seen from this that Sima Niu's elder brother Huan Lu can be said to be a vicious person in his heart, but he is disloyal, filial piety, unkind and unjust. If so, there are also words that Sima Niu and Zixia do not admit that they have brothers in the dialogue. And in the face of Sima Niu's sad words, how did Zi Xia answer?
Zixia, as one of the Ten Philosophers and Seventy-Two Sages of Confucius, was deeply loved by Confucius, and was the best among the disciples of Confucius in the later period, and for Sima Niu's feelings, he replied: "Shangwen zhizhi: 'Death and life have destiny, and wealth is in heaven. This sentence is translated in modern Chinese to say that we all know that life and death have a destiny and wealth in heaven.
But if you think that Zi Xia's words only come here, it is a big mistake. Next, Zi Xia went on to say: A gentleman is respectful and without loss, respectful and courteous with others, and all brothers in the four seas. Why should a gentleman suffer from having no brothers? ”
And it is precisely this sentence that allows us to see that it truly belongs to Confucianism and the views of the great Confucians, and this is the part that we need to learn.
The meaning of this sentence is that as long as a gentleman treats things seriously, has no faults, treats people with humility and courtesy, and does not exceed the rules of etiquette, then the whole world is brothers, let alone worry about no brothers.
It can be said that "life and death have a fate and wealth in heaven" is a comforting word for Sima Niu, and the words that follow this sentence are Zi Xia's true attitude to the fatalism of "life and death have a fate and wealth in heaven".
As long as a person can set strict demands on himself, as long as he exerts subjective initiative, and does not slack off because of fatalism, he can be a brother in all corners of the world.
Fatalism and human subjective agency
It can be said that "life and death have a destiny, and wealth is in heaven" is a representative fatalistic view. Both the scientific origin of the universe and the religious creationism seem to be able to verify the validity of this wonderful view.
But under fatalism, should we be so depressed?
Obviously not, this does not need Confucianism to be a judgment that we as independent individuals can make. Man is a species with subjective initiative, and what we have to do for the law is to recognize the law and exert our subjective initiative at the same time.
Just like Zi Xia's remarks, and as we are also familiar with the phrase "plotting is in man, accomplishing things is in heaven", that sentence "do your personnel and obey the destiny of heaven".
Therefore, in the face of fate, with reverence, respect and respect, and strive to be positive is the real desirable way. This is the guidance that the ancients really want to give us in the worldview.
Obviously, it is not possible to take it out of context.