From Mandate of Heaven to Mission: Semantic Rupture and Subject Reconstruction in Pre-Qin Theories of "Ming"

Section 3: "When the Way is about to be practiced, it is Heaven's Mandate; When the Way is about to be abandoned, it is Heaven's Mandate": Ming as Limitation and Ming as Calling

In the Analects of Confucius, "Xian Wen," Confucius also said:

"When the Way is about to be practiced, it is Heaven's Mandate; when the Way is about to be abandoned, it is Heaven's Mandate. What can Gong Boliao do about the Mandate$19"(《论语·宪问》)(道之将行也与，命也；道之将废也与，命也。公伯寮其如命何！ Dao zhi jiang xing ye yu, ming ye; dao zhi jiang fei ye yu, ming ye. Gong Boliao qi ru ming he!)

Whether the Way can be practiced is a matter of "ming"; whether the Way is abandoned is also a matter of "ming." What can Gong Boliao (a person who slandered Confucius's disciples) do about "ming"$20

This passage, read from a fatalistic perspective, becomes a powerless sigh: everything is fated, we can do nothing. But read in its contextual context, the meaning is completely different.

Confucius spoke these words in the context: his disciple Zilu was slandered by Gong Boliao, and Zifu Jingbo proposed killing Gong Boliao. Confucius refused, uttering the above words. His meaning was not "everything is fated, so we don't need to do anything," but rather: The success or failure of the Way does not depend on the slander of a petty person—it depends on a higher celestial mandate. And what we must do is not to eliminate petty people, but to continue doing what we ought to do.

The function of "ming" here is not to paralyze people, but to liberate them from anxiety about specific obstacles. It is a higher-dimensional clarity: since success and failure are not entirely within my control, I need not be bound by success and failure, but only focus on "practicing the Way" itself.

This is the profound meaning of "knowing Heaven's mandate": not accepting fate, but, after recognizing the boundaries of existence, liberating oneself from obsession with outcomes and turning to complete engagement with the action itself.

This spirit is repeatedly confirmed in the Analects of Confucius, "Weizi." Two recluses, Chang Ju and Jie Ni, ridiculed Confucius's disciple Zilu, saying: "The world is in chaos, what use is it for you to follow that person who wanders everywhere$21 Why not follow us and live in seclusion, farming the land$22" Zilu returned and told Confucius. Confucius's response was:

"Birds and beasts cannot associate with us. If I do not associate with the people of this world, with whom shall I associate$23 If the Way prevailed in the world, I would not be concerned with changing it."(《论语·微子》)(鸟兽不可与同群，吾非斯人之徒与而谁与？天下有道，丘不与易也。 Niao shou bu ke yu tong qun, wu fei si ren zhi tu yu er shui yu$24 Tian xia you dao, qiu bu yu yi ye.)

Humans cannot associate with birds and beasts; if I do not associate with the people of the world, whom shall I associate with$25 If the Way prevailed in the world, I would not have to change it. — Precisely because the world is without the Way, I must practice the Way. Where is this accepting fate$26 This is clearly the undertaking of knowing the impossible yet doing it.

And the evaluation "knowing the impossible yet doing it" also comes from the Analects of Confucius, "Xian Wen," as a commentary by the gatekeeper on Confucius:

"Is this the one who knows the impossible yet does it$27"(《论语·宪问》)(是知其不可而为之者与？ Shi zhi qi bu ke er wei zhi zhe yu$28)

How can someone who "knows the impossible yet does it" be a fatalist$29 He clearly knows "the impossible"—this is his recognition of the boundaries of Heaven's mandate; yet he still "does it"—this is his assumption of the mission of Heaven's mandate. "Knowing fate" and "doing it" are not contradictory; on the contrary, they are mutually prerequisite: Precisely because one knows the boundaries of fate, one can transcend the fear of outcomes and fully commit to action.