鐔津文集 5.20

5.20

物皆在命。不知命則事失其所也。故人貴盡理而造命。命也者天人之交也。故曰有天命焉。有人命焉。天命者天之所鍾也。人命者人之所授也。夫天也者三極之始也。聖人重其始。故總曰天命。天命至矣。人命必矣。至之雖幽明其有效也。必之雖貴賤其有定也。貴賤有定。故不可曲求於天也。曲求於天則廢乎人道也。幽明有效。故不可苟恃乎人也。苟恃乎人則逆乎天道也。是故古之人。有所為者不敢欺天命也。有所守者不敢越人命也。何謂天道乎。天道適順者也。何謂人道乎。人道修教者也。故古之人。德合天道而天命屬之。德臻人道而人命安之。春秋先春而次王。此聖人顯王者之尊天命也以正次王。此聖人明文王法天而合乎天道也。故得天命者謂之正統也。廢人道者謂之亂倫也。曰正統曷詳哉。吾子盡云也。曰昔者民阨洪水天下病之。禹以勤勞援天下於既溺。功德合乎天而天命歸之。故謂正統也。夏之末也。民不勝其虐天下苦之。以湯至仁而天命歸之。故為人統也。殷之末也。如夏文王以至德懷民。故天命將歸而武王承之故為天統也。秦也隋也而人苦其敞。漢唐始以寬仁。振五季偽亂也　吾宋以神武平。故天命皆歸焉。曰天事幽也。莫可聞見接。而謂天命也。曷以明之耶。曰人心歸其德而五行七政順其時者也。此舜禹湯武之所以享天下也。泰誓曰。天視自我民視天聽自我民聽。此所以明天命也。異乎後世則推圖讖符瑞。謂得其命也。用五行相勝。謂得其德也。五勝則幾乎厭勝也符瑞則幾乎神奇也。魏季南北雜然稱制。而互謂自得天命也。而以兵相凌。四海之內斃民如棄芥。夫天命者因人心而安人也。是則人心歸其德乎。五行七政順其時乎。雖曰奉天之命。其實安天之命者也。後世不仁而棄德。始異者之致之也。坐其罪故不容於刑。天命者大命也。人命者稟天而成形。亦大命也。交大命者貴以正氣會。會之不得其正也。雖成其人非善人也。雖成其形非美形也。故天也常乘。正而命人。故人也常持正而乘天。如君非得其忠。不可推命於其下。臣非有其職。不可稟命於其上。父命其子必待孝。子奉父命必須恭。天人之道也。古之所謂正統也者。謂以一正而通天下也。統之不正則天下何以通乎。後之不及乎古者多矣。豈天命之來至乎正也哉。

All things reside in fate. If one does not know fate, affairs lose their proper place. Therefore, man values exhausting principle to establish his destiny. Fate is the intersection of Heaven and humanity. Thus it is said: there is the Mandate of Heaven, and there is the fate of man. The Mandate of Heaven is what Heaven concentrates; the fate of man is what humanity confers. Heaven is the beginning of the Three Ultimates; the sages venerated its beginning, and thus collectively called it the Mandate of Heaven. The Mandate of Heaven is supreme; the fate of man is determined. As for its supremacy, through both the unseen and the manifest, it has its efficacy; as for its certainty, through both nobility and baseness, it has its fixed measure. Because nobility and baseness have their fixed measure, one must not seek perversely from Heaven; seeking perversely from Heaven abandons the human way. Because the unseen and manifest have their efficacy, one must not rely improperly on man; relying improperly on man defies the Way of Heaven. For this reason, when the ancients took action, they dared not deceive the Mandate of Heaven; when they maintained their charge, they dared not overstep the fate of man. What is meant by the Way of Heaven? The Way of Heaven accords with natural compliance. What is meant by the human way? The human way cultivates instruction. Therefore, when the ancients' virtue conformed to the Way of Heaven, the Mandate of Heaven belonged to them; when their virtue attained the human way, the fate of man was settled by them. In the Chunqiu, 'spring' is placed first and 'king' second: this is the sage revealing the king's veneration of the Mandate of Heaven; and 'rectification' is placed next to 'king': this is the sage making clear that King Wen modeled himself on Heaven and conformed to the Way of Heaven. Thus, one who obtains the Mandate of Heaven is said to hold legitimate succession; one who abandons the human way is said to bring disorder to the social bonds. It was asked: 'Could you explain legitimate succession in detail, master?' I replied: 'Anciently, the people were hemmed in by the floodwaters and the world suffered. Yu, through toil and hardship, rescued the world from drowning; his merit and virtue conformed to Heaven, and the Mandate of Heaven devolved upon him; hence this is called legitimate succession. At the end of the Xia, the people could not endure its cruelty and the world suffered; Tang, through supreme benevolence, had the Mandate of Heaven devolve upon him; hence this is called the human succession. At the end of the Yin, just as at the end of the Xia, King Wen embraced the people with supreme virtue; thus the Mandate of Heaven was about to turn to him, and King Wu received it; hence this is called the heavenly succession. Under the Qin and the Sui, the people suffered from exhaustion; the Han and the Tang initially arose through leniency and benevolence. When the false turmoil of the Five Dynasties occurred, our Song pacified it with divine martial power; hence the Mandate of Heaven devolved upon them all.' It was asked: 'The affairs of Heaven are unseen, and cannot be reached by hearing or seeing; when you speak of the Mandate of Heaven, how is it made clear?' I replied: 'The hearts of the people turn to its virtue, and the Five Phases and the Seven Regulators accord with their seasons—this is how Shun, Yu, Tang, and Wu enjoyed rule over the world. The Great Declaration says: "Heaven sees as my people see; Heaven hears as my people hear." This is how the Mandate of Heaven is made clear. Differing from this, later ages looked to divination diagrams, portents, and auspicious omens, claiming they had obtained its mandate; or they used the overcoming cycle of the Five Phases, claiming they had obtained its virtue. The overcoming of the five is near to sorcery; portents and omens are near to wizardry. At the end of the Wei, the northern and southern regimes chaotically assumed imperial titles, mutually claiming that they had obtained the Mandate of Heaven, and assaulted one another with arms, slaughtering the people within the four seas like discarded mustard greens. Now, the Mandate of Heaven follows the hearts of the people to give them peace. Was this the hearts of the people turning to their virtue? Did the Five Phases and Seven Regulators accord with their seasons? Though they claimed to uphold the Mandate of Heaven, in reality they usurped the Mandate of Heaven. Later ages were unbenevolent and cast aside virtue, which was brought about by those who initiated these anomalies; and being condemned for their crimes, they could not escape punishment. The Mandate of Heaven is the great mandate; the fate of man, endowed by Heaven to form physical shape, is also a great mandate. When these great mandates intersect, it is essential that they meet through upright qi; if their meeting does not attain uprightness, though a person is formed, he will not be a good person; though a form is formed, it will not be a noble form. Therefore Heaven constantly rides upon uprightness to bestow mandates on man, and man constantly maintains uprightness to ride upon Heaven. For example, unless a ruler obtains loyalty, he cannot extend his mandate to his subordinates; unless a minister has his proper office, he cannot receive a mandate from his superior. A father mandating his son must await filial piety; a son upholding his father's command must be reverent. Such is the way of Heaven and man. What the ancients called legitimate succession means penetrating the entire world through a single rectitude; if succession is not upright, how can the world be united? Those of later times fall far short of the ancients in many respects; how could the arrival of Heaven's Mandate ever be anything other than upright?'