32 DESTINY, FATE 



several arrows at once — a great mechanical genius. Not- 

 withstanding his many achievements and varied fortunes, 

 vet he spoke at the close of his career in a desponding tone 

 of the failure of his life attributing this to an adverse destiny. 

 In support of their theory of the existence of Destiny the 

 Confucianist gives another example that' of General Hsiang Yii 

 who met with a severe defeat and rout. The General himself 

 was wounded and before his death spoke to one of his 

 followers, maintaining that his death was due to fate and 

 not to any bad handling of his troops. The correctness of 

 his view is not challenged by critics. They further cite the 

 case of Kao Tsu, the successful founder of the Han dynasty, 

 who used fewer troops but was victorious, a success mani- 

 festly due to Heaven's decree. Destiny was the controlling 

 factor in either case. 



The Meian View. 



The Confucian school then in common with Taoists 

 represented by Chuang Tzu. affirm their belief in the doctrine. 

 The Meian school, however, disavow their belief in it. This 

 school denies an extraneous force in the shape of fate or 

 destiny. They vigorously deny it. As a substitute they 

 advocate the theory that a person's fortune, success, failure, 

 happiness, and adversity are wholly dependent on the quality 

 of a person's nature and disposition as well as on fortuitous 

 circumstances. This opposition to Confucianism and the 

 exposition of the Meian theory is for one made by Wang 

 Ch'ung in an essay on Destiny. He wrote many essays on 

 the subject ; there is only time to notice this one. This essay 

 is full of interest and information. We can, however, only 

 quote the drift of the argument. 



It opens with the general proposition to be maintained 

 in the thesis that the school of Mei Tzu deny the existence 

 of any independent destiny. Their philosophers attempt to 

 strike at the root of the Confucian doctrine and at the support 

 to their fundamental proposition. They give a wholly different 

 interpretation to> the classic Confucian theory of destiny ex- 

 pressed in the words of Tzu Hsia. "Death and life are pre- 

 destined, riches and honour are with Heaven." They do so 

 first by asking the reader to note closely the arrangement and 

 order of words in the proposition. It should be noted, the critic 

 maintains, that he does not say " Death and life are with 

 Heaven, riches and honour have their appointment." But 

 he uses the reverse order. Why, asks W T ang Ch'ung, does he 

 do so? He must have an intention in that order of stating 

 the proposition. 



