DESTINY, FATE 33 



The explanation is simple. Death and life have no 

 countervailing phenomena in Heaven, since these, i.e. death 

 and life are not governed by any extraneous destiny, but by 

 the individual's nature. That is to say a person's longevity 

 is determined by his natural vitality and not by any fate. 

 When men are endowed with an overflowing richness of 

 nature this vitality is rich and abundant, and consequently 

 their bodies are strong and hale. Thus endowed the appoint- 

 ment or destiny is long — and rationally explained. Thus 

 their fate is not to die young. On the other hand when the 

 endowment is poor in quality, debility of body will ensue 

 resulting in an early death. This is the rationalist view of 

 a destiny. Hence the appointment of Heaven means in this 

 case no more than a natural concomitance of nature . 



Eiches and honour again correspond with the vitality 

 enduement of the Hsing, nature, which is derived from the 

 starry host. The host of stars is in Heaven. The root of 

 the omens of riches and honour thus lies with Heaven. If 

 the omens are favourable, riches come : if unfavourable, 

 poverty comes. This then is the rational explanation of 

 "Tsai T'ien" — "depends on Heaven." 



In further explanation of "with Heaven," it is stated 

 that the Principalities or ruling forces- abide in the womb of 

 Heaven. The stars again are nothing but the expression of 

 the breath or fluid of Heaven. The stars are endowed with 

 different vitalities arising from the proportion and quality of 

 the original fluid and as the vitality of the nature of man 

 is a communication of the stars, his vitality as well as a 

 nation's vitality will depend, as to quality, on the star under 

 which the individual is born. Hence the meaning of a lucky 

 star and its contrary. 



In this critical way then it is attempted to overthrow the 

 doctrine of destiny as advocated by one party, by offering a 

 substitutory explanation that the destiny of a man's life is 

 determined by inward and natural conditions. The Mei 

 school endeavours to support its view by historic examples of 

 the impossibility, nay, the absurdity of the theory. They 

 quote two classic illustrations. One of them is the catas- 

 trophe that overtook the city of Li Yang. This populous city 

 was overwhelmed by a flood in one night and turned into a 

 lake. The other example is the barbarous act of General 

 Pei Ch'i who buried 40,000 prisoners in a pit dug for the 

 purpose. They adduce further general evidences such as the 

 ravages of famine, pestilence and disease. Their point is 

 very obvious and their argument strong and full of common 

 sense. It is unthinkable, they maintain, that the whole 

 population of Li Yang could have had the same destiny, that 

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