天命
Chinese
| day; sky; heaven | life; fate | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| simp. and trad. (天命) |
天 | 命 | |
Etymology
Attested earliest on Zhou dynasty's bronze inscriptions,[1] though during the Western Zhou period, the concept was not exactly worded as 天命 (tiānmìng) but 大令 (dàlìng), 大命 (dàmìng), 魯令 (lǔlìng) & 天令 (tiānlìng) (however, 令 (lìng) and 命 (mìng) were indeed used interchangeably).[2] Goldin (2017)[3] links Zhou's concept 天命 (tiānmìng) to Shang's concept 帝令 (dìlìng) "the Deity's command" attested in the Shang's oracle bones.
Pronunciation
Noun
天命
- the myriad of things in nature which make up the law of nature or natural law
- the will of heaven
- the Mandate of Heaven
- 佑闢四方，惠弘天命。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
- From: Late Western Zhou, 彔伯冬簋 "Lubo Dong gui" inscription, translated based on Shim (2012)[4] and Grundmann (2022)[5]
- Yòu pì sìfāng, huì hóng tiānmìng. [Pinyin]
- Assisting in expanding the four directions and helping to broaden the Mandate of Heaven.
佑辟四方，惠弘天命。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]- 假哉天命！ [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]
- From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11th – 7th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version
- Jiǎ zāi tiānmìng! [Pinyin]
- Great is the appointment of Heaven!
- 非予罪，時惟天命。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
- From: The Book of Documents, circa 7th – 4th centuries BCE
- Fēi yǔ zuì, shí wéi tiānmìng. [Pinyin]
- It is not my fault. It is Heaven's just decree.
非予罪，时惟天命。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
- one's fate or destiny
- one's nature or natural instincts
- one's innate skills or gifts
- one's life span or life expectancy
Descendants
Sino-Xenic (天命):
- → Japanese: 天命 (tenmei)
- → Korean: 천명(天命) (cheonmyeong)
- → Vietnamese: thiên mệnh (天命)
Proper noun
天命
- (historical) the Tianming era (a Chinese era name; the era of Nurhaci as khan of the Later Jin, from the proclamation of the dynasty in 1616 until 1627)
References
- Chen, Sanping (2002) “Son of Heaven and Son of God: Interactions among Ancient Asiatic Cultures regarding Sacral Kingship and Theophoric Names”, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, volume 12, number 3
- Valmisa, Mercedes (2018). "Is the ideology of the 'Mandate of Heaven' already present in Western Zhou bronze inscriptions?", presented at International Consortium for Research in the Humanities. Erlagen. 2012 version
- Goldin, Paul Rakita (2017) “Some Shang Antecedents of Later Chinese Ideology and Culture”, in Journal of the American Oriental Society, volume 137, number 1
- Shim, Jae-hong (2012) “An Ever-contested Poem: The "Classic of Poetry"'s "Hanyi" and the Sino-Korean History Debate”, in The Journal of Asian Studies, volume 71, number 2, pages 475-497
- Grundmann, Joern Peter, transl. (2022), “Moral Speculation and the Conception of a Sky God”, in Space, Time, Myth, and Morals: A Selection of Jao Tsung-i’s Studies on Cosmological Thought in Early China and Beyond (Collected Works of Jao Tsung-i, Volume: 3), pages 220-277
天命 on the Chinese Wikipedia.Wikipedia zh- Mandate of Heaven on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
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