Philosophy and Religion in Early Medieval China

11. Destiny and Retribution in Early Medieval China

319 As the Later Han dynasty was unraveling in the late second century, many people began to sense not only its imminent downfall, but the final demise of human history itself. These uncanny observers came from a wide social spectrum that included government officials, Confucian thinkers, and religious Daoist proselytizers. They each proposed their counteractive strategies to redress the looming dynastic debacle, ranging from pragmatic measures of statecraft to religious millennialism. While dissimilar in source, doctrine, and effect, such curative strategies were all apparently characterized by one strong if subtle strain of fatalism. Notably, the Buddhists in late Han China made reference to an impending dissolution of the world. It was no coincidence that Buddhist missionaries were able to command considerable respect among the Chinese populace at this time as the Buddhist doctrine of karma offered another form of determinism that, unlike hard core fatalism, was amenable to personal intervention. Effective personal efforts mean a possibility to change for the better. Xuanxue 玄學 (Study of the Mysterious) was also interested in the issue of change. To xuanxue philosophers such as Wang Bi 王弼 (226–249) and Guo Xiang 郭象 (d. 312), change must be considered in light of constraints and necessity. Such natural limits are articulated in the reconceptualized term ming 命, often translated as destiny or fate. This paper traces the spectacular rise of the concept of destiny in late Han times and its manifold expressions in early medieval China. Specifically, it examines the religious and philosophic meanings of various strategic responses, which as it turned out, were more successful in appealing to spiritual aspirations and philosophic interests than in forestalling the collapse of the Han Empire. 11 Destiny and Retribution in Early Medieval China Yuet-Keung Lo Yuet-Keung Lo 320 Destiny and Retribution in Late Han Religious Daoism The idea of universal kingship had been a sacred notion in Chinese history since the Shang dynasty. It stipulates, in its mature formulation , that the world (or “all under heaven,” tianxia 天下) should be universally governed by a king entrusted with the mandate of heaven (tianming 天命). The evidence of Shang oracle bone inscriptions attests to the idea of the supreme deity, Di 帝, supervising the world of mortals, which was governed by the Shang kings.1 Such relationship of supervision between Di and the Shang king implies the sanction of the latter’s authority by the former’s august approval. In accounting for the persistence in China of the idea of universal kingship, Benjamin Schwartz aptly observes that “in China, during the Zhou period, something like the concept of an impersonal order, a dao, had already emerged; this was a cosmic-social order within which the kingship occupied a wellestablished , permanent, and pivotal focus.”2 The idea of universal kingship was further strengthened by Dong Zhongshu’s 董仲舒 (179–104 bce) teleological Confucianism which incorporated the idea of “five phases” from the Yin-Yang School into the yin-yang system of Confucianism of the Warring States period.3 According to Dong, Dao originates from heaven. If heaven does not change, Dao will also remain the same.4 When Dao reigns, the “son of heaven” on whom heaven’s mandate is bestowed wins the favor of heaven. Thus, his government will prosper. Since Dao is a cosmic-social order upon which all under heaven rely, when Emperor Wu 武 of Han espoused Dong’s philosophy as the principles by which he would run his government, the Confucian state became virtually an instrument for practicing universal kingship.5 The emperor in his cosmic role was the guardian of Dao and in his human role he was the benevolent king of a universal government. Through universal kingship, which linked the cosmic order to the social order, divine authority sanctioned the existence of society and its moral order. Hence, when the Confucian state in the late Han period eventually crumbled with its emperor’s resignation of his cosmic role, and the communication between heaven and man was ruptured, so was the divine legitimacy of the emperor’s vicegerency in a universal government. For example, in 164 ce, on an imperial visit to Tunmeng (in modern Hubei) Emperor Huan 桓 of Han was challenged with respect to the basis for his legitimacy as universal king.6 And Zhang Jue 張角, who practiced the Way of Huang-Lao 黃老道 and organized the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the 180s, even went so far as to formally Destiny and Retribution in Early Medieval China 321 declare...