Free A Short History of Chinese Philosophy by Yu-lan Fung

A man cannot do nothing, according to Confucianism, because for every man there is something which he ought to do.
    Nevertheless, what he does is lor nothing, because the value of doing what he ought to do lies in the doing itself, and not in the external result.
    Confucius own life is certainly a good example of this teaching. Living in an age of great social and political disorder, he tried his best to reform the world. He traveled everywhere and, like Socrates, talked to everybody. Although his efforts were in vain, he was never disappointed. lie knew that he could not succeed, but kepi on trying.
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    About himself Confucius said: "If my principles are to prevail in the world, it is Ming. If they are to fall to the ground, it is also Ming. (Analects, XIV, 38.) He tried his best, but the issue he left to Ming.
    Ming is often translated as Fate, Destiny or Decree. To Confucius, it meant the Decree of Heaven or Will of Heaven; in other words, it was conceived of as a purposeful force. In later Confucianism, however, Ming simply means the total existent conditions and forces of the whole universe. For the external success of our activity, the cooperation of these conditions is always needed. But this cooperation is wholly beyond our control. Hence the best thing for us to do is simply to try to carry out what we know we ought ID carry out, without caring whether in the process we succeed or fail. To act in this way is to know Ming. To know Ming is an important requirement for being a superior man in the Confucian sense of the term, so that Confucius said: He who does not know Ming cannot be a superior man." (Analects, XX, 1.)
    Thus to know Ming means to acknowledge the inevitability of the world as it exists, and so to disregard one' s external success or failure. If we can act in this way, we can, in a sense, never fail. For if we do our duty, that duty through our very act is morally done, regardless of the external success or failure of our action.
    As a result, we always shall be free from anxiety as to success or fear as to failure, and so shall be happy. This is why Confucius said: The wise are free from doubts; the virtuous from anxiety; the brave from fear. (Analects, IX, 2.8.) Or again: "The superior man is always happy; the small man sad." (VII, 36.)
    Confucius Spiritual Development
    In the Taoist work, the Chuang—tzu, we see that the Taoists often ridiculed Confucius as one who confined himself to the morality of humanheartedness and righteousness, thus being conscious only of moral values, and not super-moral value. Superficially they were right, but actually they were wrong.
    Thus speaking about his own spiritual development, Confucius said: "At fifteen 1 set my heart on learning. At thirty I could stand. At forty I had no doubts. At fifty I knew the Decree of Heaven. At sixty I was already obedient [to this Decree]. At seventy I could follow the desires of my mind without overstepping the boundaries [of what is right]." (Analects, II, 4) The learning which Confucius here refers to is not what we now would call learning. In the Analects, Confucius said: "Set your heart on the Too." (VII, 6.) And again: "To hear the Too in the morning and then die at night, that would be all right." (IV, 9.) Here Too means the Way or Truth. It was this Too which Confucius at fifteen set his heart upon learning. What we now call learning means the increase of our knowledge, but the Too is that whereby we can elevate our mind.
    Confucius also said: "Take your stand in the li [rituals, ceremonies, prop-074
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    er conduct]." (Analects, VIII, 8.) Again he said: "Not to know the li is to have no means of standing." (XX, 3.) Thus when Confucius says that at thirty he could "stand, he means that he then understood the li and so could practice proper conduct.
    His statement that at forty he had no doubts means that he had then become a wise man. For, as quoted before,