Mencius 7A.2
Mencius (孟子), Book 7, Part I: Jin Xin I 盡心上
孟子曰：「莫非命也，順受其正。是故知命者，不立乎巖牆之下。盡其道而死者，正命也。桎梏死者，非正命也。」
Mencius said, 'There is an appointment for everything. A man should receive submissively what may be correctly ascribed thereto. Therefore, he who has the true idea of what is Heaven's appointment will not stand beneath a precipitous wall. Death sustained in the discharge of one's duties may correctly be ascribed to the appointment of Heaven. Death under handcuffs and fetters cannot correctly be so ascribed.'
James Legge (1861), The Works of Mencius, The Chinese Classics vol. 2 (1861; 2nd ed. 1895); romanization modernized on Wikisource — public domain.
Character glossary
- 孟mèngfirst in a series; great, eminent
- 子zison, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thin
- 曰yuēto speak; to say
- 莫mòcannot; do not; is not; negative
- 非fēinot, negative, non-; to oppose
- 命mìnglife; destiny, fate, luck; an order, ins
- 也yěalso, too
- 順shùnto submit to, to obey, to go along with
- 受shòuto receive, to get, to accept; to bear
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 正zhèngstraight, right, proper, correct, just,
- 是shìto be; indeed, right, yes; okay
- 故gùreason, cause; happening, instance
- 知zhīto know, to perceive, to comprehend
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 立lìto stand; to establish, to set up
- 乎hūinterrogative or exclamatory final parti
- 巖yáncliff, precipice; cave, grotto
- 牆qiángwall
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 下xiàbelow, underneath; inferior; to bring do
- 盡jǐnto exhaust, to use up, to deplete
- 道dàomethod, way; path, road
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 死sǐdead; death; impassable, inflexible
- 桎zhìshackles, fetters, handcuffs
- 梏gùhandcuffs, manacles; fetters
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi Tien Tzŭ Fang
- Zhuangzi The Identity of Contraries
- Zhuangzi Joined Toes
- Zhuangzi How to Govern
- Zhuangzi The Tao of God
- Zhuangzi On Letting Alone
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0); Chinese Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.