“乐天知命”与“安之若命”——儒家生死智慧之现代诠释

现代人面对“生死”之关，皆难以达到“认”的态度；而如果一旦达到这种“认”，也就意味着人们对个我生命即将结束这个事实承认后的接受，于是，他或她可以进入到万般挣扎之后的某种心理上的平安状态。但是，处于“认”之阶段的人．他们对死亡的接受往往是无可奈何的、非心甘情愿的、被动与被迫的，只有由对个体生命生死之必然性的“认”，上升为对人类整体生命之生生死死之必然性的体认，并最终意识到宇宙万物皆有生死成毁之必然性，人们才能获得对死亡自觉自愿的接受，并在面对自我之死时做到完全的坦然和释然，这即是由“认”到“命”的过程，中国古代儒家学者称之为“乐天知命”。终极关怀与普遍性宗教信仰缺失的中国人，面对生死之关，大多数人也只能或只有依赖“命定”的思想观念，在这方面，中国传统的儒家生死智慧具有重大的理论意义和现实的应用价值。

"Happy Acceptance of Fate"and "Calmness as Fate Determined "A Modern Interpretation of Confucian Wisdom of Life and Death

When facing the issue of life and death,modern people all may find it difficult to build up the attitude of "acceptance".But once this kind of "acceptance" is achieved,it means that they have accepted the fact of the end of their life.Therefore,he or she can gain some kind of psychological equilibrium after desperate struggles.However,for those who are at the stage of "acceptance",their acceptance of death is often reluctant and passive.Only after people's "acceptance" of the necessity of the life and death of the individual life rises to the understanding level of the necessity of the life and death of the humanity as a whole,and after they finally realize the inevitability of life and death of all the living beings in the universe,can people willingly accept death and behave calmly and feel relieved when facing their own moment of death,which is the process of changing from "acceptance" to "fate".This is called "happy acceptance of fate" by ancient Chinese Confucian scholars.Most of those who lack ultimate care and universal religious beliefs,when facing the critical moment of life and death,can only or have to rely on the idea of "determinism of fate".In this case,the wisdom of life and death of Chinese traditional Confucianism has significant theoretical meanings and practical value.