天
tiān
Sino-Korean cheon (천) · Sino-Japanese ten
sky · Heaven · nature · the impersonal moral order
天 is the sky and, by extension, Heaven — not a personal deity on the biblical model but the highest ordering power: the source of the seasons, of a person's allotted lifespan and circumstances (命, the "Mandate" or "decree" of Heaven), and of the legitimacy of a ruling house. Confucius appeals to it at moments of crisis ("Heaven has produced the virtue that is in me," 7.22; "he who offends against Heaven has no one to pray to," 3.13). In the Dao De Jing 天 is paired with 地 (earth) as the great impartial frame within which the Way operates.
Per-tradition readings for this term are not written yet — Phase 0 works only 仁 in full.
In the corpus (6 selected passages)
The Analects
- 2.4 子曰、吾十有五而志于學。三十而立。四十而不惑。五十而知天命。六十而耳順。七十而從心所欲、不踰… "at fifty I knew the decree of Heaven (天命)"
- 3.13 王孫賈問曰、與其媚於奧、寧媚於竈、何謂也。子曰、不然、獲罪於天、無所禱也。 "he who offends against Heaven has no one to pray to"
- 7.22 子曰、天生德於予、桓魋其如予何。 "Heaven produced the virtue that is in me"
- 9.5 子畏於匡。曰、文王既沒、文不在茲乎。天之將喪斯文也、後死者不得與於斯文也、天之未喪斯文也、匡… "if Heaven had wished this culture to perish..."
Tao Te Ching
- 5 天地不仁，以萬物為芻狗；聖人不仁，以百姓為芻狗。天地之間，其猶橐籥乎？虛而不屈，動而愈出。多… "Heaven and earth are not benevolent"
- 77 天之道，其猶張弓與？高者抑之，下者舉之；有餘者損之，不足者補之。天之道，損有餘而補不足。人之… "the Way of Heaven takes from what has too much and gives to what has too little"