The only development by Confucius’ time was that the Decree of Heaven was no longer confined to the Emperor. Every man was subject to the Decree of Heaven which enjoined him to be moral and it was his duty to live up to the demands of that Decree. Confucius said, ‘At fifty, I understood (chih) t‘ien ming’ (II.4). This implies that t‘ien ming is something difficult to understand, but it also shows unmistakeably that it can be understood. The only other mention of t‘ien ming in the Analects is when Confucius said that it was one of the things the gentleman stood in awe of (XVI.8).
