Mandate of Heaven

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The Mandate of Heaven ( Chinese  天命 , Pinyin Tiānmìng ) was a traditional concept of Chinese philosophy to legitimize the rule of the Zhou dynasty and the later emperors of China . The sky would protect the authority of a just ruler, while he was dissatisfied with a foolish rulers and would pass the mandate to someone else.

The mandate has no time limit if it is well performed.

history

According to the Book of Documents - Zhou Dynasty Documents Section ( 周 書 ): The Great Speech ( 大 誥 ) - the Duke of Zhou , the younger brother of the late King Wu , declared the kingdom to be ruler and on behalf of the boy King Cheng told the people of Shang that their king had only lost his mandate because he had abused his power. This meant that a legitimate ruler did not have to be of high birth. At the same time, however, this incident also served as an argument to legitimize the rule of the founders of the Han and Ming dynasties , who were both people of lower origin.

For Xunzi , the term was a mere metaphor for legitimacy .

As China's political concepts evolved, the mandate was eventually associated with the notion of the Dynastic Cycle .

In the course of the adoption of various terms from Chinese philosophy in Japan , the concept of the Heavenly Mandate (in Japanese: tenmei or temmei ) was used to establish the legitimacy of political rule. In Nihonshoki so is the campaign of Jimmu - tennō justified ultimately guaranteed by submissions peace in his kingdom. With clear adoptions and paraphrases from Confucian literature, the heavenly rulers and aspirants to the throne of Japan were ascribed virtues in the following hagiographic historiography that correspond to the respective historical circumstances according to the principle of the heavenly mandate. In Japanese philosophy , this concept is repeatedly referred to from a state-theoretical perspective. B. in the 17 article constitution . However, it was decided not to adopt the Chinese concept of the just ruler, according to which it is lawful to overthrow an unjust ruler.

Mandate from heaven and divine right

Heaven's mandate differs significantly from the European concept of divine right , which also legitimized unwise rule instead of overthrowing it. Conversely, a successful coup was seen as evidence of the end of the mandate. That meant a rebellion was wrong unless it was successful. The philosophical difference had little practical effect.

"Mandate of Heaven" was also the first name of the Qing founder Nurhaci , who wanted to assert his claim to the imperial throne of the Ming.