Confucius inherited almost the full significance of "Destiny" in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, but the Confueius's understanding of "Destiny" is not ambiguous or contradictory. Confucius lived in the social environment in which the upper nobility was unable to maintain the ritual of civilization with recession of the Bureaucrats group and the rise of the literati class. The transformation that Confucius changed "Destiny" is not about the contents of "God's will" or "Fate", but about the meaning of the benevolence practice associated with Confucian hierarchy. Confucius focuses on two aspects of the transformation of the concept of "Destiny": "Destiny" further falls down and becomes associated with the Confucian hierarchy; the Confucians recognize "Destiny" consciously and practice it. As for Confucians, Confucius's concept of "Destiny" give them self-con- sciousness similar to the religious sentiments of sacred meaning, while recognizing that the benevolence practice is limited by "fate" and detach themselves from dilemma. These two basic points support the later Confucian' s self-consciousness and individual liberation.%孔子几乎继承了殷周时期对“天”理解的全部意义，但他对于天的理解并非含混或者矛盾的。孔子生活于上层贵族无力维护礼乐文明的社会环境中，卿大夫势力集团的衰退和士人阶层的兴起同步展开。孔子对天命的改造不是就“天”和“命”的内容展开，而是就其对儒士阶层体仁实践相关联的意义而进行。孔子对天命观的改造集中在两方面：一方面将天命进一步下落，落实到个体知识分子身上；另一方面强调知识分子本身对天命的自觉体认和担当。对儒家知识分子而言，孔子的天命观赋予他们以自我觉醒的类似于宗教情感的神圣意味，同时认识自我完成的有待性，从而在世事困窘中获得超脱的生命态度。这两点成为后来儒士个体自觉与个体解脱的基本依托。
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