In fact, before Li Ruzhen's "Mirror Flower Edge", there were various expressions of "doing my best and obeying destiny". Ouyang Xiu wrote History of the New Five Dynasties. In Biography of Lingguan, he wrote: "Alas! The truth of ups and downs, although called destiny, is not human nature! It turns out that the reason why Zhuang Zong won the world is better than the person who lost the world. " Taking Li as an example, Ouyang Xiu pointed out that the rise and fall of the dynasty was caused by the rulers themselves, not the fate expressed in the history of the Old Five Dynasties.
Further, Ouyang Xiu's progressive historical view has long been reflected in Sima Qian's point of view. In historical records? In Biography of Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu's soldiers were defeated. He said to the defeated soldiers who followed him, "I have been in the army for eight years and have been fighting for more than 70 years. When I was defeated, I was defeated. I never lost, so I dominated the world. However, this pawn is trapped here, and the death of this pawn is not a crime of war. " Xiang Yu told the people around him that it was God who destroyed him, not the fault of his improper use of troops. When Xiang Yu wanted to cross the Wujiang River eastward, he said to the director of Wujiang River, "What can I do if the sky dies?" Xiang Yu is still emphasizing that heaven destroyed him. Sima Qian commented at the end of "Biography of Xiang Yu" that Xiang Yu "prides himself on his meritorious military service, and never forgets his personal wisdom without learning from the past. Call it a matter of overlord, and want to rule the world by force. He died in Dongcheng after five years of national subjugation, but he didn't feel sleepy or blame himself. It is wrong to quote' Heaven kills me, but it is not a crime to use soldiers'! " Like the tragic heroes in ancient Greek mythology, Xiang Yu retained the supreme position for "destiny" and "destiny" on the basis of personal achievements. In them, fate takes precedence over personal efforts.
"Do your best" represents a person's greatest effort, that is, to give full play to his subjective initiative. "resignation" represents the uncertain factors that affect personal success. "Three points are predestined, and seven points depend on hard work" and "do your best and resign yourself to fate" are not only a kind of self-motivation, but also a dialectical struggle mentality, and doing your best is the premise.