 Individual nature was the result of the “allotment” (fen) by the “dao of heaven”. One’s destiny, as mandated by the Way of heaven, accounted for one’s individual nature: “The limit set by [Heaven’s] allotment is called destiny which, in producing a kind of constitution, is called nature” (1971: 2) This foundational perspective of inexorability became in Dai’s classical learning the confirmation of the universality of the sages’ ancient values: 