認
Symbols Life
acceptance of fate
命
ㄖㄣˋ ㄇㄧㄥˋ rèn mìng
Two versions of the same picture, and both are free with no account and no watermark. The first has no background at all, which is the one to send your artist — but a phone or computer photo viewer set to dark will show black strokes on dark grey and it can look like nothing downloaded. If that happens, use the second one: identical characters on a plain white background. Either way you get the characters on their own — the square and the faint guide lines you see above are not in the file. Each character is 1000px, so a two-character download is 2000×1000, and the script and layout are the ones you picked.
Script
Characters
Same in both
Layout
Rubbing mode: white on black, as a stone rubbing. The download is unaffected.
Taking what life deals without fighting it. Chinese has words for this, but most lean towards resignation rather than serenity.
Before you commit
Choose with care認命 sounds defeated to a Chinese ear — it is what you say when you have given up. If you mean peaceful acceptance, 隨緣 carries that without the sigh.
Pairs well with樂天知命, glad in heaven's way and knowing one's lot, is the classical phrase for cheerful acceptance if you want the idea stated in full.
At small sizesTwo characters, about twenty-two strokes. 認 is dense on the left, so stack the pair vertically rather than crowding them side by side.
Meaning
To accept one's fate; to stop struggling against how things are.
The phrase people actually use, said with a sigh more often than a smile.
Other characters for “acceptance of fate”
What to do next
Pick the script and layout you want above, download the PNG, and send that file to your artist. Ask them to work from the file rather than redrawing the character freehand — that is where strokes go missing.
Related concepts