An Elucidation of "Heart and Heaven Must Be Two Aspects" in Xin Shi Wei Zhong in Tsinghua Bamboo Slips
The distinction between heaven and human is an important issue in ancient Chinese intellectual history.The concept of"heart and heaven must be two aspects"in Xin Shi Wei Zhong of Tsinghua Bamboo Slips does not deny the restriction of heaven on people,and admits that human's subjective initiative is not omnipotent,but will be restricted by various external factors.At the same time,this concept emphasizes the subjective status of human,paying attention to the recognition and practice of heart to"degree",so that the subjective initiative of heart is transferred from freedom to consciousness.This concept is the inevitable result of the continuous promotion of the inherent rational spirit in the context of the decline of the concept of the mandate of heaven in the late Zhou Dynasty,and it is a public thought with a certain social foundation.The distinction between heaven and human in the late Zhou Dynasty is shown as simple in Xin Shi Wei Zhong.Then a creative development can be observed in Qiong Da Yi Shi in Guodian Bamboo Slips and Discource on Nature by Xunzi:either focusing on moralizing worldly events and regarding the moral self-perfection as the fundamental pursuit of life;or by emphasizing the objectivity of heaven and raising the cognitive function of heart to a new height of abstract.The concept of the distinction between heaven and human in the late Zhou Dynasty did not develop in a single linear manner,but in multiple evolutionary directions that went hand in hand and intersected with each other.
Tsinghua Bamboo SlipsXin Shi Wei Zhongthe distinction between heaven and humanQiong Da Yi ShiXunzi
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