As a philosophical text from the mid-to-late Warring States period without clear sectarian affiliation， the Tsinghua Bamboo Slip manuscript

Weitian Yongshen

畏天用身proposes a novel model of the Heaven-human relationship structured around two poles—“heaven as fate” and “the autonomous self”—with the cog

nitive mind serving as the pivotal link. Comparative analysis with texts such as the

Mingxun

命训，

Xin Shiwei Zhong

心是谓中and Confucian and Daoist doctrines reveals that

Weitian Yongshen

neither inherits the pre-philosophical paradigm of “subordinating humanity to heaven” characteristic of early theocratic politics， nor follows the Confucian ethical path that confines human agency primarily to moral cultivation or the Daoist stance of passive acquiescence to Heaven’s mandate. Instead， while acknowledging that fate cannot be fully controlled，

Weitian Yongshen

strongly affirms human rational cognition and practical capacity， advocating strategic actions—such as “strengthening the will of the heart” and “acting with utmost caution” —to achieve the ideal state encapsulated in the phrase “employing the self is sufficient”. Crucially， together with another Tsinghua manuscript，

Xin Shiwei Zhong

， it articulates a form of “de-ethicalized” cognitive subjectivity： here， the “heart/mind” （xin心） functions as an instrument of rational deliberation rather than as a moral essence. Such texts represent a strand of practical-rational thought in the mid-to-late Warring States period—one obscured by later dominant narratives—and reflect the intellectual ferment accompanying the rise of the scholar-official class and profound socio-political transformations. Early Chinese conceptions of the distinction between Heaven and humanity can be classified into three types： the “distinction-within-unity” model， exemplified by the

Mingxun

and early Daoism； the “fate-human agency” dualism， represented by

Weitian Yongshen

and

Xin Shiwei Zhong

； and the “natural order-human affairs” dichotomy articulated by Xunzi荀子. This tripartite framework offers a more nuanced map of early Chinese Heaven-human discourses and vividly captures how intellectuals， amid social upheaval， consciously explored the scope and limits of human c

apability.