Xing Zi Ming Chu (Chinese: 性自命出; pinyin: xìng zì mìng chū), translated as Human Nature Is Brought Forth by Decree[1] or The Inborn-Nature Comes from the Mandate,[2] is a Warring States period (ca.
5th century – 221 BCE) text from the Kingdom of Chu, excavated in 1993 from the Guodian tomb, near Jingmen in Hubei, China.
[8][9] This bamboo manuscript has a counterpart in the Shanghai Museum corpus, named by the editors Xing Qing Lun, Discussions on Natural Dispositions and Emotions[10] (Chinese: 性情論; pinyin: xìng qíng lùn, also translated as Discourse on Human Nature and Unshaped Feelings[11]).
[13] Xing Zi Ming Chu discusses human nature in the context of the Way and an ethics which would be later viewed as "Confucian," relating it to rightness, benevolence, the mind, and unshaped feelings.
The Way in Xing Zi Ming Chu transcends the phenomenological world, but is yet an innate part of human nature.
"[22] Scholars note that the concept of human nature set out in Xing Zi Ming Chu bears similarities with other Warring States texts.
As mentioned, it draws on a similar philosophical vocabulary to texts later classed as "Confucian," some of which also discuss human nature, such as Mencius and Xunzi).