The Great Learning and The Doctrine of the Mean

Introduction

The Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean were originally two chapters of the Book of Rites. In the Song dynasty Zhu Xi took them out and joined them with the Analects and the Mencius as the Four Books, placing the Great Learning first as the gateway for beginners. It opens: 'The way of great learning lies in making bright virtue shine, in renewing the people, and in resting in the highest good.' Its 'eight steps', investigating things, extending knowledge, making the will sincere, rectifying the mind, cultivating the self, regulating the family, governing the state and bringing peace to the world, join personal cultivation and universal peace in a single path. The Doctrine of the Mean, traditionally ascribed to Confucius' grandson Zisi, teaches that 'before joy, anger, sorrow and delight arise, this is called the centre; when they arise in due measure, this is called harmony', and through 'sincerity' unites the way of heaven and the way of man. It is among the most philosophically profound of the Confucian classics.