other · wisdom

Great Learning & Doctrine of the Mean — Da Xue & Zhong Yong

c. 500–200 BCE (attributed to Zisi and disciples of Confucius) · Warring States to Han (5th–3rd century BCE) · China

The Great Learning — Da Xue

1What the Great Learning teaches, is — to illustrate illustrious virtue;
2to renovate the people;
3and to rest in the highest excellence.
4The point where to rest being known, the object of pursuit is then determined;
5and, that being determined, a calm unperturbedness may be attained to.
6To that calmness there will succeed a tranquil repose.
7In that repose there may be careful deliberation, and that deliberation will be followed by the attainment of the desired end.
8Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning.
9To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning.

The Sequence of Cultivation

10The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom, first ordered well their own States.
11Wishing to order well their States, they first regulated their families.
12Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons.
13Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts.
14Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts.
15Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge.
16Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.
17Things being investigated, knowledge became complete.
18Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere.
19Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified.
20Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated.
21Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated.
22Their families being regulated, their States were rightly governed.
23Their States being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was made tranquil and happy.
24From the Son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything besides.

The Doctrine of the Mean — Zhong Yong

25What Heaven has conferred is called THE NATURE;
26an accordance with this nature is called THE PATH of duty;
27the regulation of this path is called INSTRUCTION.
28The path may not be left for an instant.
29If it could be left, it would not be the path.
30On this account, the superior man does not wait till he sees things, to be cautious,
31nor till he hears things, to be apprehensive.
32There is nothing more visible than what is secret,
33and nothing more manifest than what is minute.
34Therefore the superior man is watchful over himself, when he is alone.

Equilibrium and Harmony

35While there are no stirrings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, or joy,
36the mind may be said to be in the state of EQUILIBRIUM.
37When those feelings have been stirred, and they act in their due degree,
38there ensues what may be called the state of HARMONY.
39This EQUILIBRIUM is the great root from which grow all the human actings in the world,
40and this HARMONY is the universal path which they all should pursue.
41Let the states of equilibrium and harmony exist in perfection,
42and a happy order will prevail throughout heaven and earth,
43and all things will be nourished and flourish.

The Superior Man's Course

44The Master said, "The superior man embodies the course of the Mean;
45the mean man acts contrary to the course of the Mean.
46"The superior man's embodying the course of the Mean is because he is a superior man,
47and so always maintains the Mean.
48"The mean man's acting contrary to the course of the Mean is because he is a mean man,
49and has no caution."
50The Master said, "Perfect is the virtue which is according to the Mean!
51Rare have they long been among the people, who could practise it!"

Sincerity as the Path

52Sincerity is the way of Heaven.
53The attainment of sincerity is the way of men.
54He who possesses sincerity is he who, without an effort, hits what is right,
55and apprehends, without the exercise of thought;
56he is the sage who naturally and easily embodies the right way.
57He who attains to sincerity is he who chooses what is good, and firmly holds it fast.
58To this attainment there are requisite the extensive study of what is good,
59accurate inquiry about it, careful reflection on it,
60the clear discrimination of it, and the earnest practice of it.
61Only those who are possessed of the most complete sincerity that can exist under heaven,
62can give its full development to their nature.
63Able to give its full development to the nature of other men,
64they can give their full development to the natures of animals and things.
65Able to give their full development to the natures of creatures and things,
66they can assist the transforming and nourishing operations of Heaven and Earth.
67Able to assist the transforming and nourishing operations of Heaven and Earth,
68they may with Heaven and Earth form a ternion.

notes

The Great Learning (Da Xue) and the Doctrine of the Mean (Zhong Yong) are two short texts originally chapters of the Book of Rites (Liji), one of the Five Classics. The Song dynasty philosopher Zhu Xi (1130–1200) extracted them and grouped them with the Analects and Mencius to form the Four Books, which became the core curriculum of Confucian orthodoxy for over 700 years. The Great Learning outlines a program of self-cultivation as the foundation of all social and political order. Its famous chain — from the investigation of things through sincerity of thought, rectification of the heart, cultivation of the person, regulation of the family, ordering of the State, to the tranquillity of the whole kingdom — became the template for Confucian moral philosophy. The Doctrine of the Mean (attributed to Zisi, Confucius's grandson) develops the concept of zhong yong (usually translated "the mean" or "centrality-and-normality"). It is not Aristotle's mean-between-extremes but rather the state of perfect equilibrium from which all things emerge in due proportion. The concluding sections on sincerity (cheng) as the path connecting man to Heaven make this text the most metaphysically ambitious of the Four Books. Translation: James Legge, "The Chinese Classics, Vol. I," Hong Kong: London Missionary Society, 1861; revised 1893. Public domain.

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