Da Xue

Dà Xué (大學 or 大学) (meaning: the Great Learning), is the first of the Four books which were selected by Zhu Xi during the Song Dynasty as a foundational introduction to Confucianism. It was originally one chapter in Classic of Rites.

The book consists of a short main text, attributed to Confucius and nine commentaries chapters by Zeng Zi, one of Confucius' disciples. Its importance is illustrated by Zeng Zi's foreword that this is the gateway of learning.

Some of the terms within the text form an important part of both classical and modern Chinese political discourse. For example, the concept of world peace has been the stated goal of Chinese statecraft from the Zhou dynasty to the Kuomintang to the Communist Party of China. Another term used in the text qin-min which Legge translates as renovating the people is the name of the People First Party, one of the minor parties in Taiwan.

The Text of the Da Xue

The Da Xue, originally a chapter of the Classic of Rites (Li Ji), was relatively unrecognized as a discrete unit until the Neo-Confucian period, when Sima Kuang (1019-1086 C.E.) "wrote a commentary on it, treating it as a separate work for the first time." After that point, it began to attract ever increasing scholarly attention, until its formal canonization by Zhu Xi (as discussed below).

There is little scholarly consensus on its authorship, with some arguing for Confucius, Zengzi (a disciple of Confucius who lived from 505-432 B.C.E.), an unnamed, syncretic redactor from the late Warring States/early Han period (ca. 200 B.C.E.), or for an agnostic position (that the original writer and date of composition are relatively unknowable).

Given the text's relatively short length, its potent argumentation and its significance for understanding Confucianism, much of it is reproduced below:

What the Great Learning teaches, is — to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence. (...)

大學之道在明明德，在親民，在止於至善 (...)

Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what :is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning.

任何物体都有根本和末节，任何事情也都有终结和开始。知道什么该先，什么该后，就接近于最合宜的程序和目标了。

 

The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the

kingdom, first ordered well their own States.

古之欲明明德於天下者，先治其國

Wishing to order well their States, they first regulated their families.

欲治其國者，先齊其家

Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons.

欲齊其家者，先修齊身

Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts.

欲修齊身者，先正其心

Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts.

欲正其心者，先誠其意

Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge.

欲誠其意者，先致其知

Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.

致知在格物

 

Things being investigated, knowledge became complete.

物格而後知至

Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere.

知至而後意誠

Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified.

意誠而後心正

Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated.

心正而後身修

Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated.

身修而後家齊

Their families being regulated, their States were rightly governed.

家齊而後國治

Their States being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was made tranquil and happy.

國治而後天下平

 

From the Son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must

consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything besides.

自天子以至於庶人，壹是皆以修身為本，

It cannot be, when the root is neglected, that what should spring from it will be well ordered.

其根本紊乱然而末节想治好，是不可能的，

It never has been the case that what was of great importance has been slightly cared for, and, at :the same time, that what was of slight importance has been greatly cared for.

应该重视的反而轻视，应该轻视的反而重视，是从来没有的事

Philosophy of the Da Xue

As can be seen, the Da Xue represents a progressive and programmatic approach to life and learning, with a stress on the interrelationship between the various facets of the human experience (from the ordering of the socio-political realm to the cultivation of the person). Though not attributed to any particular figure, the text is definitively Confucian in its emphases.

The first of these themes is the idea that manifesting order in one sphere will inherently impact all related aspects of life: "Wishing to order well their States, they first regulated their families. // Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons." As summarized by Angus Graham, this moral framework suggests that "you extend to state and Empire the virtues learned inside the family."

This discussion of the extensibility of virtue strongly parallels a similar theme in the Analects, where the personal enhancement of one's ethics is seen to provide an immediate benefit to all members of society. In conversation with a political leader, Confucius suggests that "if you want to be truly adept, the people will also be adept. The excellence (de) of the exemplary person is the wind, while that of the petty person is the grass. As the wind blows, the grass is sure to bend." From the perspective of the Analects, virtuous (and ritual proper) conduct was so efficacious that positive values would be instilled through a process that could be described as "social osmosis":

The Master wanted to go and live amongst the nine clans of the Eastern Yi Barbarians. Someone said to him, “What would you do about their crudeness?”

The Master replied, “Were an exemplary person (junzi) to live among them, what crudeness could there be?”

This osmotic character of virtue is, in both the Analects and the Da Xue, specifically tied to the promulgation of virtues within the family:

Someone asked Confucius, “Why are you not employed in governing?”

The Master replied, “The Book of Documents says:

It is all in filial conduct! Just being filial to your parents and befriending your brothers is : carrying out the work of government.

In doing this I am employed in governing. Why must I be “employed in governing”?

This same emphasis on the "ripple-like" extension of virtue from the family to the entire society, is strongly echoed by Mencius:

Among babes in arms there is none that does not know how to love its parents. When they grow older, there is none that does not know to respect its elder brother. Treating one's parents as parents is benevolence [ren]. Respecting one's elders is righteousness [yi]. There is nothing else to do but extend these to the world.

An additional point of congruence with the early Confucians can also be seen in the Great Learning's stress on making "cultivation of the person the root of everything." Whether this implication is being read into the stress on learning and ritual in the Analects, or directly argued for, as in Mencius and Xunzi, it is undeniable that praxis, especially in service of personal cultivation, was a central concern during this phase of Confucian development.

Neo-Confucian Contributions and Controversies

Despite the notable points of continuity between the Great Learning and the classical Confucian corpus, the text remained relatively obscure until the Neo-Confucian period (ca. 1100 C.E.) when it was thrust into the philosophical limelight by a succession of increasingly illustrious commentaries. In all of these, the text's emphasis on personal cultivation was profoundly resonant with the philosophical and religious needs of the Chinese literati, who were actively competing with the well-developed praxis path of the now-prevalent Buddhist tradition. Indeed, the appeal of this text to the Neo-Confucians was its "support for the focus on inner cultivation – on the task of 'making oneself good' through constant self-scrutiny – a focus which they do not find in the five classics taken by themselves." As the text stresses the role of making thoughts sincere and extending knowledge, "the focus shifts ... dramatically to the moral inner life of the individual." This new focus colors all aspects of Neo-Confucian thought.

However, the increasing importance of the Great Learning also led to some controversial developments. Most importantly, when Zhu Xi was preparing his commentary on the text, he also "rearranged the ancient text of the Classic to have the sections on the investigation of things appear before those on the sincerity of will." This transposition allowed him to base his entire praxis orientation upon the process of exploring "things" (often classic texts) as a means of delving into ultimate principles (li). However, this editorial alteration was not universally accepted, especially by the idealist school of Wang Yangming, who argued that "sincerity of the will, without which no true knowledge is possible, must come before the investigation of things. Therefore he rejected both Chu Hsi's rearrangement of the text and his doctrine of the investigation of things, and based his whole philosophy on the Great Learning, with sincerity of the will as its first principle." This debate, which raged for hundreds of years between the followers of the Cheng-Zhu School and the Lu-Wang School, was never adequately resolved, to the extent that modern Confucians often find it necessary to simply side with one of the two positions.

Historical Significance

The Great Learning is significant because it expresses many themes of Chinese philosophy and political thinking, and has therefore been extremely influential both in classical and modern Chinese thought. Government, self cultivation and investigation of things are linked. It links together individual action in the form of self-cultivation with higher goals such as ultimate world peace as well as linking together the spiritual and the material. By defining the path of learning (tao) in governmental and social terms, the Great Learning both links the spiritual with the practical, and creates a vision of tao that is radically different than that presented by Taoism. In particular, the Great Learning sets Confucianism as being this-worldly rather than other-worldly. Instead of basing its authority on an external deity, the Great Learning bases its authority on the practices of ancient kings.

The text also sets up a number of controversies that have underlain Chinese philosophy and political thinking. For example, one major controversy has been to define exactly the investigation of things. What things are to be investigated and how has been one of the crucial issues of Chinese philosophy.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• The Analects of Confucius. Translated and with an introduction by Roger T. Ames and Henry Rosemont, Jr. New York: Ballantine Books, 1998.
• Berthrong, John H. Transformations of the Confucian Way. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998. ISBN 0813328047
• Chan, Wing-tsit. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1963.
• Confucius: Confucian Analects, The Great Learning & The Doctrine of the Mean. Translation with exegetical notes by James Legge. New York: Dover, 1971. Originally published in 1893.
• Graham, A.C. Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China. LaSalle, IL: Open Court Press, 1993. ISBN 0812690877.
• "Mencius." With Introduction and Translation by Bryan W. van Norden. Included in Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy. New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2001. 111-155. ISBN 1889119091
• Schwartz, Benjamin. The World of Thought in Ancient China. Cambridge, MS and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1985.
• Watson, Burton. Basic Writings of Mo Tzu, Hsün Tzu, and Han Fei Tzu. New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1967.
• Yao, Xinzhong. An Introduction to Confucianism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-521-64430-5.

External links

• English & French translations arrayed with Chinese text
• English Translation, by Charles Muller

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