The Great Learning

Description The Great Learning is a sacred text of Confucianism. The Great Learning is the first of the Four books which were selected by Zhu Xi in the Song Dynasty as a foundational introduction to Confucianism. It was originally one chapter in Li Ji (the 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 foreward 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 qing-ming which Legge translates as renovating the people is the name of the People First Party, one of the major parties in the Republic of China on Taiwan.