Ta-hsüeh a part of the Chinese Confucian classic Book of Rites whose title is standardly translated as Great Learning. Chu Hsi significantly amended the text (composed in the third or second century B.C.) and elevated it to the status of an independent classic as one of the Four Books. He regarded it as a quotation from Confucius and a commentary by Confucius’s disciple Tseng-tzu, but neither his emendations nor his interpretation of the text is beyond dispute.
The Ta-hsüeh instructs a ruler in how to bring order to his state by self-cultivation. Much discussion of the text revolves around the phrase ko wu, which describes the first step in self-cultivation but is left undefined. The Ta-hsüeh claims that one’s virtuousness or viciousness is necessarily evident to others, and that virtue manifests itself first in one’s familial relationships, which then serve as an exemplar of order in both families and the state.
See also CONFUCIANIS. B.W.V.N.