Great Learning — 在明明德
The opening line of the Great Learning declares a path defined by three inseparable aims: to illuminate the luminous virtue inherent in all people, to renew the people, and to rest unwaveringly in the highest good. These are not sequential steps but interwoven commitments—each presumes and supports the others. To “illuminate the luminous virtue” means to recover and clarify what is already present by nature: an innate moral awareness, clouded only by habit or inclination, yet never extinguished. The text affirms this capacity as universal, rooted in the shared endowment of human beings. “Renewing the people” follows naturally—not as external reform, but as extending that inner clarity outward, helping others shed what obscures their own virtue. And “resting in the highest good” names the unwavering standard: not a distant ideal, but the precise point where action, character, and relationship align with what is truly fitting and complete. This anchoring passage, the first chapter of the Great Learning, sets the entire work in motion—not as abstract theory, but as a disciplined return to what is already whole within and among us.
SourcesOriginal passages and citations
- 大學章句
大学之书，古之大学所以教人之法也。盖自天降生民，则既莫不与之以仁义礼智之性矣。然其气质之禀或不能齐，是以不能皆有以知其性之所有而全之也。
- 禮記 大學 (證釋本)
在止于至善。二、述明明德 古之欲明明德于天下者，先治其国；欲治其国者，先齐其家；欲齐其家者，先修其身；欲修其身者，先正其心；欲正其心者，
- 禮記 中庸
能尽物之性，则可以赞天地之化育。可以赞天地之化育，则可以与天地参矣。其次致曲。曲能友诚。诚则形。形则著。著则明。明则动。动则变。变则化。
- 四書章句集註 大學章句
...子曰：「《 大学 》，孔氏之遗书，而初学入德之门也。」于今可见古人为学次第者，独赖此篇之存，而《 论 》、《 孟 》次之。
- 四書章句集註 中庸章句
知，三行为仁，则此三近者，勇之次也。吕氏曰：「愚者自是而不求，自私者殉人欲而忘反，懦者甘为人下而不辞。故好学非知，然足以破愚；力行非仁，然足以忘私；知耻非勇，然足以起懦。」
- 礼记正义
...正义曰：此经大学之道，在于明明德，在于亲民，在止于至善。积德而行，则近于道也。