The Daxue (Great Learning) is a foundational Confucian text arguing that social order and world peace stem directly from personal morality. Originally a chapter in the Book of Rites, it asserts that successful governance is impossible without first achieving self-cultivation.

The text presents a logical chain of development: the ‘Three Guidelines’ (manifesting virtue, loving the people, and abiding in the highest good) and the ‘Eight Steps’. These steps describe a path beginning with the ‘investigation of things’ and ‘sincerity of will’, which leads to a regulated family, a well-governed state, and ultimately, peace throughout the world.