Wednesday, November 30

Reading:  "The Great Learning"

Our text for Monday is "The Great Learning," an anonymous Confucian text dating from the decades following Xunzi's active period.  No text was more influential in traditional China -- it achieved special canonical status in the twelfth century, and was thereafter memorized at an early age by every literate male in society as a framework for personal self-cultivation and human understanding.

As the online text introduction states, it's very important to read the text with an understanding of its text/commentary structure.  You should refer regularly to the "map" of the text on the introductory page.  The key to finding value in the text lies in re-imagining its practical reference -- its real entailment with ordinary living.  For this reason, I suggest that you focus your attention on sections B.1-6, most of which include some notes that point you in this direction.  If you read these sections with attention as the core of a "self-help" manual, I think it will help bring the rest of the text to life.