"Book of Rites University" is an essay on Confucian thoughts of self-cultivation, governing the country and leveling the world. It was originally the 42nd volume of The Book of Rites of Dai Xiao, which was said to have been written by Ceng Zi during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In fact, it is a Confucian work in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and it is an important work for China to discuss educational theory in ancient times.
After being highly praised by Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi in the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhu in the Southern Song Dynasty wrote "University Chapters and Sentences", which was finally called "Four Books" together with The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucius and Mencius. After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, "Da Xue" became the official textbook of the school and the required reading of the imperial examination, which had a great influence on the ancient education in China.
The "Three Outlines" and "Eight Items" put forward in "University" emphasize that self-cultivation is the premise of governing people, and the purpose of self-cultivation is to govern the country and the world, which shows the consistency between governing the country and the world and personal moral cultivation.
The full text of "Da Xue" is concise, profound and far-reaching. This paper mainly summarizes the pre-Qin Confucian moral cultivation theory, as well as the basic principles and methods of moral cultivation, and also systematically discusses the Confucian political philosophy, which has profound enlightenment for being a man, doing things and governing the country.