1, with different main contents.

Doctrine of the Mean: The content affirms the doctrine of the mean as the highest standard of moral behavior, regards honesty as the noumenon of the world, thinks that "sincerity" reaches the highest realm of life, and puts forward the learning process and cognitive methods of "erudition, interrogation, deliberation, discernment and perseverance".

"University": The "three cardinal principles" (showing virtue, being close to the people and ending in perfection) and "eight items" (respecting things, knowing and doing, being sincere, being honest, cultivating one's morality, keeping one's family in order, governing the country and leveling the world) put forward emphasize that cultivating one's morality is the premise of governing people, and the purpose of cultivating one's morality is to govern the country and level the world, which shows the consistency between governing the country and personal moral cultivation.

2. Different creative years

Doctrine of the Mean: Warring States Period

University: Late Spring and Autumn Period

3. Different influences

The Doctrine of the Mean: The Doctrine of the Mean is a Confucian classic, which has been circulated for more than two thousand years. It occupies an important position in Confucianism and ranks second among the four books. It has its unique academic characteristics, academic achievements and social status in every period of China's history. The Doctrine of the Mean is a classic philosophy of the Chinese nation, which has influenced the development of China's history extensively and profoundly.

University: As the first of the four books, university is an important ideological carrier of Confucianism. Confucianism, as the legal basis of China's traditional politics, played an important role in the construction of China's ancient clean government culture, which had a far-reaching impact. The idea of honesty put forward in "University" is of great significance for exploring the social roots of the lack of honesty and creating a people-oriented political concept.

Second, contact

Scholars in the Song Dynasty extracted the golden mean from The Book of Rites and merged it with The University, The Analects of Confucius and Mencius into four books.