Eight goals: discipline, knowledge, honesty, honesty, self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world.

"University" puts forward "three programs" and "eight items", emphasizing that self-cultivation is the premise of governing people, and the purpose of self-cultivation is to keep the family in order, govern the country and level the world, and expounds the internal relationship between governing the country and level the world and personal moral cultivation.

Function: The theory of three cardinal guides and eight orders embodies the fundamental thought of Confucianism, an ancient thinker in China, fully affirms people's social attributes and emphasizes people's role in society and education.

It is concluded that a person's quality (that is, what we call comprehensive quality today) is a measure of the size of his career, which provides lofty guidance for what kind of career he wants to achieve and what direction to take. It is this kind of thought that created the brilliant thought of China's later intellectuals, that is, "if you are rich, you will help the world, and if you are poor, you will be immune to it".

Extended data

"Three cardinal guides and eight aims" is not only the core of the classic "University", but also the central idea of the whole Confucianism. All Confucian classics are centered around this center. If we can understand the "three cardinal guides and eight aims", it is like grasping a key to open the door of Confucianism, and then we can enter the room and enjoy all the essence of Confucian classics.

The ancients wrote articles clearly and second-rate. The first sentence at the beginning of "University" is: "The way of a university is clear in virtue, close to the people, and ends with perfection." The first sentence lists the purpose and program of the whole classic, and then the rest is to expand step by step, from the inside out.

Baidu encyclopedia-three categories and eight orders