大Dà学Xué · The Great Learning

Originally chapter 42 of the Li Ji (Book of Rites), the Da Xue (Great Learning) is one short text — a few hundred characters — that Zhu Xi pulled out in the Song dynasty to anchor the Four Books. Its argument is a ladder: investigate things → extend knowledge → make intentions sincere → rectify the mind → cultivate the self → regulate the family → govern the state → bring peace to the realm. Every later Confucian reads it first because it states the whole program in compressed form. English seeding is James Legge (public domain); modern alternatives (Lau, Slingerland) are referenced by the platform, not stored.