Zhu Xi wrote the influential commentary on the Great Learning in the received Neo-Confucian tradition.
Zhu Xi, a major Song dynasty philosopher, treated the Great Learning as one of the Four Books and supplied an extensive interpretive framework for studying it. He arranged the text into a shorter “Classic” section and a set of explanatory commentaries traditionally associated with Zengzi and later transmission.
His edition and interpretation became exceptionally influential in East Asian education. The Great Learning presents a chain linking personal cultivation, family regulation, government, and peace in the world. Zhu Xi’s commentary made these themes part of a systematic program of investigation, learning, and moral discipline.
Zhu Xi did not claim to be the original author of the Great Learning. His importance lies in editing, arranging, and interpreting the received text. Wang Yangming later offered a different Neo-Confucian approach, so the two thinkers should not be treated as interchangeable commentators.