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“Self-Cultivation as the Root of All” 69

Instead, their strong linkages should be highlighted, particularly since there are
attempts to interpret them separately today. They must be seen together as a
cornerstone of Confucian ethics and not as separate independent elements.
How is their inseparability expressed? It is shown by the fact that they are laid
out in full in both progressive and recursive order. The term “progressive” (递进)
has two regular meanings: first to move forward in due order, and second, in a
rhetorical way to describe two or more things moving step by step in an ascending
order, whether by size, weight, importance or sequence (Dictionary Editorial Of-
fice, Institute of Linguistics, CASS, 2020, p. 288). In a progressive relationship (递
进关系), the meaning advances step by step, linked by words that express their
logical connection. In contrast, the term “recursion” (递归) is borrowed from
mathematics, and its meaning is complicated. In brief, it is designed to reveal the
leading basic rules to be followed by a process. It denotes a form of circular
definition, or a repeating of items in a self-similar way in a descending order.
The “Great Learning” uses both progressive and recursive logic to clarify the
relationship between the eight principles, showing an uninterrupted intercon-
nection between them in both an ascending and a descending order. To clarify the
relationship between study and knowledge, Zhu Xi (朱熹 1130–1200) comments:
Acquiring knowledge lies in examining things and studying their laws thoroughly. The hu-
man mind has the ability to study, while all things under heaven obey laws. Human
knowledge is limited because these laws are not thoroughly grasped. That’s why at the
beginning of The Great Learning, Confucius urges anyone who learns to investigate all things
under heaven must study more than what is already known in order to fully understand the
laws that govern them. Diligence will lead to enlightenment. The external and internal, the
obvious and less obvious will be thoroughly grasped and the heart fully opened. This is what
is meant by “acquiring knowledge to the greatest extent.” (Zhu, 1983, pp. 6–7)

Study is a precondition for acquiring knowledge, which in turn is the sure outcome
of these efforts.
“Being sincere in thought” (诚意) is clearly of great importance. A man of
virtue, a person of ideal character as recommended by Confucian thinking, should
be prudent when alone. Only by being genuine in dealing with others can such a
person avoid the deviousness of the immoral, and remain strong and safe. This
already implies that a person must maintain authenticity (本真性) toward himself, 2

2 The concept of Authenticity about individual responsibility is a modern idea. However, the “self-
cultivation” in the “eight essential principles” already contains this element. According to Charles
Taylor, “The ethic of authenticity is something relatively new and peculiar to modern culture. Born
at the end of the eighteenth century, it builds on earlier forms of individualism, such as the
individualism of disengaged rationality, pioneered by Descartes, where the demand is that each
person think self-responsibly for him- or herself, or the political individualism of Locke, which