Within the Confucian tradition, the Great Learning is not seen as the product of a single, solitary mind, but as the crystallization of a lineage of teaching. Traditional accounts hold that its fundamental insights stem from Confucius, while the task of composing and transmitting the text is associated with his disciple Zengzi (Zeng Shen). In this view, the work stands at the threshold between master and disciple, preserving the master’s moral vision through the disciple’s literary and pedagogical effort. The text thus embodies both the authority of Confucius and the interpretive care of Zengzi, reflecting the living continuity of the Confucian school.

At the same time, the question of “original authorship” is recognized as more complex than a single name can capture. Some classical sources attribute the work directly to Confucius, others to Zengzi, and later Confucian tradition treats it as a chapter from the Book of Rites shaped by this master–disciple relationship. Modern scholarly perspectives emphasize that the Great Learning likely took shape over time, as teachings were transmitted, arranged, and refined within the Confucian community. From this angle, the text appears less as an individual composition and more as a carefully woven tapestry of the school’s moral and political concerns.

This layered understanding of authorship resonates with the spirit of the work itself, which is concerned with the gradual cultivation of virtue and the harmonization of personal conduct with social order. Just as self-cultivation unfolds through stages, so too the text seems to have emerged through stages of transmission and reflection. The traditional attribution to Confucius and Zengzi, therefore, can be read not only as a historical claim, but also as a symbolic affirmation of the continuity between foundational insight and faithful commentary. In contemplating who “authored” the Great Learning, one is invited to see it as the voice of a tradition, speaking through revered figures whose names anchor a much wider current of wisdom.