In the Great Learning, self-cultivation is presented as the inner moral work by which a person becomes the “root” of all genuine order in family, state, and world. It is defined as the disciplined development of character, in which the mind and will are purified so that conduct can reliably embody virtue. The text portrays this as both moral and intellectual development: a steady shaping of the person so that humaneness, rightness, ritual propriety, and wisdom can take firm hold. When this root is not established, the “branches” of social and political life cannot flourish, so self-cultivation is never a merely private concern. It is the hidden groundwork upon which visible harmony depends.

This inner work is described through a sequence: investigating things, extending knowledge, making the will sincere, rectifying the mind, cultivating the person, regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world. Self-cultivation stands at the pivotal point in this progression, where clarified understanding and sincere intention are stabilized into a reliable moral character. Investigating things and extending knowledge are not abstract exercises; they are ways of coming to a truthful grasp of moral principles and concrete situations. On this basis, the will can be made sincere, free from self-deception and aligned with what is right.

From such sincerity, the rectification of the mind becomes possible: emotional life and thought are brought into harmony with moral awareness. This involves overcoming selfish desires, partiality, and confusion so that the mind can clearly reflect what is appropriate in each circumstance. As the mind is rectified, the person is truly cultivated, and daily actions, speech, and relationships begin to express virtue consistently. Self-cultivation, in this sense, is the continuous integration of knowledge and conduct, inner intention and outer behavior, until private character and public life form a single, coherent whole.