A handful of commentaries have shaped how generations approach the Great Learning, but a few stand out as the gold standard.

• Zengzi’s Exposition (曾子傳)
Often called the “First Commentary,” Zengzi’s own notes are woven into the text itself. They don’t read like a formal treatise so much as a master’s whispered guidance on cultivating virtue. Even centuries later, readers still keep this side-by-side in Classics editions.

• The Cheng Brothers (Cheng Hao & Cheng Yi 程顥程頤)
Mid-Song thinkers who cast fresh light on “investigating things” (格物) and “extending knowledge” (致知). Their back-and-forth debates became a roadmap for moral self-cultivation and informed the Neo-Confucian revival across East Asia. Scholars still quote the Chengs when traffic jams on modern moral questions clog the highways of interpretation.

• Zhu Xi’s Collected Notes (朱熹集註)
Nothing quite matches Zhu Xi’s editorial hand for sheer authority. In the 12th century, he wove together the original text, Zengzi’s glosses, the Cheng brothers’ insights and his own reflections into an edition that became the backbone of the civil-service exams until 1905. His ten-diagram framework for the Great Learning feels as tight and well-oiled as any policy brief today.

• Wang Yangming’s Addendum (王陽明別錄)
A Ming dynasty alternative to Zhu Xi’s more external approach, Wang shifted the focus inward: knowledge and action are one and the same. Though not “standard” for imperial exams, his commentary fuels modern discussions about mindfulness long before the word was trendy.

Modern readers often turn to contemporary translations and studies—Wing-tsit Chan’s commentary, James Legge’s Victorian-style tome, or Daniel K. Gardner’s crisp modern English version—for extra clarity. Yet, when it comes to crossing swords with the text’s original spirit, Zhu Xi’s edition reigns supreme, with the Cheng brothers’ dialog and Zengzi’s voice keeping the conversation alive.