Ta Hsüeh (Daxue) and Chung Yung (Zhongyong) are two of the central texts of early Chinese thought, encapsulating the Confucian philosophy of the Way of moral cultivation and spiritual attainment. Traditionally held to be the work of two of Confucius's closest disciples, the books were compiled in their present form late in the second or first century bce and have occupied a central position in educational, political, and cultural life throughout East Asia for almost a thousand years. The texts focus on the connection between internal self-cultivation and the external realization of one's moral core in the fulfillment of the practical aims of Confucian life: the observance of ritual, the proper conduct of personal relationships, and the grand enterprise of maintaining order in the state and the world.