在早期儒家典籍中，中庸之道主要體現為一種實踐性智慧和德性，所謂「中」明顯具有知行一體、主客互動、天人合一的思想特點。朱熹《中庸》學的突出特點和重大貢獻，就是以「理」詮釋「中」，對原典的中庸之道作出了以理為依據的創造性詮釋。由於朱熹以「理」詮釋「中」，故而能夠從知行一體中拓展出知識理性，從主客互動中拓展出主體精神，從天人合一的精神境界建構出天人一理的哲學體系。朱熹通過對《中庸》的一系列創造性詮釋，推動了儒家中庸之道的思想創新和理論建構，使中庸之道的哲學意義得到進一步提升，《中庸》也因此成為中華文明的核心經典。

In early Ruist canonical texts, the Way of the Golden Mean (zhongyong zhi dao) was embodied in a type of practical wisdom and virtue, the “mean” (“zhong”) part of which took as its conspicuous characteristics the unification of knowledge and action, of the subjective and the objective, of the heavenly and the human. Construal of “mean” as “cosmic principle” was the obvious hallmark and important legacy of Zhu Xi’s treatment of Doctrine of the Mean, therein taking “cosmic principle” as warrant for a creative exegesis of the Way of the Golden Mean as it appeared in the original canon. By way of this construal of “mean” as “cosmic principle,” Zhu Xi arrived at epistemic rationality as an extension of the incorporation of knowledge and action; at subjective spirituality as an extension of the interaction between the subjective and the objective; and at a philosophical system of subsumption of both the heavenly and human under the one cosmic principle, this system having been constructed from a spiritual realisation of the unification of the heavenly and the human. By way of a series of creative exegeses of Doctrine of the Mean, Zhu Xi gave impetus to the creative advance and theoretical construction of the Ruist doctrine of the Way of the Golden Mean, thereby enhancing the philosophical standing of the Way of the Golden Mean, with the concomitant effect that the Doctrine of the Mean subsequently became one of the core classics of Chinese civilisation.