Guide to Oriental Classics

I. Classics of the Islamic Tradition

• The Seven Odes (Al-Mu 'Allaqat)
• The Koran (Al-Qur'an)
• The Ring of the Dove (Tawq al-Hamama) by Ibn Hazm
• The Maqamat of al-Hamadhani [added in 3rd ed.]
• The Assemblies of Al-Hariri (Maqamat al-Hariri)
• The Thousand and One Nights (Alf Layla wa-Layla)
• Deliverance from Error (Al-Munqidh min al-Dalal) by Al-Ghazali
• On the Harmony of Religion and Philosophy (Kitab fasl al-maqal) by Averroes (Ibn Rushd)
• The Conference of the Birds by Farid Al-Din 'Attar
• The Mystical Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi
• The Prolegomena (Al-Muqaddima) of Ibn Khaldun
• The Shahnama [added in 3rd ed.]
• The Rubaiyat of 'Umar Khayyam [added in 3rd ed.]
• The Book of Dede Korkut (Kitab-i Dede Korkut) [added in 3rd ed.]
• The Mystical Poetry of Yunus Emre [added in 3rd ed.]
• Leyla and Mejnun by Fuzuli [added in 3rd ed.]

II. Classics of the Indian Tradition

• The Vedas
• Upanishads
• Mahabharata
• Bhagavadgita
• Ramayana of Valmiki
• Yoga Sutras of Patañjali
• The Vedanta Sutra with the Commentary of Shankaracharya
• Theravada Buddhism: The Tipitaka
• Theravada Buddhism: The Dhammapada
• Theravada Buddhism: The Milindapanha
• Theravada Buddhism: The Mahasatipatthana Sutta
• Mahayana Buddhism: Prajnaparamita
• Mahayana Buddhism: The Srimaladevisimhanada Sutra
• Mahayana Buddhism: The Lankavatara Sutra
• Mahayana Buddhism: The Sukhavativyuha Sutras
• Mahayana Buddhism: The Bodhicaryavatara of Shantideva
• Supplementary Readings on Indian Buddhism
• Shakuntala of Kalidasa
• The Little Clay Cart of Shudraka
• Pancatantra, According to Purnabhadra
• Sanskrit Lyric Poetry
• Gitagovinda of Jayadeva
• Indian Devotional Poetry
• Indo-Islamic Poetry
• Poems and Plays of Rabindranath Tagore
• Autobiography of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

III. Classics of the Chinese Tradition

• The Analects (Lun Yu) or Confucius
• Mo Tzu
• Lao Tzu, Tao te Ching
• Chuang Tzu
• Mencius (Meng Tzu)
• The Great Learning (Ta Hsueh)
• The Mean (Chung Yung)
• Hsun Tzu
• Han Fei Tzu
• Records of the Historian: The Shih chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien [added in 3rd ed.]
• Texts of Chinese Buddhism
• The Lotus Sutra (Saddharma Pundarika Sutra, or Miao Fa Lien Hua Ching)
• The Vimalakirtinirdesa Sutra (Wei-mo-chieh so-shuo ching)
• The Awakening of Faith in Mahayana (Ta-ch'eng ch'i-hsin lun)
• Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch
• The Record of Lin-chi [added in 3rd ed.]
• Supplementary Readings on Chinese Buddhism
• Works of Chu Hsi
• Works of Wang Yang-ming
• The Water Margin, or All Men Are Brothers (Shui Hu Chuan)
• Journey to the West, or Monkey (Hsi Yu Chi) by Wu Ch'eng-en
• The Golden Lotus (Chin P'ing Mei)
• Dream of the Red Chamber (Hung Lou Meng) by Ts'ao Hsüeh-ch'in
• Chinese Drama [added in 3rd ed.]
• The Book of Songs (Ch'u Tz'u) by Ch'u Yüan and other poets [added in 3rd ed.]
• Chinese Poets and Poetry

IV. Classics of the Japanese Tradition

• Manyoshu
• Court Poetry: The Kokinshu and other Imperial Anthologies [added in 3rd ed.]
• The Pillow-Book of Sei Shonagon
• The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
• Poetic Diaries and Poem Tales [added in 3rd. ed.]
• Texts of Japanese Buddhism
• Writings of Kukai
• Writings of Buddhist Masters of the Kamakura Period [added in 3rd ed.]
• Writings of the Zen Master Hakuin
• Supplementary Readings in Japanese Buddhism
• An Account of My Hut (Hojoki) by Kamo no Chomei [added in 3rd ed.]
• Poetry, Fiction, and Diaries of the Ninth to Eleventh Centuries [removed in 3rd ed.]
• Literature in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries [removed in 3rd ed.]
• Essays in Idleness (Tsurezure-gusa) by Yoshida Kenko
• Tale of the Heike [added in 3rd ed.]
• The No Plays
• The Fiction of Ihara Saikaku
• The Poetry and Prose of Matsuo Basho
• The Plays of Chikamatsu Manzaemon
• The Treasury of Loyal Retainers (Chushingura) by Takeda Izumo, Miyoshi Shoraku, and Namiki Senryu
• Literature of the Meiji Period [removed in 3rd ed.]
• Kokoro by Natsume Soseki [added in 3rd ed.]

Source: A Guide to Oriental Classics. 3rd ed. Ed. by Wm. Theodore de Bary and Ainslie T. Embree; Third edition edited by Amy Vladeck Heinrich. New York: Columbia University Press, 1989. © 1989 Columbia University Press

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