Reading List from *A Guide to the Oriental Classics*
Classics of the Islamic Tradition
The Seven Odes.
The Qurʾān.
ʾIbn Ḥazm: The Ring of the Dove
al-Hamadhānī: The Maqāmāt.
al-Ḥarīrī: The Maqāmāt.
The Thousand and One Nights.
al-Ghazālī: Deliverance from Error.
ʾIbn Rushd: On the Harmony of Religion and Philosophy.
Farīd al-Dīn al-ʿAṭṭār: The Conference of the Birds.
Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī: Dīvān and Mathnawī.
ʾIbn Khaldūn: The Muqaddima.
Firdawsī: The Shahnāmā.
ʿUmar Khayyām: The Rubāʿīyāt.
The Book of Dede Korkut.
Yunus Emre: Dīvān.
Fuzuli: Laylā and Majnūn.
Classics of the Indian Tradition
The Vedas.
The Upanishads.
The Mahabharata.
The Bhagavad Gita.
Valmiki: The Ramayana.
Patañjali: The Yoga Sutras.
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.
Kalidasa: Shakuntala.
Shudraka: The Little Clay Cart.
Pancatantra, according to Purnabhadra.
Sanskrit Lyric Poetry: Kalidasa, Bhartrihari, Kavi Bilhana.
Jayadeva: Gitagovinda.
Indian Devotional Poetry: Nammalvar, Kabir Das, Goswami Tulsidas, Mirabai, Sur Das, Chandidas, Vidyapati.
Indo-Islamic Poetry: Ghalib, Mir, Sauda, Mir Hasan, Iqbal.
Rabindranath Tagore: Poems and Plays.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Autobiography.
Classics of the Chinese Tradition
Confucius: The Analects.
Mo Tzu.
Lao Tzu: Tao te Ching.
Chuang Tzu.
Mencius.
The Great Learning.
The Doctrine of the Mean.
Hsun Tzu
Han Fei Tzu
Ssu-ma Ch’ien: Records of the Historian.
Chinese Buddhism: The Lotus Sutra.
Chinese Buddhism: The Vimalakirtinirdesa Sutra.
Chinese Buddhism: The Awakening of Faith in Mahayana.
Chinese Buddhism: Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch.
Chinese Buddhism: The Record of Lin-chi.
Chu Hsi.
Wang Yang-ming.
Shi Nai’an: The Water Margin, or All Men Are Brothers.
Wu Ch’eng-en: Journey to the West, or Monkey.
The Golden Lotus.
Ts’ao Hsüeh-Ch’in: Dream of the Red Chamber.
Chinese Drama: Judge Pao, Wang Shih-Fu, Kao Ming, K’ung Shang-Jen, Tang Xianzu.
The Book of Songs, or Shih Ching.
Ch’u Yüan and Others: The Songs of the South, or Ch’u Tz’u.
Chinese Poets and Poetry: Han Shan, Hsieh Ling-yun, Hsin Ch’i-chi, Juan Chi, Li Ho, Li Po, Li Shang-yin, Meng Chiao, Meng Hao-jan, Po Chu-i, Su T’ung-po, T’ao Ch’ien, Tu Fu, Wang Wei, Yuan Chen.
Classics of the Japanese Tradition
Manyoshu.
Court Poetry: The Kokinshu and other Imperial Anthologies.
Sei Shonagon: The Pillow-Book.
Murasaki Shikibu: The Tale of Genji.
Poetic Diaries and Poem Tales: Murasaki Shikibu, Lady Nijo, Emperor Horikawa, Izumi Shikibiku, Lady Daibu, Tales of Ise, The Tosa Diary, The Sarashina Diary, Kokin Wakashu, Tales of Yamato.
Japanese Buddhism: Writings of Kukai.
Japanese Buddhism: The Kamakura Period: Genshin, Shinran, Dogen, Nichiren Daishonin.
Japanese Buddhism: Writings of the Zen Master Hakuin.
Kamo no Chomei: An Account of My Hut.
Yoshida Kenko: Essays in Idleness.
Tale of the Heike.
The No Plays.
Ihara Saikaku: Fictional Works.
Matsuo Basho: Poetry and Prose Works.
Chikamatsu Manzaemon: Plays.
Takeda Izumo, Miyoshi Shoraku, and Namiki Senryu: The Treasury of Loyal Retainers.
Natsume Soseki: Kokoro.
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Source: A Guide to the Oriental Classics, edited by Theodore de Bary, Ainslie Embree, and Amy Vladeck Heinrich. (3rd Edition)
