World Canonical Texts - List Summaries

Table Form

Traditions	Genre				Total
Traditions	Religious/ Foundational Classics	History	Philosophy	Literature	Total
Indian	1. Rig Veda		11. Laws of Manu, 22. Shankara's Brahmasutrabhasya	7. Mahabharata, 16. Kalidasa's The Recognition of Shakuntala	5
Greco-Roman	2. Iliad	4. Herodotus' Histories	5. Plato's Republic, 6. Aristotle's Metaphysics	9. Virgil's Aeneid	5
Buddhist	3. Samyutta Nikaya	20. Xuanzang's Records of Western Regions, 25. Daoyuan's Transmission of Lamp	12. Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika, 17. Zhiyi's Commentaries on Vimalakirti Sutra		5
Chinese	19. Correct Meanings of Mao Odes (Maoshi Zhengyi)	8. Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, 28. Sima Guang's Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government (Zizhi Tongjian)	13. Wang Bi's Works, 21. Cheng Xuanying's Sub-commentary on Zhuangzi, 31. Zhu Xi's Commentary on Four Books	23. Three Hundred Tang Poems, 30. Su Shi's Works, 34. The Story of the Stone	9
Christian	10. Bible	14. Eusebius' Church History	15. St. Augustine's The Trinity	32. Dante's Commedia	4
Islamicate	18. Quran	24. al-Tabari's History of Prophets and Kings	27. Ibn Sina's al-Shifa, 29. al-Ghazali's Revival of Religious Sciences	26. Ferdowsi's Shahnameh	5
European			35. Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, 36. Marx's Das Kapital	33. Shakespeare's Hamlet	3
Total	6	7	14	9	36

List Form

No.	Title	Author or Compiler	Date used for Ordering
1	Rig Veda	Anonymous	900B.C.
2	Iliad	Homer	650B.C.
3	Samyutta Nikaya	Buddha (sayings)	431B.C.
4	Histories	Herodotus	425B.C.
5	Republic	Plato	375B.C.
6	Metaphysics	Aristotle	322B.C.
7	Mahabharata	Anonymous	150B.C.
8	Records of the Grand Historian	Sima Qian	93B.C.
9	Aeneid	Virgil	19B.C.
10	Bible	Multiple	100A.D.
11	Laws of Manu	Anonymous	150A.D.
12	Mulamadhyamakakarika	Nagarjuna	200A.D.
13	Works	Wang Bi	249A.D.
14	Church History	Eusebius	325A.D.
15	The Trinity	St. Augustine	420A.D.
16	The Recognition of Shakuntala	Kalidasa	425A.D.
17	Commentaries on Vimalakirti Sutra	Zhiyi	598A.D.
18	Quran	via Muhammed	632A.D.
19	Correct Meanings of Mao Odes	Kong Yingda	638A.D.
20	Records of Western Regions	Xuanzang	646A.D.
21	Sub-commentary on Zuangzi	Cheng Xuanying	655A.D.
22	Brahmasutrabhasya	Shankara	710A.D.
23	Three Hundred Tang Poems	Sun Zhu	907A.D.
24	History of Prophets and Kings	al-Tabari	923A.D.
25	Transmission of Lamp	Daoyuan	1004A.D.
26	Shanameh	Ferdowsi	1010A.D.
27	al-Shifa	Ibn Sina	1020A.D.
28	Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government	Sima Guang	1084A.D.
29	Revival of Religious Sciences	al-Ghazali	1097A.D.
30	Works	Su Shi	1101A.D.
31	Commentary on Four Books	Zhu Xi	1200A.D.
32	Commedia	Dante	1321A.D.
33	Hamlet	Shakespeare	1601A.D.
34	The Story of the Stone	Cao Xueqin	1764A.D.
35	Critique of Pure Reason	Kant	1787A.D.
36	Das Kapital	Marx	1883A.D.

Note: This list per se does not specify what language(s) or version(s) that the texts should be read in. For a list of suggested versions in English, please click here.