Primary Source Library

This is a collection of primary sources that I have found/used in the creation of the Foolish Musings project. Where I cannot find free resources I link to a paid resource which you can use.

P.S. If you know of a better translation or a free resource that I am unaware of please let me know!

Classical Chinese Thought

• The Book of Changes (I Ching/Yi Jing)
• The Book of Documents (Shu King)/Shujing)
• The Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching) by Laozi
• The Analects by Confucius (Kongzi)
• The Doctrine of the Mean and The Greater Learning attributed to Zisi, Confucius and Zengzi
• The Mozi by Mozi
• The Neiye attributed to Guanzi
• The Mengzi by Mencius (Mengzi)
• The Xunzi by Xunzi
• The Zhuangzi by Zhuangzi
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu (Sunzi)
• The Book of Lord Shang attributed to Shang Yang
• The Shizi by Shizi
• The Annuals of Lu Buwei (Lushi Chunqui) attributed to Lu Buwei
• The Han Feizi by Han Fei
• The Pheasant Cap Master (Heguanzi) by Unknown

Classical Indian Thought

• The Rig Veda
• The Upanishads
• The Akaranga and Kalpa Sutras – Jain Sacred Texts
• The Uttaradhyayana and Sutrakritanga – Jain Sacred Texts
• The Dhamapada – collected discourses of the Buddha
• Suttacentral – a colleciton of early Buddhist works
• The Astadhyayi of Panini
• The Brahma Sutra of Badrayana
• The Mimamsa Sutra of Jamini
• The Vaisheshika Sutra of Kanada
• The Nyaya Sutra of Gautama
• The Samkhya Karika of Ishvara Krishna (later work but important to understand Samkhya school)
• The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali (later work but important to understand Raja Yoga)
• The Abhidhammattha Sangaha of Anuruddhacariya (later work but important to understand the Abhidhamma)
• The Bhagavad Gita

Classical Mediterranean Thought

• Dialogue of Pessimism – example of Babylonian wisdom literature
• Teaching of Ptahhotep – example of Egyptian wisdom literature
• The Tanakh
• The Zend Avesta – much later but an example of Zoroastrian thought
• The Illiad and the Odyssey by Homer
• Fragments of the early Greek philosophers
• Elements of Geometry by Euclid
• History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
• Collected works of Plato
• Collected works of Aristotle
• Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by  Diogenes Laërtius – a secondary text but provides many insights into otherwise unheard of schools and figures
• On the nature of things by Lucretius (later work but important to understand Epicureanism)
• Letters from a Stoic by Seneca (later work but important to understand Stoicism)
• Enchiridion of Epictetus (later work but important to understand Stoicism)
• Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (later work but important to understand Stoicism)