The canon · 經

A living library of foundational texts

The texts that built civilizations, made finally approachable. Each deep dive gives the essence, the historical context, the key ideas, and a modern translation of why it still matters. Classical lines open character by character.

texts on the shelf: 26; texts on the shelf
cited passages: 94; cited passages
readable in the original: 67; readable in the original
civilizations: 4; civilizations

早春圖 · 郭熙

經

Guo Xi, Early Spring, 1072

School

26 texts on the shelf

China · c. 5th century BCE
Strategy
The Art of War
Sun Tzu
Thirteen chapters on deception, positioning, and winning before the battle begins.
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China · c. 5th century BCE
Confucianism
The Analects
Confucius (Kongzi)
The recorded sayings of Confucius on virtue, ritual, and the cultivated person.
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China · c. 4th century BCE
Daoism
Tao Te Ching
Laozi
Eighty-one verses on the Way, on wu wei (effortless action), and the strength of water.
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Japan · 1645
Bushido and strategy
The Book of Five Rings
Miyamoto Musashi
Timing, perception, and the void, written in a cave at the end of Musashi's life.
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India · c. 3rd century BCE
Statecraft
The Arthashastra
Kautilya (Chanakya)
The ancient Indian treatise on power, economics, and espionage. Ruthless, systematic, and astonishingly modern.
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India · c. 2nd century BCE
Hindu philosophy
The Bhagavad Gita
Vyasa (attributed)
A dialogue on duty, action, and the self that shaped a civilization.
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India · c. 3rd century BCE
Buddhism
The Dhammapada
The Buddha
The most beloved collection of the Buddha's sayings: verses on the mind, craving, and the path to peace.
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China · c. 9th century BCE
Cosmology
The I Ching
Anonymous, Zhou dynasty
A system of 64 hexagrams mapping how every situation changes into the next.
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China · c. 3rd century BCE
Legalism
Han Feizi
Han Fei
The cold, brilliant playbook that armed the Qin to unify China under its first emperor.
Open the deep dive

Also in the library, and growing

The canon is deep and far from exhausted. Each scroll gains a full deep dive as the podcast reaches it.

ZhuangziChina · Daoism
MenciusChina · Confucianism
XunziChina · Confucianism
MoziChina · Mohism
The Thirty-Six StratagemsChina · Strategy
The Doctrine of the MeanChina · Confucianism
Records of the Grand HistorianChina · History
HagakureJapan · Bushido
Romance of the Three KingdomsChina · Historical fiction
Nagarjuna's Middle WayIndia · Madhyamaka Buddhism
The Yoga Sutras of PatanjaliIndia · Yoga
Wang Yangming's InstructionsChina · Neo-Confucianism
Nanjung Ilgi, the War DiaryKorea · History
HunminjeongeumKorea · Language
Writings of Zhuge LiangChina · Statecraft
Basho's HaikuJapan · Poetry
The Edicts of AshokaIndia · Statecraft

The Art of War

The Analects

Tao Te Ching

The Book of Five Rings

The Arthashastra

The Bhagavad Gita

The Dhammapada

The I Ching

Han Feizi

Also in the library, and growing