A canon refers to a list or collection of books and scriptures accepted by an ecclesiastic communion as authoritative or divinely inspired. See for examplePali canon (Buddhism), Biblical canon (Jewish and Christian), and Taoist canon. Standard edition of the Thai Pali Canon The Pali Canon is one the earliest existing scripture collections of the Buddhist tradition. ... The Biblical canon is an exclusive list of books written during the formative period of the Jewish or Christian faiths; the leaders of these communities believed these books to be inspired by God or to express the authoritative history of the relationship between God and his people (although there may... The Taoist Canon (Chinese 道藏, pinyin Dào Zàng), is a voluminous collection of Taoist writings, containing well over a thousand texts. ...

In a more general meaning it can also refer to a literary canon, a body of literature and art which is considered to define civilization by widespread consensus. See Western canon and Chinese classic texts. The Western canon is a canon of books and art, and specifically a set with very loose boundaries of books and other art, that has allegedly been highly influential in shaping Western culture. ... China has a wealth of classical literature, both poetry and prose, dating from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC - 256 BC) and including the Chinese classics texts, or Chinese canonical texts. ...