Paracanonical texts (Theravada Buddhism)

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"Paracanonical texts" is used by Western scholars to refer to various texts on the fringes of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism (cf. Apocrypha), usually to refer to the following texts sometimes regarded as included in the Pali Canon's Khuddaka Nikaya:

• Suttasamgaha (abbrev. "Suttas"; "Sutta Compendium")
• Nettipakarana (abbrev. "Nett"; "Book of Guidance")
• Petakopadesa (abbrev. "Peṭ"; "Instructions on the Tipitaka")
• Milindapañha (abbrev. "Mil"; "Questions of Milinda")

The Suttasamgaha includes selected texts primarily from the Pali Canon. The Nettipakarana and the Petakopadesa are introductions to the teachings of Buddhism; these books present methods of interpretation that lead to the knowledge of the good law (saddhamma). Milindapañhā, written in the style of the Pali suttas, contains a dialogue between the Indo-Greek king Menander (in Pāli, Milinda) and the Thera Nāgasena, which illuminates certain important tenets of Buddhism.

The term "paracanonical" is also sometimes applied to the Patimokkha, which is not in the Canon, but a commentary on it, in which most of the text is embedded.

Other terms with similar meanings include "semi-canonical" and "quasi-canonical".