Abstract

• Poverty alleviation focuses on the quality of life for those who are currently experiencing poverty. The United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development confesses that eliminating poverty in all its manifestations and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the massive global threat. The first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 1) aims to “End poverty in all its forms everywhere”. Buddhism has a transparent contribution to sustainable development and social welfare since the 6th century B.C. Some of the discourses recorded in the Sutta Piṭaka explain social degradation aggravated by poverty and its related issues. This paper presents the Buddha’s teachings regarding the causes of poverty and its impact on sustainable development included in some parts of the Pāḷi Tipiṭaka such as Cakkavatti Sutta, Kūṭadanta Sutta of Dīgha Nikāya, Cūḷakamma Vibhaṅga Sutta of Majjhima Nikāya and Maṅgala Sutta of Khuddaka Nikāya etc., as canonical references and integrate with various research findings investigated by different research scholars.