POVERTY ALLEVIATION THROUGH THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

Abstract

Poverty has long been a problem in Thailand and is chronic in many areas. Even during the country's development period under the past 12 National Economic and Social Development Plans, there will be issues of solving poverty problems. Over the past 30 years, the number of the poor has steadily declined from 34.1 million in 1988 to 4.8 million in 2020. However, when looking back at the insights in 2019, the number of multidimensional poor people reached 9.3 million, more clearly reflecting that. Thailand has achieved quantitative poverty alleviation but has not achieved much qualitative success. This is reflected through many non-monetary dimensions of poverty, namely livelihood, financial stability, good health and good education. There are still problems with many indicators. This is considered an important factor or cause in understanding the context in which poverty is defined. Therefore, the Buddhist doctrine of the Four Noble Truths consists of Suffering (the state of poverty), Samutai (the cause of poverty), Nirodha (the goal of alleviating poverty), and Mak (the approach to alleviating poverty) is therefore the most consistent and appropriate principle to apply to poverty alleviation in the present.