Two Notions of Poverty in the Pāli Canon

The article begins by establishing that the Pāli Canon contains two contrasting notions of poverty: deprivation and simplicity. The first section analyzes poverty as deprivation through the Cakkavatti-Sīhanāda Sutta, where poverty becomes widespread because the ruler fails to provide wealth to those who have none. Fenn shows that this failure generates a chain of social degeneration: poverty leads to theft, theft to weapons, weapons to murder, and murder to further moral decline. The discussion emphasizes that this form of poverty is treated as a socio-political problem rather than merely an individual karmic consequence. The article then turns to poverty as simplicity, especially in relation to renouncers who are described as akiñcana, lacking possessions. Through the Aggañña Sutta and other renunciation texts, Fenn explains how Buddhist religious poverty symbolizes a rejection of wealth, family, hierarchy, and possessive social identity. Drawing on Victor Turner’s concepts of structure, anti-structure, and communitas, the article interprets the saṅgha as an institutionalized community of renunciation that preserves values of equality, compassion, and moral critique within the broader social order. The article finally argues that the Pāli Canon maintains both pragmatic and visionary perspectives: society needs wealth to prevent deprivation and support religious life, while the renunciant ideal points beyond wealth toward liberation.