Spiritual Life is Good Friendship ~ Original Teachings of the Buddha ~ Upaddha Sutta

Upaddha Sutta (Good Friendship) is from The Samyutta Nikaya 45.2 * The following is a collection of verses and teachings on friendship from the Buddha Dhamma In Itivuttaka 1.17, the Buddha declares: 'With regard to external factors, I don't envision any other single factor like admirable friendship as doing so much for a monk in training, who has not attained the heart's goal but remains intent on the unsurpassed safety from bondage. A monk who is a friend with admirable people abandons what is unskillful and develops what is skillful.' (source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaly%C4%81%E1%B9%87a-mittat%C4%81 ) ~ The Verses on Friends One who makes friends only to cheat them, one who is good only in word, one who flatters & cajoles, and a companion in ruinous fun: These four the wise know as non-friends. Avoid them from afar, like a dangerous road. A friend who is helpful, one who shares in your sorrows & joys, one who points you to worthwhile things, one sympathetic to friends: These four, the wise know as true friends. Attend to them earnestly, as a mother her child. ~ Then the Bodhisattva, in order to show him the difficulty of getting rid entirely of the innate evil passions, preached him the Dharma once more under the guise of asking a boon (gift), 17. "If thou givest me some boon, thou Vàsava, abode of excellent qualities, then I ask thee another boon, and no mean one, Lord of the Devas (gods/angels). 18. May that fire of hatred, subdued by which the creatures come to loss of wealth, loss of caste and of good reputation, as if they were vanquished by a hostile attack - may that fire be far from me!" On hearing this, Sakra, the chief of the Devas, highly admiring him, praised him: "Excellent, excellent!" and again he said: 19. "Justly Fame, like a loving woman, attends upon those who have renounced the world. Well, accept some other boon from me for this well-said sentence." Then the Bodhisattva, induced by his hostility to innate evil passions to blame the intercourse with such creatures as are not free from those passions, under the guise of accepting the boon, said this: 20. "May I never hear a fool, nor get the sight of such a one, nor speak to such a one, nor endure the annoyance and the pain of staying with such a one! This is the boon I ask thee for." Sakra spoke: 21, 22. "What dost thou say? Anybody being in distress is most deserving of the commiseration of the pious. Now, foolishness being the root of calamities, is held to be the vilest condition. How is this that thou, though compassionate, abhorrest the sight of a fool, a person especially fit for commiseration?" The Bodhisattva answered: "Because there is no help for him, sir. Do but consider this: 23. "If a fool were at any rate curable by treatment how would anybody like me be wanting in effort to bring about his good? But such a one, thou must understand, can derive no profit at all from medical treatment. 24, 25. He follows the wrong course of conduct, as if it were the right one, and desires to put also his neighbor in that way, and not having been accustomed to a decent and upright behavior, becomes even angry when admonished for his good. Now, then, to such a person, who burns with the infatuation of self-conceit, thinking himself wise, whose harsh anger is provoked by those who speak for his good, and whose impetuousness has not been softened because of the deficiency of his moral education - say, what means does there exist to bring profit to him? 26. For this reason, then, O most excellent of the Devas, because there is no help for him, not even in the power of the compassionate, I do not want to see a fool, since he is the most unfit object." On hearing this, Sakra praised him, exclaiming "Very well! very well!" (source: Jataka) ~ http://www.dharma.org http://www.suttareadings.net http://www.accesstoinsight.org http://www.dharmaseed.org http://www.audiodharma.org * Recorded by jtb on 18 Feb 2006 at the Forest Refuge, Barre, Massachusetts, USA. Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi. From »In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon, Bhikkhu Bodhi, trans. and ed. (Somerville: »Wisdom Publications, 2005). Text is copyright © 2000 Bhikkhu Bodhi. Courtesy of, and with permission from, Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144 USA, » http://www.wisdompubs.org
Spiritual Life is Good Friendship ~ Original Teachings of the Buddha ~ Upaddha Sutta