Exploring the Path - Pāli Course

Duddadaṃ dadāti mitto, dukkarañcāpi kubbati;
Athopissa duruttāni,¹ khamati dukkhamāni ca.
Guyhañca² tassa akkhāti, guyhassa parigūhati;³
Āpadāsu na jahāti, khīṇena nātimaññati.
Yamhi etāni ṭhānāni, saṃvijjantīdha⁴ puggale;
So mitto mittakāmena, bhajitabbo⁵ tathāvidho’ti.⁶

A friend gives what is difficult to give and does what is difficult to do,
He tolerates even abusive speech, and endures what is difficult to bear,
He shares his secrets and conceals the one you have,
He does not forsake you in troubled times nor despise you when things go wrong,
A person in whom these qualities are found is friend,
One who desires a friend should acquaint oneself with such a person.

Among the four crucial constituents for a wholesome livelihood defined in the Dīghajāṇusutta (unwavering effort, vigilance, beneficial friendship, balanced livelihood), beneficial friendship plays a crucial role in the lives of the Bhikkhus and equally for the conduct of a layperson. It is their positive or negative influence that can foster well-being or generate harm. Encountering and upholding such friendships will be supportive for maintaining a good, wholesome and healthy life with the fewest disturbances.

While the Siṅgālasutta emphasises the importance of staying away from the impact of evil friends or immoral companions and embraces the opposite, the Dīghajāṇusutta commences with supporting the latter: the importance of having moral companions and principled friends.

When Ānanda once asked the Buddha about the importance for a Bhikkhu of having virtuous friends (kalyāṇamittā),⁷ the Buddha replied that having virtuous people as friends, companions and colleagues actually constituted the whole of the holy life. With supportive kalyāṇamittā, it could be expected that the Bhikkhu will more easily pursue and develop the Eightfold Noble Path:

Sakalamevidaṃ, ānanda, brahmacariyaṃ, yadidaṃ– kalyāṇamittatā kalyāṇasahāyatā kalyāṇasampavaṅkatā. Kalyāṇamittassetaṃ, ānanda, bhikkhuno pāṭikaṅkhaṃ kalyāṇasahāyassa kalyāṇasampavaṅkassa– ariyaṃ aṭṭhaṅgikaṃ maggaṃ bhāvessati, ariyaṃ aṭṭhaṅgikaṃ maggaṃ bahulīkarissati.⁸

The Buddha also highlighted the importance for every Bhikkhu to cultivate the qualities of a kalyāṇamitto within oneself as one of the ten factors for the Dhamma to remain unblemished.⁹

Yampi, bhikkhave, bhikkhu kalyāṇamitto hoti kalyāṇasahāyo kalyāṇasampavaṅko, ayampi dhammo sāraṇīyo piyakaraṇo garukaraṇo saṅgahāya avivādāya sāmaggiyā ekībhāvāya saṃvattati.

When a Bhikkhu, Bhikkhus, has supportive, virtuous people as friends, companions and colleagues, then this fact leads to courteousness, affection, reverence, to non-dispute, agreement and unity.

Likewise the Siṅgālasutta underscores the significance for every householder to have beneficial friendships and loyal friends (mittā suhadā). In the same way the Dīghajāṇusutta emphasizes the value for a layman to uphold and keep wholesome friendship (kalyāṇamittatā) recounting various essential benefits and their characteristic specifications:

... saddhāsampannā, sīlasampannā, cāgasampannā, paññāsampannā – tehi saddhiṃ santiṭṭhati sallapati sākacchaṃ samāpajjati

... established in faith, established in sīla, established in generosity and established in pañña – with those he associates, communicates and discusses.

Beneficial friends serve as inspiration and support, because the lay person prompts oneself to establish one’s good qualities and ‘to train oneself to match with the saddhā of the faithful, with the sīla of the virtuous, with the cāga of the generous and with the paññā of the wise.’

yathārūpānaṃ saddhāsampannānaṃ saddhāsampadaṃ anusikkhati, yathārūpānaṃ sīlasampannānaṃ sīlasampadaṃ anusikkhati, yathārūpānaṃ cāgasampannānaṃ cāgasampadaṃ anusikkhati, yathārūpānaṃ paññāsampannānaṃ paññāsampadaṃ anusikkhati.

That fulfilment of these four accomplishments helping a householder to reach the final goal for is corroborated in the Pattakammasutta.¹⁰ Here the Buddha provides a further range of explanation in respect to paññāsampadā by pointing to the necessity to subdue all the hindrances and he concludes:

Vicikicchā cittassa upakkilesoti, iti viditvā vicikicchā cittassa upakkileso pahīno hoti. Ayaṃ vuccati, gahapati, ariyasāvako mahāpañño puthupañño āpātadaso¹¹ paññāsampanno.

Ayaṃ vuccati, gahapati, paññāsampadā.

Doubt is a great defilement of the mind, having realized doubt as mental corruption gets abandoned. This is called, householder, a Noble Disciple of great wisdom, of far reaching wisdom, one who sees what is within his range, one who is established in wisdom.

This, householder, is called, paññāsampadā.

May the troubled world of today be blessed with householders attaining the goal by embracing the following summary:¹²

Uṭṭhātā¹³ kammadheyyesu, appamatto vidhānavā;¹⁴
Samaṃ kappeti jīvikaṃ, sambhataṃ¹⁵ anurakkhati.
Saddho sīlena sampanno, vadaññū vītamaccharo;
Niccaṃ maggaṃ visodheti, sotthānaṃ samparāyikaṃ.¹⁶
Iccete aṭṭha dhammā ca, saddhassa gharamesino;
Akkhātā saccanāmena, ubhayattha sukhāvahā.
Diṭṭhadhammahitatthāya, samparāyasukhāya ca;
Evametaṃ gahaṭṭhānaṃ, cāgo puññaṃ pavaḍḍhatī’ti.

Energetic in one’s profession; vigilant in one’s engagements;
Living a balanced life and protecting what one has earned;
Full of faith; endowed with Sīla; benevolent and no miser;
Continuously purifying the path and gaining blessings in future states;
These are the eight conditions for a householder full of faith;
Thus revealed by the One who is truly so called
Are those which lead to happiness in both the states:
To happiness and welfare in this life and to happiness in the future states,
Living a householder’s life in this way generosity and merit get enhanced.