Ten Similes for the Good Friend
Ten images in succession, each with its own stated reason: the good friend as a kind mother, a kind father, a nurturer, a great teacher, a guide, a good physician, a snow mountain, a valiant general, a sturdy boat, and a ferryman.
Mother, Father, Teacher, Physician, Mountain, General, Boat, Ferryman
「復次；善男子！善知識者，則為慈母，生佛家故；善知識者，則為慈父，以無量事，益眾生故；善知識者，則為養育守護，不為一切惡故；善知識者，則為大師，教化令學菩薩戒故；善知識者，則為導師，教化令至彼岸道故；善知識者，則為良醫，療治一切煩惱患故；善知識者，則為雪山，長養明淨智慧藥故；善知識者，則為勇將，防護一切諸恐怖故；善知識者，則為牢船，悉令越度生死海故；善知識者，則為船師，令至一切智法寶洲故。是故，善男子！」
"Furthermore, good man: a good friend is a kind mother, because through them one is born into the buddha's own family; a good friend is a kind father, because through countless matters they benefit sentient beings; a good friend is one who nurtures and protects, because they never do the slightest evil; a good friend is a great teacher, because they teach one, causing one to learn the bodhisattva precepts; a good friend is a guide, because they teach one, causing one to reach the path of the other shore; a good friend is a good physician, because they heal and treat every affliction and disease of the mind; a good friend is a snow mountain, because they nurture the bright, pure medicine of wisdom; a good friend is a valiant general, because they guard against every fear; a good friend is a sturdy boat, because they cause one to cross entirely over the ocean of birth and death; a good friend is a ferryman, because they bring one to the isle of the Dharma-jewel of omniscience. For this reason, good man —"
These ten similes are among the most frequently cited passages from the entire Gaṇḍavyūha in later Buddhist literature, standing on their own as a compact teaching on the good friend independent of the pilgrimage that surrounds them. Fazang notes their own careful arrangement: familial roles first (mother, father, nurturer), then instructional roles (teacher, guide, physician), then roles of protection and passage (mountain, general, boat, ferryman) — the good friend's own function moves from origin, through instruction, to safe arrival.
Part 261 Complete
The ten similes are now given in full. Part 262 turns to a further teaching — some twenty distinct attitudes of mind Sudhana should hold when approaching any good friend, beginning with the great-earth mind that bears everything without fatigue.
Continue to Part 262 →