The Way For Students - 151 Chapter 4. School And Study Section 3. Friend Relationship
4. Desirable Friends
How do you know about good friends? It depends on how thoughtful and how many times they think of you. The more thoughtful and more times they think of you, the better friends they are.
Who should be the best friend in your classroom? If there is one student who is very considerate of others and always tries to help them, but there is another student who wants them to be considerate of himself, the latter would be kicked out while the former would become the master. (177-288)
Let's say there is a man who has ten friends. When this person is willing to live for them in the spirit of self-sacrificing, they would also want to live for him. Moreover, they would want to bring him to their relatives to introduce him proudly. And yet if he would try to make them to live only for him, not only he himself but also all of them should go down. The former is the way for goodness while the latter is the way for evil. (54-29)
When you talk about a true friend, what is the meaning of "true friend"? Let's say you have ten friends. Who can become the most true friend among them?
A plain truth is that the friend who would like to live for others in the spirit of self sacrificing should be the best true friend. He doesn't want to live for his own interest but gives priority to the other's interest. He who is willing to live his life for others from his youthful days to later years must be the true friend of friends. (172-145)
Who is the true friend? He is the man who welcomes you gladly and receives you warmly in the opposite direction of the common people's mind today. If there is a good thing before you, a common person would say it is his, but, on the contrary, to be the true friend, he might as well say to his friend, "This is yours." Everything is the opposite.
If there is some tasty food on the table, a common person would say "I will eat this." But in this case anyone who can say, "Take this delicious food," can be the true friend. a common person would say, "This sad thing is yours, and that joy is mine," but the one who can say, "This sad thing is mine, and that joy is yours" is the true friend. (156-82)
If a friend were to be the best friend of yours, the relationship between you and him should never be broken. He must be better than anything else, including your wife, in the world. You cannot throw him away. Even though you were at the risk of your life you could not break off relations with him.
It is not because of sympathy but because you are connected from the bottom of your heart which is the source of goodness. Any karma connected to the goodness in your original mind cannot be broken off forever. (42-218)
Who is the happy person? He would be the man who has a friend who would be sad about his mishap. Who is the happy person? He is the man having a friend or children who are willing to take any pains for him at the risk of their lives while he feels pain. He is the happy person. (150-277) |