In his seminal work titled “In the Buddha’s Words,” renowned scholar-monk Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi writes that the Buddhist way of life is open to all people, monastic or lay.
He also writes that many of the Buddha’s lay followers were accomplished practitioners. But even then they could be regarded as an exception rather than a rule. Why? Because the household life remains one of the main obstacles to spiritual development.
Bhikkhu Bodhi writes:
The household life inevitably fosters a multitude of mundane concerns and personal attachments that impede the single-hearted quest for liberation. Thus, when the Buddha set out on his own noble quest he did so by going into homelessness, and after his enlightenment, as a practical way to help others, he established the Sangha, the order of monks and nuns, for those who want to devote themselves fully to the Dharma unhindered by the cares of household life.
But good community can’t exist without good friendship. That’s why Bhikkhu Bodhi goes on to talk about a sutra titled “Good Friendship,” which reveals the Buddha’s teaching on the importance of personal ties and community for spiritual practice:
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While we are often told that the practice of of the Buddhist path depends entirely on personal effort, this [sutra] emphasizes the importance of spiritual friendship. The Buddha declares that spiritual friendship is not merely “half the spiritual life” but the whole of it, for the endeavor to attain spiritual perfection is not a purely solitary enterprise but occurs in dependence on close personal ties.
Spiritual friendship gives the practice of the Dhamma an inescapably human dimension and welds the body of Buddhist practitioners into a community, [the Sangha] united both vertically by the relationship of teacher to students and horizontally by friendships among peers treading a shared path.
Then, Bhikkhu Bodhi cites the sutra itself:
On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling among the Sakyans where there was a town of the Sakyans named Nagaraka. Then the Venerable Ananda approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, sat down to one side, and said:
‘Venerable sir, this is half of the spiritual life, that is good friendship, good companionship, good comradeship.’
‘Not so, Ananda!’ Not so, Ananda! This is the entire spiritual life, Ananda, that is good friendship, good companionship, good comradeship. When a monk has a good friend, a good companion, a good comrade, it is to be expected that he will develop and cultivate the Noble Eightfold Path.
‘And how, Ananda, does a monk with a good friend, a good companion, a good comrade, develop and cultivate the Noble Eightfold Path? Here, Ananda, a monk develops right view, which is based upon seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, maturing in release. He develops right intention … right speech … right action … right livelihood … right effort … right mindfulness … right concentration, which is based upon seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, maturing in release. It is in this way, Ananda, that a monk with a good friend, a good companion, a good comrade, develops and cultivates the Noble Eightfold Path.
‘By the following method too, Ananda, it may be understood how the entire spiritual life is good friendship, good companionship, good comradeship: by relying upon me as a good friend, Ananda, beings subject to birth are freed from birth; beings subject to aging are freed from aging; beings subject to death are freed from death; beings subject to sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection, and despair are freed from sorrow lamentation, pain, dejection, and despair. By this method, Ananda, it may be understood how the entire spiritual life is good friendship, good companionship, good comradeship.
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About the book’s author: Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is an American Buddhist monk. He obtained a BA in philosophy from Brooklyn College and a PhD in philosophy from Claremont Graduate School. After completing his university studies he traveled to Sri Lanka, where he received full ordination in 1973. From 1984 to 2002 he was the editor for the Buddhist Publication Society in Kandy, where he lived for ten years. He has authored several books on Buddhist practice, including In the Buddha’s Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon.
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