You can recognize a good-hearted friend who’s a counselor on four grounds. They keep you from doing bad. They support you in doing good. They teach you what you do not know. They explain the path to heaven. You can recognize a good-hearted friend who’s a counselor on these four grounds.

You can recognize a good-hearted friend who’s sympathetic on four grounds. They don’t delight in your misfortune. They delight in your good fortune. They keep others from criticizing you. They encourage praise of you. You can recognize a good-hearted friend who’s sympathetic on these four grounds.” That is what the Buddha said. Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say:

“A friend who’s a helper, one the same in both pleasure and pain, a friend of good counsel, and one of sympathy; an astute person understands these four friends for what they are and carefully looks after them, like a mother the child at her breast. The astute and virtuous shine like a burning flame. They pick up riches as bees roaming round pick up pollen. And their riches proceed to grow, like a termite mound piling up. In gathering wealth like this, a householder does enough for their family. And they’d hold on to friends by dividing their wealth in four. One portion is to enjoy. Two parts invest in work. And the fourth should be kept for times of trouble.”

13. Covering the Six Directions