And here’s another way to understand how good friends are the whole of the spiritual life. For, by relying on me as a good friend, sentient beings who are liable to rebirth, old age, and death, to sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress are freed from all these things. This is another way to understand how good friends are the whole of the spiritual life.”

Linked Discourses 45.4 1. Ignorance Regarding the Brahmin Jānussoṇi

At Sāvatthī. Then Venerable Ānanda robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, entered Sāvatthī for alms. He saw the brahmin Jānussoṇi driving out of Sāvatthī in an all-white chariot drawn by mares. The yoked horses were pure white, as were the ornaments, chariot, upholstery, reins, goad, and canopy. And his turban, robes, sandals were white, as was the chowry fanning him. When people saw it they exclaimed, “Wow! That’s a divine vehicle! It’s a vehicle fit for divinity!”

Then Ānanda wandered for alms in Sāvatthī. After the meal, on his return from almsround, he went to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and told him what had happened, adding,