42 THE B U D D H I S T T R A D I T I O N

who is the same in weal and woe; a man who gives good advice; and a man who is sympathetic. . . .

The friend who is a helper,The friend in weal and woe,

T he friend who gives good counsel.The friend who sympathizes—

These the wise man should know As his four true friends.

And should devote himself to them As a mother to the child of her body.

The wise and moral man Shines like a fire on a hilltop.

Making money like the bee.W ho does not hurt the flower.

Such a man makes his pile As an anthill, gradually.

The man grown wealthy thus Can help his family

And firmly bind his friends To himself. He should divide

His money in four parts;On one part he should live.

W ith two expand his trade.And the fourth he should save

Against a rainy day.*

“And how does the noble lay-disciple embrace the six quarters? He should recognize these as the six quarters: m other and father as the east; teachers as the south; wife

* These verses are undoubtedly popular gnomic poetry, adapted with little or no alteration to Buddhist purposes. They effectively give the lie to the picture, still popular in some circles, of ancient India as a land of “plain living and high thinking.” The last three, verses are evidently the product of a society quite as acquisitive as that of present-day Europe or America. The commentator Buddhaghosa found them difficult, for the ideal layman is here said to plow half his income back into his trade, but to devote nothing to religious or charitable causes. The phenomenal rate of reinvestment advocated suggests a rapidly expanding economy.