friendship - skillful shaking

Upakāro ca yo mittosukhe dukkhe ca yo sakhāatthakkhāyī ca yo mittoyo ca mittānukampako
 
Etepi mitte cattāro iti viññāya paṇḍito sakkaccaṃ payirupāseyya mātā puttaṃ va orasaṃ.








the friend who is helpmate
the friend in happiness and sorrow
the friend who gives good advice
the friend who sympathizes
 
these four as friends the careful have
and cherish
as a mother her own child

dīgha nikāya 3.265
About ten years ago while a graduate student at Cornell I studied Pali with a linguist of southeast Asian languages,