In [Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva], the Buddha recounts that, once awakened to the dharma, King Śubhavyūha said that his two sons were his “good friends,” because they had enabled him to meet the Buddha. The Buddha underscores the point, saying: “You should know that a good friend is indeed the great spur [literally, “the great cause and condition”] that brings inspiration to others, causing … the thought of highest, complete enlightenment to awaken in them.” This passage has often been quoted to stress the importance of a “good friend” on the Buddhist path. This expression (Skt. kalyāvamitra; J. zenchishiki), also translated as “teacher” or “spiritual advisor,” broadly refers to one who assists another on the Buddhist path. Zhiyi, for example, divides “good friends” into the three categories of patrons, fellow practitioners, and teachers. The term has been variously interpreted. For example, in premodern Japan, in addition to its broader meaning of one who assists another’s practice, a “good friend” meant the ritual attendant who assisted someone at the time of death, helping that person to focus his or her thoughts on a buddha — usually Amitābha — in order to achieve birth in his pure land.

Nichiren gave considerable thought to the concept of a “good friend” and interpreted it in light of his understanding of the Final Dharma age. In an early but important essay called “On Protecting the Country,” he poses the question: In this deluded age, the Buddha has departed, and great teachers such as Nāgārjuna or Zhiyi no longer make an appearance. How then can one escape samsaric suffering? Because there are no worthy human teachers, Nichiren concluded that, in this age, the Lotus and Nirvāṇa sūtras are to be accounted “good friends,” in accord with Zhiyi’s statement: “At times following a good friend, and at times following the sūtra scrolls, one hears … the single truth of enlightened wisdom.” Nichiren’s insistence that the Lotus Sūtra is the “good friend” for the present age is perfectly in line with his frequent admonition, drawn from the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, to “rely on the dharma and not on the person.”

What one should most avoid, Nichiren asserted, were “evil friends,” teachers such as Kūkai, who had said that the Lotus Sūtra was inferior to the esoteric teachings, or Hōnen, who had insisted that the Lotus should be set aside as beyond human capacity to practice in the latter age. When Nichiren spoke of such people as “evil friends,” he meant, not that they were morally corrupt or insincere, but that they were promoting incomplete teachings that, in his understanding, no longer led to buddhahood in the Final Dharma age. Occasionally he cited a passage from the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, which says that “evil friends” are more to feared than mad elephants. It states, “Even if you are killed by a mad elephant, you will not fall into the three evil paths. But if you are killed by an evil friend, you are certain to fall into them. A mad elephant is merely an enemy of one’s person, but an evil friend is an enemy of the good dharma. Therefore, bodhisattvas, you should at all times distance yourselves from evil friends.” For his part, Nichiren expressed the fervent hope that people would “not mistakenly trust in evil friends, adopt false teachings, and spend their present life in vain.” This was the impetus behind his assertive proselytizing.