佛教友誼觀=Buddhist views on friendship; 人類學=anthropology; 善友(善知識)=good and virtuous friend/spiritual guide; 惡友(惡知識)=evil friend; 小圈子=clique; 利他=for the benefit of others
As far as many people are concerned, friendship is an indispensable part of social relations among all their lives. The author explores a lot of classical meanings and practical significance of the Buddhist views on friendship while he studies Buddhist thought combining with his own and other people’s experience. Accordingly, mingling the sources of Taishõ Tripiṭaka with the cases from fieldwork and current anthropological ideas, this thesis deeply analyzes the Buddhist views on friendship from the four aspects, namely involving good and virtuous friends or spiritual guides, evil friends, cliques as well as impermanent friendship, and then the theoretical structure of Buddhist views on friendship which centers on becoming intimate with spiritual guides and gets support from developing a mind for the benefit of others is primarily constructed. The interpretation in this thesis benefits from the works by Subhuti and Subhamati, Alan Smart as well as Jeremy Boissevain from Buddhist studies to anthropological perspective on friendship. In the author’s opinion, people could make acquaintance with good and virtuous friends or spiritual guides through some good cliques. In addition, the saying and doing of evil friends and impermanent friendship are due to some social and individual actions. Moreover, integrating the situations of real life with the Buddhist teachings and meanings, the author tries to present some practical schemes which may make and maintain deep friendships in a right way. Meanwhile, he hopes that the discussion of the Buddhist views on friendship, an ethical mirror, will be helpful for people to achieve their self-improvement in social network.