also: ぜんぢしき
spiritual friend; good teacher in Buddhism
A Buddhist term for a virtuous friend or teacher who guides one toward enlightenment through teaching and example. Often contrasted with 悪知識 (akuchishiki), a bad spiritual friend.
See also: 悪知識
Meeting a good spiritual friend is extremely important in Buddhist practice.
He is a spiritual friend who guided me to Buddhism.
The opposite of 善知識: a bad spiritual friend or teacher who leads one away from the Buddhist path.
Standard kanji spelling for this Buddhist term.
Historical kana usage reading; rarely used in modern texts.
Variant kanji spelling using 智; less common.
From Buddhist Chinese 善知識 (shàn zhīshí), literally 'good acquaintance' or 'good friend', a translation of Sanskrit kalyāṇamitra.