An Instagram follower shared this ⁠story with me a little while back about the importance of having good friends with the compassion and courage to help us confront ourselves and grow in life. I hope you enjoy it, as much as I enjoyed painting these little buddies!⁠

"Ananda, one of Shakyamuni Buddha's closest disciples, once asked him: 'It seems to me that by having good friends and advancing together with them, one has already halfway attained the Buddha way. Is this way of thinking correct?'⁠

Shakyamuni replied, 'Ananda, this way of thinking is not correct. Having good friends and advancing together with them is not half the Buddhist way but all the Buddhist way.'"⁠