michael lambe

Here’s “this month’s word” as posted in all the classrooms around my school:

善き友があり善き仲間と
ともにあることはこの聖なる
道のすべてある

yoki tomo ga ari yoki nakama to
tomoni aru koto ha kono seinaru
michi no subete aru

My co-teacher mumbled something about it probably being from some sutra or other, but he basically had no idea. It is obviously old though. Notice the old fashioned よき instead of the current よい for “good”. Also notice the use of the kanji 善 for “good” instead of the alternatives 良い or 好い. To me this suggests a more moral sense of “good”; good as in “right” and “proper”. 聖なる道 literally means “sacred path” but in this case it probably means simply a good way to live – way meaning the Buddhist way of course.
Here’s my translation with vocabulary notes below:

to live the good way
being together
with good friends and good companions
is everything

善き  – よき = good
友 – とも = friend
仲間 – なかま = companion
ともに – together, in company with
聖なる – せいなる – sacred, holy
道 – みち- path, way
すべて – everything, all