Sigālovāda Sutta

also Sigālaka Sutta

The 31st discourse of the Dīgha Nikāya of the Pāli Canon, often refererred to as the ‘householder's Vinaya’ since it contains practical moral advice for the laity. It is one of the few discourses to address the topic of lay ethics. The Buddha encounters Sigāla, a young Brahmin householder of Rājagṛha, making offerings to the six directions (the four cardinal points, zenith, and nadir). The Buddha teaches him instead a symbolic interpretation of the ritual according to which parents are the east, teachers the south, wife and children the west, friends and companions the north, servants and workpeople the nadir, and religious teachers and Brahmins the zenith. The Buddha explains in turn the responsibilities owed to each group, and the reciprocal duties they owe to one another. He also gives general homilectic advice concerning six vices in conduct, four motives for evil actions (desire, hatred, fear, and delusion), the six ways in which wealth is squandered, and the characteristics of good and bad friends.

A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2003, 2004 (which is available in electronic version from answer.com)