SIGALA WHO HONORED EVERY DIRECTION
The Buddha paused and asked about this.
"This was my father's last wish before dying," Sigala said. "He advised me to do this to keep away harm from every direction.''
The Buddha, who knew his father, explained: "It is a good thing -- keeping your father's advice, which he gave as his last wish. But you are taking your father's words quite literally. He did not intend that you should actually salute and bow in this way."
The Buddha then explained the actual meaning behind each direction, which means honoring the directions in this way:
- East means respecting and supporting parents;
- South means respecting and learning from teachers;
- West means being faithful and devoted to spouses;
- North means being pleasant and charitable to friends, relatives, neighbors.
- Earth means being fair to employees and associates, giving them work according to their abilities, compen-sating them fairly, and providing for them when they need care.
"It is by doing these that one keeps away from harm."
Moreover, the Buddha advised Sigala [by extension all laypersons] about more than a dozen other things one is wise to avoid.
There are four unskilful forms of conduct to be avoided:
- killing
- stealing
- sexual misconduct
- telling lies
Then there are four motivations of unskilful karma (ill-done deeds):
- partiality or bias and prejudice
- enmity (dosa, himsa)
- foolishness (moha, maya, avijjha, un-reality)
- fear
Finally, one is wise to avoid the six ways of wasting one's money and other wealth:
- intoxicants
- roaming the streets until late at night
- spending too much time partying and obsessing about entertainment
- gambling
- associating with foolish friends
- being lazy
Young Sigala listened with reverence to this advice. And he suddenly remembered that when his father was alive, he had often told him how good a teacher the Buddha was. Although he had tried to get Sigala to go and listen to the Buddha, Sigala had always given excuses that it was too troublesome, he was too busy, he was too tired, he had no money for charity.
Following these revelations, he asked the Buddha to accept him as a follower. He promised that he would keep his father's dying wish, in its true sense, as taught to him by the Buddha.
