Sigāla (Singāla), a young householder of Rājagaha, was in the habit of rising early, bathing, and, with wet hair and garments, worshipping the several quarters of the earth and sky. The Buddha saw him once and asked him the reason for this. Sigāla's reply was that his dead father had asked him to do so. The Buddha then taught him that, in his religion, too, there war, worship of the six quarters, but that these quarters were different. Urged by Sigāla, to explain, the Buddha taught him the six vices in conduct, the four motives for such evil action, the six channels for dissipating wealth, and the different kinds of friends. He then taught him the six quarters to be honoured by performing the duties owing to them parents are the east, teachers the south, wife and children the west, friends and companions the north, servants and workpeople the nadir, religious teachers and brahmins the zenith. Details are then given of the duties owing to these and of their counter duties.
The sutta is an exposition of the whole domestic and social duty of a layman, according to the Buddhist point of view, and, as such, it is famous under the name of Gihivinaya (D.iii.180-93).
Sigālaka became the Buddha's follower. According to the Apadāna (Ap.ii.604), it was this Sigālaka's mother who was known as Sigālakamātā (q.v.).