Sigala worships in the six directions

Story of the Buddha - no. 47

47. One morning, on his way from Veluvana to beg for his daily alms food, the Buddha came across a young man named Sigala. The man was bowing to the east, south, west and north. Then he saluted the sky above and the earth below. He finished by scattering seeds in these six directions. The Buddha asked him why he did such things. Sigala replied that his father, before he died, asked him to do this ritual daily, to protect himself from any evil that might happen to him.