Summary The Sujata Sutra is an important Buddhist sutra describing the family ethics. Buddhism practises the celibacy system but doesn't completely deny the mundane family and social ethics. Sakyamuni Buddha described the Buddhist view on family and social ethics on various occasions. The Sujata sutra is such a sutra. According to the sutra, the six directions of above, below and four corners represent the six ethical relations of people in family and social life. These include the relation between parents and children，the relation between teachers and students, the relation between husband and wife，the relation between master and servant，the relation between relatives on friends, and the relation between worldly people and sangha.
This paper analyzes first the most fundamental relation between parents and children，the relation between husband and wife，and the relation between teachers and students. This is to investigate the Buddhist views on family and social ethics. The author points out that the core of traditional Chinese family ethics is filial piety which contains to respect and support the parents, to worship the ancestors, to obey the elders, not to disobey the wishes of the elders, etc. The Buddhist view on family ethics emphasizes not only the children's obligation to support the parents and to obey the parents' wishes but also the parents' responsibility and obligation to children，especially the importance of educating the children. As regards the relation between husband and wife，Buddhism claims that husband should respect wife and satisfy her living needs while wife should respect husband and obey the wishes of husband. This is the basic request in the ethical relation between husband and wife. The mundane family life includes many aspects. This paper touches only a very small part. It is incomplete in every way. But these relations are very important components of the mundane social life. This paper also analyzes the reasons why Buddhism emphasizes the mundane family and social ethics.
