As mentioned before, Confucius said: “A good student and child must first learn to be dutiful to his parents, and also be respectful and loving to his siblings.” In accord with the ancient Chinese educational system, this book starts by teaching us how to be a good dutiful child when we are at home, and how to be a respectful and loving sibling when we are away from home, including how to be respectful to our elders. Therefore, these two duties are the headings for the first two chapters. The first chapter is on “Xiao,” which is a Chinese word that means being dutiful to one’s parents. All the ancient saints and sages thought “Xiao” was the most important duty in a person’s life. This chapter teaches children the proper conduct on how to talk to and behave in front of parents, and what their correct attitudes and manners should be.
 
     The second chapter states the principle and standard of conduct for the younger sibling towards the older sibling when the younger siblings are away from home. In Chinese, the word “Ti,” which means sincere fraternal love, describes the love between siblings. In Buddhism, its meaning extends further to include conduct towards all persons who are older and as the same generation as ourselves. This chapter then further expands this concept towards our elders. It teaches us how to show respect to the elders and what our correct attitudes and manners should be.
 
     Even though in this book there is no separate chapter on the standard of conduct towards our teachers, it is understood that all the principles and standards taught in this book should also be applied to our teachers.
 
     The third chapter teaches us how we should be cautious in whatever we do daily, whether we are interacting with people, matters or things. The fourth chapter teaches us how to be a trustworthy person. It teaches us that we need to be cautious in the language we use, in our behavior, and in our thoughts. We must also believe in the teachings of the saints and sages. A saint is a person who truly and thoroughly understands the facts about life, and about this universe. In China we call them saints. In India, people call them Buddhas. In western culture people call him God. Actually we are all talking about the same thing. All their teachings come from hearts that were true and pure. They have all seen the truth and this truth will never change with time. Therefore, no matter who they are as long as they are saints, Buddhas or God, they speak the same truth and if it is the truth, then their messages are the same.