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Flip to reveal answersHow does the guide say Sikh ethics are arrived at?
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All 8 Flashcards — Ethical authority
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Question
How does the guide say Sikh ethics are arrived at?
Answer
There is no systematic manual of ethical practice and laws governing all Sikhs; these are to be discerned by meditating upon the Guru Granth Sahib.
Question
What does the guide say the Rahit Maryada does?
Answer
It acts as a manual for Sikh behaviour, covering the organization of gurdwaras and rites of passage. Khalsa Sikhs promise to obey it in their daily lives.
Question
Name the three ethical principles the guide gives for Sikhism.
Answer
The equality of humanity, the divine creation of the world, and behaving honestly in daily life.
Question
What does Sikhism lack that Islam has?
Answer
Schools of law and a class of jurists. Sikhism has no priesthood or jurists, and directs Sikhs to the scripture for spiritual matters and to the Khalsa for temporal ones.
Question
Why does the word "promise" matter for the Rahit Maryada?
Answer
Because Khalsa Sikhs promise to obey it, so its authority over an individual rests on an undertaking they made — which is why breaking a kurahit is dealt with before the Panj Piare.
Question
How do the five Ks relate to Sikh ethics?
Answer
The guide calls them an outward expression of some ethical beliefs — most clearly the kirpan, from kirpa (grace) and ana (honour), symbolising the duty to protect the weak and vulnerable.
Question
What is a hukam nama, and what is it for?
Answer
A random opening of the Guru Granth Sahib, taken as God's guidance — one of the ways Guru Gobind Singh told Sikhs to consult it.
Question
What is the cost and the gain of having no jurists?
Answer
The cost is that a new question may receive several Sikh answers; the gain is that no mechanism exists by which a ruling could harden into something the scripture would not support.
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Ethics and moral conduct
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