Star Wars

[comicallyinsane]

I was watching the first three episodes of Star Wars today and the Clone Wars cartoon and I never realized before how much Buddist stuff is thrown into the Jedis. I must have heard "mindful" and "suffering" every few minutes. I just thought it was really cool. :)

[Matt]

Oh absolutely... the entire thing (Light vs. Dark) is Buddha nature vs. suffering. I've seen it a lot better since I took a course in Buddhism and Christianity last fall.

[Simonthepilgrim]

I think that understanding any of our seed-myths opens the mind to the background of Star Wars. Lucas has acknowledged his debt to Joseph Campbell and its mythic 'strings' are all-too-obvious at times.

May I, however, sound a note of caution! The dualism of the Force and the Dark Side, with all that is good residing in the Force, is far from the Middle Way that the Buddha taught. Dualism is another of the traps that samsara lays out for the unwary!

[Brian]

Yes, if you are a fan of the expanded universe, the Grey Jedi are closer to Buddha nature than anything else :lol:

[Simonthepilgrim]

Perhaps that is why I prefer the TV series Babylon 5 to the Star Wars films!

[comicallyinsane]

Brian, which books are those guys in?



Simon, B5 is the best Sci Fi show ever. :bigclap:

[Brian]

I'm not sure if they appear in any of the books. I know that they are mentioned in the game Knights of the Old Republic II, which is authorized by Lucas.

From WikiPedia:

Grey Jedi, although having completed the teachings of the Jedi Order, are Jedi have either been exiled or had disassociated themselves. Consequently, they operate independently outside the Jedi Council. They are typically seen as misguided to the Jedi, though they have not necessarily succumbed to the Dark Side of the Force. They are inbetween, using both sides of the Force.

[comicallyinsane]

Check this site out. http://www.greyjedi.com/greymatters/

[catie'sboy]

I love Star Wars!! used to be a huge SW nerd, and I even saw a show on TLC i think saying something about Lucas taking from Buddhism and maybe Taoism (that i'm not sure of)....

[ajani_mgo]

He took from Chinese Buddhism, which has both Buddhism and Taoism, how's that?

[Simonthepilgrim]

George Lucas' main influence, as he has said a number of times, was Joseph Campbell and, in particular, his Hero With A Thousand Faces. Few writers, since James Frazer, have so thoroughly understood the structure of archetypal mythology.

[ajani_mgo]

I watched this show on Discovery Channel 12... Entitled "Science of Star Wars"... And it talked about the Force being refelcted and practised by the Shaolin monks...

[Sabine]

Whoa, cool~!
I can play the Imperial March on the piano :p

[Magwang]

Apparently director Brian DePalma tried to convince George Lucas to start a new religion based on the Jedi, but George said "I just want to make movies". That didn't stop a lot of people from listing Jedi as their religion on a UK census.

"Ancient weapons and hokey religions are no match for a blaster at your side, kid." - Han Solo