Star Wars and Philosophy (Popular Culture and Philosophy Series) - Kevin Decker [17]
In the Star Wars galaxy, the Jedi use the Force in their fighting arts. “A Jedi’s strength flows from the Force,” Yoda teaches Luke. In the martial arts of the Far East, ch’i is cultivated to give special fighting advantage over someone who relies only on physical strength. Eastern philosophy, most especially philosophical Taoism and Zen Buddhism, plays a major role in the Star Wars mythology. This is most true in relation to the martial-arts philosophy of the Jedi. The historical development of this philosophy begins with a Buddhist synthesis with Taoism producing Zen and Kung-fu. This synthesis spread to Korea and Japan, and with it the knowledge of ch’i. The philosophy of the Force is thus best understood by way of understanding the nature of ch’i and the wisdom of Zen.
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The origin of ch’i-oriented martial arts in China is found in the teachings from the Shaolin Temple. It was here that Bodhidarma, who came from India to China in the sixth century, founded Ch’an (known in Japanese as Zen) and Kung-fu, a discipline that cultivates and directs the flow of ch’i, applying it to fighting techniques.
(ch’i)
The Shaolin Temple was founded as a Buddhist monastery in 497 C.E. When Bodhidarma arrived he found that the monks were weak and in ill health and tended to fall asleep during meditation. China at this time was in a state of disunity with competing military powers fighting with one another and bands of bandits wandering the countryside. Buddhist monks in central Asia had evolved a system of self defense based in Yoga and utilizing “prana”—a Sanskrit term the meaning of which approximates ch’i. Bodhidarma came out of this tradition, integrating it with Taoist practice, and taught it to the Shaolin monks to promote heath, mental discipline, self-defense, and spiritual awareness.
The origin of Buddhism goes back a thousand years before Bodhidarma to the teachings of Gautuma Sakyamuni in Northern India. As an advanced student of Yoga, Gautuma was principally concerned with liberation from the bonds of karma, which causes suffering. The idea is that one is subject to innumerable incarnations due to the conditions of karma—that is, past actions produce the conditions of the present moment, and what one does now determines the conditions of the future. In this there is suffering due to ignorance of reality. With enlightenment (which is the meaning of the word “Buddha”) one comes to know reality and thus liberation from the chains of karma. Bodhidarma was in a lineage of mind-to-mind transmission through twenty eight generations beginning with Sakyamuni Buddha. At Shaolin, he transmitted this wisdom, which is the essence of Zen.
The character of Yoda was created with Zen in mind. George Lucas envisioned a character one would find in traditional fairy tales or mythologies, like a frog or a wizened old man on the side of the road. The hero meets this character thinking him to be insignificant, yet he holds the very wisdom the hero needs to fulfill his quest.
Lucas learned from Joseph Campbell that underlying religious mythologies are archetypal patterns which reflect universal truth.31 Dig deeply enough into any of the great spiritual traditions and one comes upon a reservoir of truth common to all and the source of each. Star Wars mythology is an intentional expression of archetypal truth. This truth is known through mystical experience. Campbell maintained that the Zen experience is the mystical wisdom which springs forth from the great reservoir of universal truth. Thus Yoda is intended to be a motif for universal wisdom. When Luke Skywalker enters into Jedi training, he undergoes what Lawrence Kasdan (screenwriter for The Empire Strikes Back) envisioned as Zen education. He tells us that “the stories I find most interesting are stories of Zen education and the Zen master teaching a pupil