When I first read The Dharma of Star Wars by Matthew Bortolin, I had no idea that I’d be discussing it on my own podcast and blog years later. Yet here we are. So how exactly does Star Wars and Buddhism tie together?

What do Buddhism and Star Wars have anything to do with each other?

There are two themes in Star Wars that connect to the Dharma.

The first is mindfulness and keeping your focus in the moment. We’ve only briefly touched on this in back in Path of the Jedi Podcast Episode #3 – Your Focus Determines Your Reality. Of all the Jedi, it was Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn who embodied this. In the brief exposure we had to him, we saw and hear Qui-Gon consistently live up to these principles, not only in his mentorship of others but also in his own actions.

The second is ATTACHMENT. This theme is much more prominent in Star Wars and one that is often is a major point of contention among fans. We see throughout all the stories – whether it’s the films, tv series, books, comics – that attachment is a fundamental weakness in all the characters, Jedi, Sith, and non-Force wielders alike.

It’s a shame those characters don’t have access to The Dharma of Star Wars. Perhaps things would have truned out much differently and the galaxy they lived in would’ve been much more balanced.

But then again, we’d be left to live in a world with no Star Wars. For now, let’s just keep the book here on Earth and leave Star Wars where it is 🙂

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