Yoda the Buddhist – Moon of Alabama

May 23, 2005

Yoda the Buddhist

Just saw Episode III (early afternoon, empty theatre, original language). It’s a big cartoon with lots of fireworks and some interesting future Lego models.
The best lines are from Yoda the Buddhist (Scene 56 (pdf)):

YODA
Careful you must be when sensing the future, Anakin. The fear of loss is a path to the dark side.

ANAKIN
I won´t let my visions come true, Master Yoda.

YODA
Rejoyce for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them, do not. Miss them, do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of gread, that is.

ANAKIN
What must I do, Master?

YODA
Train yourself to let go of anything you fear to lose.

Posted by b on May 23, 2005 at 15:22 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Currently mourning my baby butterfly bush, stomped/broken/killed by a policeman too caught up in looking for a weapon dropped by some random criminal to pay attention to the garden he was destroying. No he was not digging, just walking around like Godzilla in movie-Tokyo.
I know this is trivial, and I am forgiving that man and letting go of the plant I nurtured. But I am not at all convinced that I should let go of the anger at a system that teaches cops to destroy casually so that everyone knows who’s boss. It’s all training for prison guards. It all says, For fear, “we” will spare nothing, destroy anything.

Posted by: citizen | May 23 2005 17:33 utc | 1

Funny, I just posted the same sort of frustrating story about a tree behind my house on the open thread just now. “They” are unconscious therefore they do the unconscionable [sp?]. When we question the unconscionable, “they” pull rank as another unconscious defense, even though they only hold that rank by our consent. When we protest, “they” feel it necessary to show us who is boss.
Regarding buddhist Yoda, “they” are already trying to discredit him. I don’t know how to link but at the movie review at The Weekly Standard they are claiming that the Empire is good, that the jedi/rebels were bad, and that, among other things, the empire’s destruction of the whole planet Alderan with the death star was a good logical decision because Leia was a rebel from Alderan who therefore had to have been lying about Alderan having no weapons. Shades of Iraq war. Oh and they excused the mass- murdering, planeticidal Empire as merely a “benign dictator, like Pinochet”. You really ought to read the whole thing. It’s unconscionable.

Posted by: gylangirl | May 23 2005 18:01 utc | 2

Well, after all, in the movie Senator Palpatine, the Emperor and secretly Dark Lord of the Sith, declares “They are either with us, or they are our enemy!” Sound familiar ?

Posted by: Outraged | May 23 2005 18:13 utc | 3

I noticed Yoda’s recent Buddhist doctrine as well. It caused me a few pangs of dismay since what people really seem to respond to is when the great Awakened One picks up a lightsabre and behaves no differently than the forces he ostensibly opposes. I think that this cultural attitude has led us into the psychological traps that result in the kinds of hypocritical abuses we see going on around us daily. As a culture, we do not seem interested in the Common Sense approach of Thomas Paine or the non-violence of Ghandi. The Dalai Lama might be eloquent, but unless he were to liberate Tibet a la Che Guevara we do not take him seriously. This is why I have become less hopeful about the prospects of persuasive argument; the majority of our culture seems only to respect force (not the “Force” of George Lucas’ allegories)and we rapidly become the abusive monsters we began opposing. Ah, seductive the Dark Side is.
Citizen, I am sorry to hear about your loss. I also nurture plants. It is difficult to let go of the anger that comes from senseless destruction, especially when one recognises how those behaviours lead to greater destructive tendencies, but all that you can do is to plant again and lead by example. As Heraklitos pointed out, life is change. Take the lessons you learned about the nurture and care of your plant and plant again and be the better gardener for it.

Posted by: Monolycus | May 23 2005 18:13 utc | 4

Thanks Monolycus – good advice.
You mentioned doubts about the prospects of persuasive argument. I recently came across a medieval text on preaching, it stated that one of the requirements of teaching was “authority”. So I’m thinking lately about how one gains authority in order to begin persuading – and yes, I think the word has changed meaning in the last 8 centuries and that’s part of the riddle.
For now, how about a quote from Buddha himself on the possibility of Yoda:
Whoever through desire, hate or fear,
Or ignorance should transgress the Dhamma,
All his glory fades away
Like the moon during the waning half.
Whoever through desire, hate or fear,
Or ignorance never transgresses the Dhamma,
All his glory ever increases
Like the moon during the waxing half.
Digha Nikaya 31

Posted by: citizen | May 23 2005 18:30 utc | 5

citizen
i stay calm by resting between the mao & the tao

Posted by: remembereringgiap | May 23 2005 22:39 utc | 6

touché, rgiap!

Posted by: liz | May 24 2005 4:10 utc | 7

RGiap:
and don’t forget the sacred chao*
(the singular unit of chaos, held holy by Discordians everywhere).
Question: what did the sacred chao say when it crossed the way (which if it can be described is not the way)?
Answer: MU

Posted by: catlady | May 24 2005 4:25 utc | 8

Citizen: if that’s the same kind of butterfly bush I’m growing, you can stick the broken branches in soil and they’ll put out roots and take off. Hard to kill that stuff–buddleia (it even contains a Star Wars reference, how fitting). In Oregon, it has been declared a B-list noxious weed.
I have two giant ones. I cut them all the way back every fall, and in early summer they’re 10-12′ tall and attracting clouds of flutterbys.

Posted by: catlady | May 24 2005 4:50 utc | 9

Paul Craig Roberts continues his Bush bashing , this time is a Star Wars vein. I
can’t help wondering if some “rad” Stanford Valley Girl has
been the midwife to Robert’s re-birth as a radical
libertarian and Bush opponent. Roberts is worried
about the possibility that the Bushies repeal the 2nd
amendment, so it sounds like he’s about ready to
“lock and load” and join the maquis. Some political
“realities” defy parody.

Posted by: Anonymous | May 24 2005 6:28 utc | 10

The last post (on Roberts) was mine.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | May 24 2005 6:29 utc | 11

Citizen,
If you want to learn about gaining Authority I would highly recommend reading the following web site about training horses. Especially as it relates to the concept of rewarding via “release”. If you read it metaphorically it works very well on humans.
http://www.kbrhorse.net/tra/horslrn.html
Be also aware that the more you respect authority and become part of the system, the more the system will reward you with trust and authority. Personally it makes me sick to think about selling out. But it is the truth.
Also you can think about becoming a “key” individual. Through taking on responsibility, others will give you keys to access the things for which you are responsible. The more keys withing your control, the more of a “key” individual you become. That too seems silly to me – but then I have never been one much for Authority 😉
Good Luck,
Parralax

Posted by: Parralax | Jun 3 2005 5:39 utc | 12

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