Was Yoda a Taoist Master ?

Obi-wan Kenobi, a Jedi knight:
"The Force is what gives the Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together."


Replace FORCE with Chi and it starts sounding a whole lot like Taoist wisdom.
So was , Yoda and Obi-Wan modelled after Taoist Wizard-Masters, and is the manifestation of the FORCE the same as Taoist’s Empty Force ?

http://www.exn.ca/starwars/taoism.cfm

http://www.jediism.org/generic.html?pid=2

 

Gee soggycat, it sounds as if America has discovered something that has been around for thousands of years. I rather the Chinese way.

Thanks anyway.

Hui tou jian, Gerard.

 

Chi - The Force is not

 

Maybe the 'Chi' is only one aspect of the Force, like the electron is only one part of the atom.


__________________
Don't be afraid; the defence will be only a fast turn of the wrist

 

Well if you think about it, George Lucas may have slightly been inspired by the idea of 'Chi' as the 'force' (and i do mean slightly).
Star Wars was written during a time when general public was getting interested in attaining high conscience and all that. Also, the Jedi being what they are, do bear a slight resemblance to Samurai, as Jedis' are peacemakers first, highly religious and are only Warriors if need be.
Coincedence? maybe. Only way we can find out the truth is to give Lucas a call.

 

Maybe, after all they are both works of fiction

 

If I remember correctly Jedi is phonetically Japanese for Knight.

Col

 

Just for some random trivia on Star Wars which Im sure has done the rounds before- the way that yoda speaks is how Japanese would sound translated into English with the word order kept the same, also the Ewoks are speaking Tibetan (all be it speeded up Tibetan).

 

Thought he looked more like a plummer myself!

 

And I thought it was about our Yoda

|Cain|

 

lol yeah, i thought we were talking about the Yoda on these here forums

 

When Yoda and ObiWan Kenobi "died" they were transformed into higher spirit being. That's very very much in line with Taoist thought. It is compeletly out of line with Buddhist thought which necessitated Yoda reincarnating into another physical / non-spirit form....or upon reaching Nirvana, he would simply turn into Nothing.

Hence, Yoda's character has more undertones of a Taoist Master, not so much Samurai ( Buddhist)

 

Thought he sounded like me granny. same hair too.

 

if i remeber correctly lucas did study some chinese ancient beliefs (how ancient i do not know) and thats where he got the force/star wars ideas from. iono just a random memory.

 

the films of Akira Kurosawa are where GLucas stole many of his ideas for star wars. Amongst other things, root around on the net for stuff.

 

lol c'mon if ya gunna try and make a wiseman out of a 1 ft tall stupid green thing who can't talk proper english... he's gunna have to have been a Taoist

 

you guys all seem to be forgetting the most important aspect ... YODA IS NOT REAL!!!! im a huge starwars fan but honestly he cant he been anything becasue he isnt real. Yoda is a fictional charecter written by george lucas who ( while i love starwars) takes way more credit for his stuff than he deserves. in short, yoda is not a taoist master, becasue yoda dosent exist

 

-The characters and basic plot from STAR WARS was taken from the concepts of Mythologist Joseph Campbell. There was even a book on how Lucas adapted Campbell's HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES to create many of the characters. Lucas also freely admits this in Bill Moyer's PBS series : JOSEPH CAMPBELL AND THE POWER OF MYTH. The jedi and Yoda were mostly based on asian martial arts and philosophies including the bushi (samurai), hwarang warriors, and to an extent shaolin.
-The force is to a large extent the universal chi as opposed to the personal chi/ki/prana/flowing energy/Holy spirit (or whatever other name tag you want to put on it.
-Of course it should be noted that Joseph Campbell did not create the myths and legends that have been with us for countless generations, he "merely" categorized them into an incredible work of scholarship over his lifetime. And gave a perspective and a common ground by pointing out that other than cultural differences, the same story is told over and over again. George Lucas took these archetypes and put it into a new theme and this is why the appeal has been so great.

 

I think he based the force on chi as well. He based the jedi off of samurai, but he got the name from a buddhist temple I think(that's what I heard anyways). Is it just me or do the newer movies suck? I liked the old ones when I was little, but I grew out of them. I have seen both of the new movies, but I hate them.

 

Kwan Jang,
Kewl post !

I’d always suspected that Star Wars characters were based on Asian Martial Arts and philosophy.
In fact I still maintain Taoism was ( inadvertently) the closest model that Lucas borrowed from.
The FORCE suspiciously resembles Empty Force ( or The Tao)
Yoda and Obi Wan are transformed into higher sentient / spritual being upon termination of their physical lives.
Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi lived in caves.….all the things a Taoist hermit would do, but not a Buddhist monk .
Hence less resemblance to Shaolin or Samurai .