Is there anyone in Star Wars that matches Buddhist ideal of virtue? (questions and rants)

The Watercooler
1

A. is there any person in the star wars universe and extended universe (original trilogy, prequels, clone wars, sequels, andor 1/2 & rogue one, mandalorian 1/2/3 & grogu, maul, other series, comics & novels) that:

  1. does not kill any creature
  2. does not steal anything
  3. does not engage in sexual activities
  4. does not lie even when pressed nor uttering a white lie
  5. does not drink alcohol or consume mind altering drugs
  6. is not engage in livelihoods such as weapons, living creatures or human trafficking, meat, intoxicants, poisons, army or police or politicians or sweatshop executives, entertainers, fortune tellers, etc.

B. If not, according to you, why? is there any cinematic/novelist universe in existence that highlight such a person? why movies have to all be about killing, lying, cheating, and boozing, masqueraded as delivering virtuous lessons, or as good vs evil when both parties all evil af doing all sorts of despicable acts? the end justifies the means? what is the cause for the normalization of mean-end disparity in the first place in human psyche? is it philosophical laziness or post-hoc rationalizations?

C. is it possible to sneak such a Buddhist ideal of a lay person into the movie scene? why there’s no film/movel similar to the depiction of the beautiful lifestyle of Ghatikara and the beautiful cosmic friendship between him and Gotama (MN 81 , SN 1.50) spanning aeons?

D. Why entertainments have to always be about sensual indulgence and virtue compromization, or is it an inherent feature? which makes sense in the context of the eight uposatha precepts.

.

Extend point C.

further examples, even in earliest buddhist texts there are stories of monks sometime capable of mastering the four elements and exercise psychic powers (think of avatar but the real deal), sometime even defeating dragons or saving the community by blocking the flow of flood, or visiting other realms and converse with the gods about meaning of existence and boundary of the universe, or story about how a kid sees the Buddha along with his sangha walking on a road for the first time and struck with awe, then he approaches the Buddha and the two have an exchange, which leads to the kid later join the sangha and become an arahant himself with full psychic powers. there’s no lacking of thrilling drama or deep adventure, yet it does not need to comprise any principle of virtue

even in a fictional universe, it shows the significant of a person who can keep up with this lifestyle, the probability is extraordinary rare given the number of inhabited worlds and the population of each world, and the constant cycle of wars (just like our world). stream enterers are said to have spotless and blameless virtue that leads to samadhi (as per the formula goes it needs the abstention from sensuality and unwholesome qualities at the start), in this lenses, living a virtuous lifestyle is in itself a reward already in this very life.

2

haha, that’s a good point. People keeping the eight precepts don’t tend to spend a lot of money going to the movies! :wink:

5 Likes
3

Why is it that tech companies earn more money with hate posts in social media than with posts of kindness, and so build their algorithms in a way that pushes hate speech?

Why did the Buddha initially hesitate to teach the Dhamma—the Dhamma of “the stilling of all activities, the letting go of all attachments, the ending of craving, fading away, cessation, extinguishment”? It’s because …

SN6.1:1.5: … people like clinging, they love it and enjoy it.

8 Likes
4

I think C3PO fits the bill. R2D2 is a bit of a rascal, so I’m not sure…

As for media in general, yeah, it is a rare commodity. Avatar: the Last Airbender comes into mind as a precept holder (literally, since he’s an air nomad).

2 Likes
5

C3-PO lies, for example when he becomes a false god to the Ewoks, and he’s involved in a lot of other violations, like arms smuggling.

AtLA is a great story about moral struggle, specifically non killing, but Aang does lie a lot, usually to conceal his identity.

I think Naruto Uzamaki of the ninja fighting manga Naruto is a good five precept lay follower. He almost steals something in the first chapter, but ultimately all he does is read a book and return it. After that, despite his job, I don’t think he ever lies, steals, kills, drinks, or has anything but consensual marital sex (implied by the epilogue where he has a son). Technically, he doesn’t trade in weapons, living beings, meat, liquor, or poisons, and thus passes the right livelihood test. Now, the OP listed being a soldier as wrong livelihood, but presumably that’s just because of the issue of killing - somehow, Naruto manages to be a child soldier who fights in a war and throws knives at people, but never actually kills. Also, it’s possible he’s literally a Buddhist (the series has religion out of focus, but the landscape looks like premodern Japan. Dead people are said to go to the pure land) and the end of the show is about breaking a cycle of reincarnation by transcending hatred through understanding.

Inside of Star Wars, I think there’s numerous side characters who meet the standards of Buddhist ethics (eg the librarian from the prequels) but the central action-adventure conceit makes it hard for any main character to get by without killing.

2 Likes
6

Star Wars was largely inspired by Japanese samarai movies by post war director Akira Kurosawa and Western space opera. That’s the reason the Jedi are an order of meditating swordsman - they practice a scifi version of bushido.

That aside, I think the Force, with its dark and light side is very different than most Western stories in popular culture. It’s not exactly the same as Buddhist karma, but it functions very similarly. Taking the path of bad intentions - lust, hate, power for its own sake - leads a person down the path of a bad destiny. There is also the more ethically intelligent subtext throughout Star Wars about the temptation to think bad intentions can be good, and that they will lead you down the wrong path due to delusion. It’s a little similar to the One Ring’s ability to corrupt people in Lord of the Rings, but it’s much more direct about the relationship between self-cultivation, ethics, and destiny.

As for the issue in general, I might suggest reading some Jataka stories. There is a form of Buddhist virtue that allows involvement with the world and - yes - doing things that break a strict following of precepts.

2 Likes
7

And iirc the Battle of the Fates lyrics are in Sanskrit.

2 Likes
8

As well as the Matrix Soundtrack “Neodämmerung”.

The lyrics do have a kind of Buddhist influence with an asterix. :slight_smile:

Kim-ki Duk has quite a lot of movies that explore Buddhism. In “Spring summer fall winter and spring”, the main character is a buddhist monk, who falls in love with a woman, leaves the robes to be with her, commits murder over jealousy, and comes back to his old temple to practice again.

I do think part of the reason why most movies have flawed characters is because depicting the consequences of flaws is often a better pedagogical tool than just displaying moral virtue.

However, many movies also have that kind of “monkly” / saintly ewise figure who helps protagonist with moral dilemmas.