Some people inquired about a book club that we could start at our temple. There are a number of good books to start and good suggestions. But if I was going to be part of a book study group, then for the first I would have to choose "The Dharma of Star Wars" by Matthew Bortolin.
I have thought about this ever since I first saw Star Wars at the Plitt Century Theatre in Century City. Maybe George Lucas didn't have all the Buddhist facts at hand, maybe he received some philosophy watching all those Japanese samurai films as a student at USC, but whatever, Star Wars brought up some interesting points, at least I thought so then when I was in Jr. YBA.
The following five films and series of books fleshed out The Force a bit more, so if Matthew Bortolin thought there could be comparisons between Star Wars and Buddhism, why not?
Except for L. Ron Hubbard, religion is not usually covered in our exploration into the future in science fiction, at least religion that we know of today. But if these religions have lasted for 2,000 years, then why could they not be around 2,000 more? And why only Hubbard is going around talking about it and no one else?
I remember a book I picked up that was about the future and the nine Buddhist paradises. I can't even find the title of the book. It had to do with levels of enlightenment, although it was also vaguely similar to Dante's trilogy as well.
If anyone is interested please email me. Once we get started, I'll post our discussion and our relevations here.
