THE EIGHTFOLD PATH THAT TRANSFORMS THE DARK SIDE
“Your focus determines your reality.”
—JEDI MASTER QUI-GON JINN IN THE PHANTOM MENACE
Luke is repeatedly warned to beware the dark side. If Luke is not aware of the dark side as it arises within him, he might be swept away by it and suffer his father’s fate. The Eightfold Path is the way that helps us maintain our stability so we are not seduced by selfishness, confusion, anger, hatred, and jealousy.
The Buddha was the creator and original master of the Eightfold Path. Wherever the Eightfold Path is practiced, the Buddha taught, joy, peace, and insight are there. Thus, the Eightfold Path does not lead us away from the dark side to peace and insight, but when put into practice, the Path is peace and insight. In other words, the Path is not a means to an end like the Jedi trials; the Path is a reward in itself.
We walk the Path by observing right speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, concentration, view, and thought. The eight factors of the Path are grouped into the three categories of moral virtue, meditative cultivation, and wisdom. The perfection of these three aspects of the human being is essential in order to realize nirvana. In the first category, moral virtue, is right speech, right action, and right livelihood.
RIGHT SPEECH
In the Star Wars universe it’s a cinch to communicate across the vast expanse of the galaxy. With comlinks, holograms, and astromechs capable of boosting signals, people can get in touch with others light years away in real time. Despite all these technological advances, communication between individuals can sometimes be very difficult.
“I think it is time we informed the Senate that our ability to use the Force has diminished,” Mace Windu concluded in Attack of the Clones.
To which Yoda replied: “Only the Dark Lords of the Sith know of our weakness. If informed the Senate is, multiply our adversaries will.”
Communication had broken down between arms of the government tasked with protecting the lives and welfare of the people. The Jedi could not talk to the Senate, and senators—split into fractions by the coming war—could not talk to each other. Anakin could not fully convey his troubles to Yoda in Revenge of the Sith because he was afraid of revealing his relationship with Padmé. Luke and Vader had a hard time really connecting, as they were trapped in viewing each other as nemeses and constantly trying to kill each other.
Right speech is about establishing productive and honest communication that is beneficial to both the speaker and the hearer. The Buddhist precept about using truthful speech is related to observing right speech:
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and relieve others of their suffering. I will refrain from uttering words that can cause division or discord, or that can cause the family or community to break. I am determined to make all efforts to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.
When Luke approached Vader on the forest moon of Endor, he was practicing right speech, trying to resolve the conflict between himself and his father, and turn the Dark Lord back to the good side.
“I know there is good in you,” Luke affirmed. “The Emperor hasn’t driven it from you fully.”
Luke’s words didn’t inspire an immediate turnaround in his father, but those truthful and compassionate words laid the groundwork that made Anakin’s redemption possible.
Right speech also requires abstention from telling lies, from gossip and discordant words, and from abusive or cruel language. Chancellor Palpatine, the master of the dark side, was also a master of violating right speech. In Attack of the Clones, after years of careful manipulation and deception, Palpatine has finally obtained what he sought—emergency powers to rule the Republic like a tyrant. His first words upon receiving this authority are the darkest of lies. With false sincerity he says, “It is with great reluctance that I have agreed to this calling. I love democracy—I love the Republic. The power you give me I will lay down when this crisis has abated.” Of course he never intended to relinquish his authority and, instead, goes on to rule through terror and murder for decades.
The failure to speak rightly isn’t a “sin,” but it is unwise and harmful. The Buddhist view isn’t that we will be punished for telling lies and using words that create division—but we do bear the karma of our speech. “All beings are the owners of their deeds, the heirs of their deeds; their deeds are the womb from which they spring. Whatever deeds they do—good or evil—of such they will be the heirs.” This is true with all the factors of moral virtue: speech, action, and livelihood. Palpatine’s deeds, his lies and deception, do not wait until some imagined afterlife to produce suffering. They bring him suffering in the midst of his rule as Emperor. He can find no joy in the authority he achieved through guile and so he sits in the dark, a shriveled figure, scheming and suffering.
With right speech, words are viewed as a treasure that should only be brought out when they are useful and when the time is right. In Attack of the Clones, Padmé uses right speech when she reminds Anakin that his anger is only natural and that it is not his fault that his mother died. Not only were these words true, they were also kind and loving. Right speech requires the use of truthful, loving words intended to inspire self-confidence, joy, and hope in others.
Right speech, in this case, means we learn when to listen deeply and not talk. By listening deeply to others, as Padmé listened to Anakin, we can hear what they are saying and what is being left unsaid. This affords us the opportunity to find the “right” thing to say, the loving and supportive words that lessen the burdens of others.
RIGHT ACTION
One way to investigate our actions is to look at their results, the fruits they produce. If the fruit is putrid and looks like it should be fed to the dianoga in the Death Star trash compactor, then our actions of the past might not have been right action. If the fruit is sweet and brings us and others true joy like shuura, the tasty Naboo fruit Anakin and Padmé enjoyed, then it is likely that the action that produced it was right. Being mindful of the living Force and our bodily actions will allow us to recognize the variety of fruit they produce.
In Revenge of the Sith, Anakin broods in the Jedi Council Chamber, torn between doing his duty and saving his wife. To protect the life of the one he loves means abandoning everything he believes in and embracing the enemy he has sworn to defeat. To save Padmé he must turn to the dark side.
It’s important not to believe your actions are right just because you gain something (like dark side powers) or experience pleasure from them. Palpatine might have cackled insanely when he finished off Mace, but the “unlimited power” he got through his life of evil action never brought him the satisfaction he craved. Power only leaves the powerful craving more.
To practice right action earnestly it is essential that we investigate the intentions behind our actions. Generosity is right action when it is the act of giving without any expectation of return. Anakin’s offer to help the stranded Qui-Gon Jinn and Padmé in The Phantom Menace is an example of right action. Giving ourselves in time and material resources to those in need is a true act of compassion and one that is a joy unto itself. But if the intention behind the act is not grounded in compassion, then it can lead to the dark side.
Selfish gains are not a good measure of the quality of an act. Anakin said the Sith think “only about themselves” while the Jedi “care about others.” Deeds that bring joy to yourself and others, that ease another’s pain, that give someone the shot in the arm they want or the restraint that they need—those are right action worthy of a Jedi.
RIGHT LIVELIHOOD
Our vocation can support our effort to live with the spirit of awakening. It can also undermine our efforts and lead us into confusion. A job that causes damage to others and the world would not be right. It wouldn’t be right because it is unwise; the damage we cause would return to us via Obi-Wan’s symbiont circle.
One way to see if our job is right livelihood is to compare it to Jabba the Hutt’s enterprise. Jabba has his fat, stubby fingers in every one of the pots the Buddhists warn us to avoid. He dealt largely in illegal “spice” trade—an illicit drug in the Star Wars galaxy. He peddled people in the slave trade and served them up to his pet Rancor when they got out of line. Jabba lies, cheats, and steals to maintain his position. He doesn’t hesitate to murder and will happily pay you 35,000 credits for a living Wookiee (but you’ve got to prove you’re his kind of scum first).
If we look at any job and find that Jabba would enjoy a strong presence there, we may want to reflect on the direction of that employment and see if it is leading to happiness or suffering.
RIGHT EFFORT
The second category of the Path is the category of meditative cultivation. Meditative cultivation focuses on nurturing heart and mind through right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Right effort is diligent action or thought that leads to spiritual freedom. Right effort means to live one’s life with the spirit of awakening, the spirit of finding out “who you are.” In The Empire Strikes Back Yoda says, “A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind.” This kind of determination is part of the practice of right effort, which may also be defined as a balanced commitment to truly recognize and accept ourselves and things as they are right now. “The deepest commitment” and “the most serious mind” are needed to be a Jedi. They are also required for sincere Buddhist practice.
Right effort is not a struggle. Right effort shouldn’t be harsh or extreme. It’s a balanced practice of ease and care. If our practice is a struggle because we’re unable to meet the severe standards we’ve established for ourselves then we’ll abandon it, and that would be unfortunate. Punishing ourselves for failing or for being swept away by our emotions is not helpful. We have to accept the way things are before we can see them clearly and find a path of action. A balance between recognizing our humanity and working to improve things has to be struck.
There is a Buddhist story that illustrates this, about a monk named Sona, who had been a musician. The Buddha pointed out that, with stringed instruments like the lute, if strings are too taught, the instrument is not tuneful and fit for playing—and the same is true if they are too slack. But if the strings are neither too tight nor too slack, a musician can bring forth beautiful, tuneful music. The same is true with Buddhist practice. The deep commitment of a Jedi is necessary, but our intensity should be tempered by a realistic outlook. If it is not, the too-taut string of (overly) serious effort may snap.
There are four functions to right effort. The first is to pacify unwholesome seeds that have already blossomed in our minds. “Unwholesome” means anything that does not correlate with peace, happiness, and freedom. This means, among other things, the dark side energies of fear, anger, and aggression. This function is the opposite of what the Emperor employs to tempt Luke to the dark side in Return of the Jedi: “Use your aggressive feelings, boy! Let the hate flow through you.”
When hate and aggressive, dark-side feelings have entered our consciousness we can remember to practice as Qui-Gon taught and become aware of the present moment and the state of our mind. Recognizing the presence of the dark side in us, we do not allow it to pull us into actions that we will regret. We practice mindful breathing and allow the emotion to pass, and in this way we stave off the path of suffering.
Letting go of dark side energies is complemented by the second function of right effort: preventing unwholesome seeds from manifesting in the mind in the first place. Although hatred, anger, aggression, and other mental formations of the dark side are unwholesome, if we are practicing the way that transforms the dark side, they can nonetheless be transformed into wholesome elements. If we recognize the dark side when it is present in our mind we can practice Yoda’s method of calm reflection and gain insight into our hate and aggression and the things that have helped them arise.
The third function of right effort is to cultivate and raise wholesome seeds in the mind. Wholesome seeds are not ideas about living a chaste, upright life—but rather, they are those things that bring us peace, joy, and freedom on a deeply spiritual level. Living simply, taking time to enjoy life, and appreciating our loved ones are ways one can practice the third function.
Once wholesome seeds have bloomed in our mind consciousness we can turn to the final function of right effort, namely sustaining the wholesome seeds that we’ve cultivated. We can keep wholesome seeds strong in our mind by nourishing them with mindfulness and concentration. Breathing in and out in mindfulness is an ever present light of peace that brings ease and contentment.
RIGHT MINDFULNESS AND CONCENTRATION
Right mindfulness refers to the practice of nonjudgmental attention that doesn’t label or conceptualize. Qui-Gon instructed Anakin to “watch me and be mindful.” Mindfulness is sometimes called “appropriate attention.” Buddhist practice is to find ways to bring appropriate attention to everything. It’s called a practice because our attention usually wanders away from what we are doing in the moment, and so we must practice bringing it back.
Right concentration is single-pointed action. When we do something with right concentration the notion of “self” falls away and we become one with the action. In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda screams “Concentrate!” when Luke wobbles out of a handstand, kicking the ancient Jedi master to the ground. Luke was troubled by visions; his concentration was not single-pointed and so his action was unfocused too. The moment the notion of self intrudes, concentration wobbles and trouble follows.
Throughout this book we have seen how important mindfulness and concentration are to the Jedi and to every Buddhist practice.
The third type of practice one undertakes on the Path are practices of wisdom. Wisdom is the aspect of ourselves that is developed through profound investigation into life. The two parts of wisdom are right view and right thought.
Right view means seeing things as they are—beyond the conceptual. A Jedi Youngling might be surprised when she sees Mace Windu’s purple lightsaber. Jedi sabers are usually blue or green. She might ask, “What color is that?” With right view Mace would say, “It is the color you see.” Purple is only a concept.
Right view gives rise to a mind free from the shroud of the dark side. Right view should change the way we look upon the world, as divided and separate, so we see it as it truly is—interdependent and interpenetrated, unified through Obi-Wan’s symbiont circle. The dualistic view of self and other, birth and death, Ewok and tree are not right view. Right view is the direct realization of interdependence.
Right view is not belief. When we read about the Four Noble Truths, interdependence, and nirvana, we gain an understanding of them. That intellectual framework helps us move forward. But the understanding that we get from teachings, books, or even the dialogue in a movie is just a conceptual understanding. This type of understanding becomes our ground for insight into things as they truly are. But when we see things as they really are, we no longer see them through the veil of concepts. Right view is actually an absence of views. It is understanding beyond perception, perspective, and belief.
Thought is the forerunner of all action. The second factor of wisdom is right thought. What we think initiates what we do and say. The focus of our thoughts directs our deeds. If one’s thoughts are kind and serene, right action will follow—and so will happiness—as surely and as closely as one’s shadow.
Right thought is thought that releases dark side energies when they arise in the mind and channels the mind in the direction of the good side of the Force, the place where loving kindness and compassion are dominant. Right thought is the fostering of selflessness and love for all beings in our mind.
In The Phantom Menace Obi-Wan Kenobi refers to Jar Jar Binks and Anakin Skywalker as “pathetic life-forms” because they continually get in the way of what Obi-Wan thinks is the best thing to do. This is not right thought. Thinking of other people or things as obstacles in our life creates division and conflict. Right thought does not exclude. It is inclusive—concerned for the well-being of all life-forms.
This does not mean we have to like everyone we come in contact with. But if we are trapped in the idea that they are nothing more than a bother or a representation of what we find contemptible then we are not recognizing their true nature. It is important to keep our hearts open and observe people and phenomena deeply before we pass judgment. We must reflect as Yoda has instructed and ask ourselves, “Am I sure this person is the way I think he is? Am I attached to views and wrong perceptions that are making me narrow-minded and unable to see the truth about this person? Are my opinions rooted in fear and insecurity or prejudice and ignorance?” These types of questions help us to be mindful and to transform the shroud of the dark side.