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We all know now that Star Wars movies' father is George Lucas. As per Wikia he was the screenwriter for below mentioned scripts for Star Wars movies..

1. Episode IV – A New Hope May 25, 1977

2. Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back May 21, 1980

3. Episode VI – Return of the Jedi May 25, 1983

4. Episode I – The Phantom Menace May 19, 1999

5. Episode II – Attack of the Clones May 16, 2002

6. Episode III – Revenge of the Sith May 19, 2005

So my question is, was George Lucas inspired by philosophy of Buddhism or other philosophy to write the Star Wars Scripts?

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  • Philosophy about what? Jedi religion?
    – A J ♦
    Commented Jan 4, 2018 at 8:42
  • @AJ, yes about Jedi religion
    – user34693
    Commented Jan 4, 2018 at 8:45
  • I don't want to make this an answer, cause you asked inspired by not based on and I think the two answers below cover inspired by. There's an old theory that the force (feel it flow through you) is based on Taoism. It's not hard to find references to this. google.com/…
    – userLTK
    Commented Jan 4, 2018 at 11:19

2 Answers 2

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It seems he took references from all religions and amalgamated into the movie.

From Bill Moyers' interview with George Lucas,

Bill Moyers: Have you been influenced by Buddhism, because “Star Wars” came along just about the time there was this growing interest in America in Eastern religions, and I — and I notice in “The Phantom Menace,” the new Episode One, that they discover this slave child who has a — an aura about him. And it reminded me of — how the Buddhists go out to look for the next Dalai Lama.

George Lucas: Mm-hmm. Well, there’s a — again, a mixture of all kinds of — of mythology and religious beliefs that have been amalgamated into the movie, and I’ve tried to take the ideas that seem to cut across the most cultures, because I’m fascinated by that and I think that’s one of the things that I really got from Joe Campbell, was that — what he was trying to do is find the common threads through the various mythology, through the — the religions.

Although, Lucas declines this and tells that the Force has the essence of all religions, but the Force and its beliefs seem to have nearest resemblance to Buddhism.

From MoviePilot article,

The biggest link lies with two aspects of the Jedi religion; mindfulness (the act of being present) and meditation. These are the two cornerstones of Buddhism, a faith which is built on the principals of looking within at the True Self, that introversion is the key to enlightenment, and that the practice of mindfulness opens the heart and mind.

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  • Just to add Eastern Philosophy/historic references: Ashoka = Emperor turned Buddhist, Dagobah named for [spiritual] dome structures featured in places like Sri Lanka, "We are encouraged to love" = one mantra of compassion featured in Buddhism. Both Hindusim and Buddhism derive from Brahman and each deal with their own versions of Dharma (cosmology runs the universe similar construct to 'The Force').
    – Darth Locke
    Commented Jan 4, 2018 at 13:57
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Based on the books by Nick Jamilla Shimmering Sword: Samurai, Western, and Star Wars Sword Fighting and Sword Fighting in the Star Wars Universe: Historical Origins, Style and Philosophy

Jedi are strongly based on samurais both in their role as protectors of society and "pacifist" passive actions seen in judo or aikido. Keep in mind that as both of these martial styles are rather modern in the 70's in the US they were "sold" as ancient Japanese. Probably to present Japan as calm nation and not offensive one form WWII.

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