“For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.” – Yoda

Yoda was definitely a Buddha from a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

Even in the quote above we can find a wealth of Buddhist inspiration.

Let’s break that quote down in Buddha Talk and see what we can find.

“My ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is”:

Yoda is saying that the Mystic Law, meaning Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, is the Force. It is this Truth about the galaxy that surrounds us and binds us. We are all equal in the Mystic Law, life works the same for all of us. It’s cause and effect, and it doesn’t play favorites. We are all one in the Mystic Law.

This leads into the next part of Yoda’s quote. Not only are we equal in Cause and Effect we are also luminous beings, ie WE are Buddhas. We are not just crude matter. We are more than we appear.

EVERYTHING IS A BUDDHA. We can connect to the Galaxy. We can connect to everything.

Through chanting we can turn poison into medicine! We change our lives in what Daisaku Ikeda calls a “Human Revolution”. We can actually-factually change our lives. That’s a big deal! We have a power, we are strong in our practice of this Buddhism.

Through the power of the Mutual Posession of the Ten Worlds we can access out Buddha nature no matter what life state we are in.

Not only do we work for the Universe’s enlightenment, we actually have the power, through Nichiren Buddhism, to share it. We are called to be compassionate beings, working for the good of all things. And not only living things, for as even Yoda tells us we have a connection even between “the land and the ship”; between ourselves and our environment!

We have a duty to protect and share our peace, to guard and work to enlighten all beings. Kosen rufu. A galaxy at peace.

A Jedi is: a protector, a guardians of peace and justice. Their concern is for the well being of all creatures, defending and up-lifting the downtrodden. Jedi learn to control the Force so they can reduce the sufferings of others.

In our case, by realizing our Buddha nature we reach the point where our personal suffering is minimized so that we can direct our energy into reducing the sufferings of others.

We do that by chanting. We do that by learning from the Masters. We do that by protecting Life.

We are Bodhisattvas of the Galaxy. We learn to control the direction of our lives by manifesting our Buddha Nature. We have a responsibility to embody the Truth in our lives and use the power we get from growing our Buddha nature to help ALL of those who need us.

Nam myoho renge kyo.

May the Force be with you.