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Books, Music, Mixed Media

DAVID STANFORD looks at the poetry and life of the 1950s avant-garde Buddhist d. a. levy; MICHAEL SWEET reviews two books on sexuality and Buddhism; JEFFREY ZALESKI on Circling the Sacred Mountain, a travel account by ROBERT THURMAN and TAD WISE; DONALD S. LOPEZ, JR., considers JORGE LUIS BORGES’s interest in Buddhism. Plus Books in Brief, and Mixed Media including PETER MATTHIESSEN’s audio tape on Zen and the Writing LifeThe Buddhist Third Class Junkmail OracleThe Red Thread: Buddhist Approaches to SexualityCircling the Sacred Mountain: A Spiritual Adventure through the HimalayasZen and the Writing LifeZen and the Writing LifeMusic Review

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The Force and its Power: Paying Mind to Star Wars

Paul W. Morris

After a private screening of the original Star Wars in 1977, Francis Ford Coppolla advised George Lucas that he should turn the concept of the Jedi Knights, the samurai-like, galactic peace keepers around whom the Star Wars mythos orbits, into a religion. Afterall, Coppola had argued, beyond Hollywood and politics, religion is where the power really is. At the time Lucas said he wasn’t interested in power; he merely wanted to tell stories. Despite his adamance, Star Wars evolved into one of the most powerful cultural forces of this century. And with the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, audiences are reminded once again that they should never underestimate the power of the “Force,” especially when cloaked in the language of Buddhist practice.

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