The Jedi Code, also referred to as the Jedi's Meditation in some circles, was a compilation of guiding principles and regulations within the Jedi Order, a religious organization dedicated to the study and use of the Force. This Code was refined over centuries, and it pertained to every Jedi, from the youngest Jedi Initiates and Padawans to the esteemed Jedi Knights and Jedi Masters. One of its rules prohibited a Jedi from simultaneously training more than a single Padawan at any given time. The Code also represented the core philosophical values of the Order, including discipline, restraint, and introspection, and was created to assist the Jedi in maintaining their allegiance to the light side of the Force by resisting the allure of the dark side.
During the Imperial Era, the number of Jedi who adhered to the Code dwindled significantly due to the Great Jedi Purge, which nearly eradicated the entire Order. Later, during the New Republic Era, when the Order was being re-established, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker instructed his students, including his nephew Ben Solo, to live by the Jedi Code's principles.
The regulations and tenets of the Jedi Code dictated the behavior of the Jedi Order and embodied its core values. It instructed adherents to avoid succumbing to feelings of anger towards other beings, assisting them in overcoming fear and preventing their descent to the dark side of the Force.
The Jedi Code prohibited the Jedi from killing defenseless opponents, as well as seeking vengeance. Furthermore, the Jedi Code specifically forbade Jedi Knights and Jedi Masters from training more than one Padawan concurrently, or at the same time.
The Code also proscribed attachment. Grand Master Yoda emphasized how attachment gives rise to jealousy, possessiveness, and ultimately, the fear of loss, each of which is a path to the dark side. Ahsoka Tano shared this view of attachment, considering it dangerous, and refused to train Grogu due to the foundling's deep connection with the Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin.
Despite the restrictions on attachment, the Code highlighted compassion as a vital element of the Jedi way, teaching that every life was valuable, though this was sometimes misunderstood by outsiders. While Jedi did not marry, the Code did not outlaw romantic feelings or familial love. Nonetheless, indulging in personal attachment was seen as abandoning the Jedi path, the teachings of which differed greatly from conventional family dynamics.
A Jedi, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was trained in the ways of the light side of the Force, could find solace in the words of the Jedi Code's mantra:
There was also a different version of the Code, which was recited by Jedi younglings during their Initiate Trials, and by Depa Billaba when she underwent a full fitness evaluation after emerging from a six-month coma:
A further iteration of the Code, which was considered old by the year 382 BBY, emphasized that a Jedi should act only for knowledge and enlightenment, not for selfish ambitions such as personal power or financial gain. While Jedi Master Vildar Mac and Jedi Knight Oliviah Zeveron knew the alternative Jedi mantra by heart, Padawan Matthea Cathley only knew it from the history crystals. Even though it was an older version, the principles within the alternative mantra were still considered to be true for how a Jedi must act. This older mantra included the following lines:
Even though the Jedi Code forbade possession and attachments, Jedi were encouraged and trained to love in the sense of compassion. Indeed, Jedi Master Zallah Macri, while explaining the code to her apprentice Kevmo Zink, simply noted that a Jedi was "allowed to like people and things," but they could not allow those attachments to consume them. Jedi Knight Indeera Stokes stated that love, experiencing and embracing joy, affection and even grief was part of the light side, however, a Jedi couldn't be a slave of these emotions.
Attachment was defined as the inability to accept change as a fundamental aspect of life, including accepting death as a natural part of existence, and the inability to let go. Attachment, which fuels the fear of loss and greed, leads to jealousy and is considered selfish and a path to the dark side of the Force. Therefore, a Jedi was forbidden from forming attachments and had to train to release everything they feared losing, renouncing all attachments. This allowed them to be compassionate, loving, and caring without being possessive, controlling, or attempting to freeze things in time, instead accepting the transitional nature of life. This enabled them to love life unconditionally without selectively choosing individual life-forms to become selfishly attached to. Anakin Skywalker serves as an example of a Jedi whose attachments led him to the dark side, as he became a Sith in service to Sidious in his obsessive quest to gain the power to save his wife from death.
Members of the Jedi Order regarded each other as family, and sometimes, they were actually related by blood. Jedi Masters cultivated strong, trusting, and affectionate relationships with their apprentices, whom they mentored, acting as a parent to them. However, they were not supposed to form attachments; for the greater good, they had to be able to let go of their apprentice, and to not sacrifice a thousand lives just to save one. The Jedi considered romantic feelings "natural" and as such, they did not outright prohibit them. According to Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi, however, they were not supposed to enter into a romantic relationship—it was essential for a Jedi Knight to make the right choice for the Order and not neglect their Jedi duties in the favor of their beloved, even if that would mean the end of the relationship.
Jedi Knight Rael Averross held the opinion that the Jedi Code permitted casual sexual relationships, provided that the Jedi did not develop attachments. Averross engaged in such a relationship with Selbie, an innkeeper on Pijal, during his tenure as Lord Regent of that planet. His friend and fellow Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn disagreed with this interpretation.
Jedi were encouraged to trust their instincts over their intellect. They valued their emotions but were also cautioned to remain mindful of them, as they could impair their judgment. A Jedi needed to maintain a serene and focused mind to remain on the light side and maintain balance within the Force.
The Jedi understood the dynamic nature of the universe and the Force's principle that all life forms eventually face death. They maintained a deep faith in the Force and found comfort in the knowledge that upon death, they, like all living beings, would transform into the Cosmic Force, the source of the Living Force, becoming one with it. Consequently, they viewed death as a natural part of life and, while saddened by it, were advised to remember that one day they would all pass on, and rejoice and celebrate those around them who passed away and become one with the Force, instead of grieving and missing them. The fear of losing the living to inevitable death was attachment, the shadow of greed.
The Jedi Code evolved over centuries, driven by the Jedi Order's commitment to staying true to the light side of the Force by rejecting any path leading to the dark side. The so-called "Prime Jedi," the originator and first member of the Jedi Order, adhered to an early form of the Jedi Code as the first Jedi to ever use the Force, thereby standing in history as the first figure to use the Force under an early Jedi Code. The modern Jedi Code is attributed to Jedi Master Odan-Urr. Believing that using the Force was dangerous to the overall universe and having fallen in love with the Padawan Kevmo Zink, Marda Ro of the Path of the Open Hand believed she would be able to convince Zink to reject the ways of the Jedi so he could be with her and join the Path. Ultimately, however, Zink was killed by the Great Leveler, but Ro blamed the Jedi for his death by claiming they had brainwashed him into the wrong ideology.
While the Jedi Code was mandatory for all Jedi Order members, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn was renowned for prioritizing the will of the Force over strict adherence to the Code. Jinn's inclination to challenge the Jedi High Council created tension with the Order's leadership, as well as his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, who believed that his Master would have served on the High Council if he had followed the Code. During the final years of the Galactic Republic, Jinn proposed training the Chosen One Anakin Skywalker, but the High Council declined, citing the Code's restriction on training multiple Padawans. However, by the end of the Invasion of Naboo, the High Council permitted Kenobi to train Skywalker in place of Jinn, who was killed by the Sith apprentice Darth Maul.
Iskat Aris, who became a Jedi Knight upon the advent of the Clone Wars, struggled greatly with the Jedi Code, particularly the tenet that "there is no death, there is the Force." Observing other Jedi around her, she felt that this was a farce, merely empty words that they did not actually mean. At one point, when tasked with teaching the code to younglings, she found herself unconsciously reciting portions of the code backwards, i.e. "There is no serenity, there is passion." She claimed this to be a test for the younglings, to see if they would point it out, but it in fact reflected her own feelings.
During the Clone Wars, Republic officer Captain Wilhuff Tarkin argued that the Jedi Code hindered the Order's ability to effectively wage war against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. While Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi considered the officer's perspective on the Code to be oversimplified, Tarkin believed that the Jedi should be removed from their command over the Grand Army of the Republic, a suggestion that Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano opposed.
Shortly before the end of the Clone Wars, Anakin Skywalker was instructed by Kenobi and the other members of the Jedi High Council to spy on his friend, Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, an action that Skywalker believed violated the Jedi Code.
As part of his efforts to rebuild the Jedi Order, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker trained his apprentices to practice the ways of the Jedi. Due to his unorthodox training as a Jedi, Skywalker sought to provide his disciples with a traditional path into the Order. As a Jedi, Skywalker conformed to the tenets of the Jedi Code and expected the same devotion from his pupils, including his nephew Ben Solo. Having devoted his life to the Jedi way, Skywalker abstained from romantic relationships, eschewed past friendships, and worked hard to restore the Order. Adherence to Jedi tenets brought satisfaction to his life, although Skywalker also felt a degree of guilt over the length of time that he spent away from his friends, notwithstanding his commitment to the Jedi Code's stance towards personal connections.
In 34 ABY, Rey heard the soft chanting of the Jedi Code emanating from the tree library that contained the original Jedi texts on Ahch-To. The chanting compelled her to enter the library, where she found the texts and began learning more about the history of the Jedi Order from Luke Skywalker.
The Jedi Code was initially referenced in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. However, the Code's concept harkens back to early drafts for the 1980 film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, in which Luke Skywalker takes the "Jedi Oath" before traveling to Cloud City in order to save his friends.
The "There is no emotion, there is peace" version of the Code first appeared in the 1987 Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. It was there accompanied by a set of practical rules, more akin to a code of conduct, such as not acting for personal gain or trying as hard as possible to preserve life (while acknowledging that killing may at times be necessary). While the "mantra" part of the code lived on in later material, the code of conduct passed into obscurity. The "Emotion, yet peace" version of the mantra first showed up in the roleplaying game sourcebook Tales of the Jedi Companion from 1996.
In some Legends materials "attachment" was used in terms of fondness, affection, love or loving commitment, stating that the Jedi were forbidding these emotional bonds. By contrast, George Lucas explained that the Jedi were trained, allowed and expected to love people, even their enemies, the Sith, but they were not supposed to form attachments, because attachment led to the dark side of the Force. When one possessed or had some other attachment to something—be it pleasure, a person or experience—one became afraid to lose it. The fear of loss fed into greed; an attached person was selfish and unable to let go. This turned into anger, which would lead to hate, and hate would lead to suffering, mostly on the part of the one who was selfish, because then one would spend their lives being afraid rather than actually living. But compassion was caring and giving and thus it was love, but the opposite of attachment; it was everlasting joy, devoid of fear of loss and the pain of loss. Lucas said, "As long as you love other people and treat them kindly, you won't be afraid."
George Lucas, identifying himself as Buddhist Methodist or Methodist Buddhist, stated that his philosophy depicted in his movies was influenced by the fact that he was from San Francisco, the "Zen Buddhism capital of the United States." When author Tom Veitch asked Lucas for guidance about the spiritual aspect of the Jedi when developing the Legends comic series Tales of the Jedi, Lucas told him "Look to Buddha." In 2020, he indicated that the Jedi were "designed to be a Buddhist monk who happened to be very good at fighting."