Order of Dai Bendu

The Order of Dai Bendu, also known as the Bendu, was one of the many ancient and semi-legendary organizations that studied the Force and the midi-chlorians prior to the birth of the Jedi Order on Tython and was believed to be the founder of the Jedi. The ancient order held a collection of non-confrontational beliefs practiced by the Bendu monks. The monks had greatly studied numerology, and believed that the the number eight represented the unification of the galaxy by the Force. The Bendu monks created an eight-spoked circular sigil that later adorned the starfighters of the Jedi Knights and be used as the insignia of the Old Republic. At some point ancient order of Bendu monks were known to resided on the snow-covered world of Ando Prime.

Other Force-studying contemporaries of the Dai Bendu included the paladins of the Chatos Academy and the Followers of Palawa.

Behind the scenes
Dai Bendu, and later Jedi Bendu, were early names George Lucas considered using for the Jedi.