How Avatar The Last Airbender Uses Buddhism And Hinduism In Unique Ways

Avatar: The Last Airbender and its successor Legend of Korra have been celebrated as some of the best pieces of animation to have graced television screens across the world. Under the span of three seasons, the first show has covered everything from spirituality and the immortality of genuine friendship to genocide and imperialism. Thinly layered with an amazing soundtrack and great humor, creators Mike Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko managed to prove that children’s animation is not just a source of cheap comedy, nor is it an art form that should be considered juvenile.

Children’s animation can be impactful, touching on serious topics without being as explicit as mature television. Avatar: The Last Airbender is the prime example of incredible media that aims to educate, engage, and inspire, the pinnacle of entertainment. A lot of the acclaim and adoration The Last Airbender receives can and should be attributed to Hinduism and Buddhism, two belief systems that heavily inspired the beloved series.

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The Elements Themselves

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At the foundation of the series, the four elements themselves are a key component of the Buddhist religion. Fire, earth, water, and air are considered to be the four of five great elements or “Mahābhūta” that exist physically but also represent basic human functions. The fifth element, “akasha,” is a Sanskrit term that loosely translates to “ether” or “quintessence.” Many also consider akasha to be synonymous with space. Rather than the endless void beyond the sky, the fifth element is the foundation for existence. It is omnipresent and interacts with everything living, dead, and otherwise.

These two conclusions appear throughout the show. In The Guru episode, Guru Pathik explains to Aang that just like the four elements, the entire world is connected and that the distinction between the differences we see are merely illusions. This concept is further accentuated in the series finale where Aang discovers and uses energy bending, a technique that is considered the predecessor of all four bending types, to defeat Fire Lord Ozai.

The Inspirations Behind Avatar

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The term “avatar” is derived from Hinduism. According to the Bhagavad Gita, an avatar is “a form that a god takes to address a specific dharmic crisis on earth.” The avatar of The Last Airbender franchise is a hero reincarnated to protect the world. In the Hindu tradition, avatars descend to Earth to counteract evil. According to the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna proclaims, “For the protection of the good, for the destruction of evildoers, For the sake of firmly establishing righteousness, I am born from age to age.”

An avatar in his own right, Lord Krishna is one of the more revered gods in Hinduism. From that quote alone, many fans of the franchise will hear its sentiments echoed in the earnest conversations with Avatar Roku and the long-winded yet important speeches from Aang’s son Tenzin.

The role of the avatar has also been compared to that of the Buddhist Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. According to Tibetan Buddhist practices, The Dalai Lama is an incarnation of Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. Concerning Avatar: The Last Airbender, ‘compassion’ could not be a more fitting word for Aang himself. From the way he prioritizes life over anything to his will to encourage and validate his friends, it would be hard to imagine him being anything other than compassionate regardless of his avatar status. The beauty of watching Aang blossom into a fully realized avatar is knowing that Aang’s compassion is integral to his duties.

An Exemplary Execution of Ideas

While his successor Korra learns to be more and more compassionate, Aang always decides to go in the most humane way possible to deal with pervasive and oppressive systems. The characterization of both Aang and Korra relies on the Buddhist and Hindu religions and allows both characters to have a large amount of autonomy. Even after they become fully realized avatars, their essence does not change. Aang and Korra are still Aang and Korra, however, they have lived through and experienced life-changing epiphanies that many of us either take for granted or never get a chance to see.

Watching both shows, it would be ridiculous to believe that Aang and Korra were and would be the same kind of compassionate. For instance, Aang’s compassion was informed by his ethnicity and his age. Being a 12-year-old Air Nomad contributed just as much if not more to Aang’s personality. That does not refute the belief that the Avatar is compassionate. Both possibilities can and do exist which further underline the unique beauty of The Last Airbender franchise. Multitudes exist, and it’s those multitudes that offer fans some of the most engaging storylines in animation.

The world of The Last Airbender is heavily inspired by both religions and in conjunction with various Asian cultures. Buddhism and Hinduism origin stories, however, serve as the foundation for how spirituality exists and impacts the Avatar universe. As a result, viewers from across the world have a series of shows, comics, and films that tackle heavy topics but ultimately make the case for accountability, equity, and mutual respect among each other.