Aang and attachment and Buddhism
He was done so dirty by Bryke and the narrative.
In my fic - the worst prisoner I am working on a section where Aang comes to terms with his Air Nomad philosophies. Since Aang and the Air Nomads were based on Buddhist monks, I looked to Buddhism.
Disclaimer. I'm not an expert, I'm just a newbie, but even as a newbie I have come across some absolute gems of wisdom.
In Buddhist philosophy attachment =/= love.
One guru described it this way:
Love = I care about YOU and I want YOU to be happy.
Attachment = I care about ME and I want you to make ME happy.
Learning to let go of Attachment is all about learning to let go of our egocentric world view, and to see that some things are bigger than us and our immediate wants and whims. Once we let go, we can see the world more completely and with more compassion, but without putting our own agendas on it ---
Ah, do you see the vision. Someone on the writing team knew this and they built Aang up for 2 whole ass seasons to be the sort of person who needed to learn this. They made letting go of attachment the crux of his character arc. This is a key Buddhist teaching, so it would have been an important Air Nomad idea.... and Aang just never learns it?
He thinks attachment is about his crush? (It's not even about what is good for Katara. Katara makes Aang happy, and he wants her to keep making him happy. At it's core, it is about him)
He never learns to let go of his attachment, and so he never learns to put others first. He never gets to let go of his egocentric world view and instead he puts his own agenda into everything.
Aang never gets to fully understand Air Nomad philosophy?
Why build up the attachment lesson for two seasons if you weren't going to do anything with it bryke?! It's just such an odd writing choice because the entire set-up, themes, inner conflict and personality were already written and perfect for this kind of narrative arc.
Ah, the narrative arc Aang could have had is so beautiful. it's such a lovely philosophy and the potential is all there. I'm a big believer in growth for Aang.
But yeah, this is another thing I'll be salty at Bryke about. It just feels ... kinda disrespectful to Buddhism. Instead of beautiful teachings about selflessness, we get their hamfisted interpretation of attachment and petty immaturity shoved into the narrative instead.
But it could have been a beautiful journey of enlightenment.
andulkaphoto
gracieabrams
origamiaround
dailybridgerton
2087
