The Last Airbender is the newest movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Based on a popular Nickelodeon cartoon, the movie is filled with references to Buddhist philosophy. With the increasing popularity of Buddhism in America, what should be the Christian response?
Daniel King is a missionary who thinks he has an answer to this question. He has ministered in over fifty nations around the world and led over 1,000,000 people to Jesus, many of them Buddhists.
He explains, “The basic problem that Buddha confronted was suffering. In The Last Airbender we see a young Buddhist monk attempt to deal with the suffering caused by an evil dictator. Jesus also encountered suffering, but His solution was completely different from Buddha.
Suffering is a universal problem. In these modern times, one only has to watch the news for a few moments to discover horrible suffering somewhere in the world. A fire burns down a house. Famine causes starvation. War kills the innocent. Disease ravages bodies. The wealth of one stands in sharp contrast to the poverty of another. Children go to bed hungry. In many places, there is no hope, no dignity, no self-worth, and no future for humanity.
Buddha was deeply impacted by the suffering he saw four thousand years ago. Buddha was born as a prince and raised in protected luxury until one day he saw a poor leper. This confrontation with reality shook him and he began searching for a solution to the problems of this world.
Buddha revealed the four noble truths of Buddhism. The first truth was “Life is Suffering.” The second noble truth Buddha articulated is that “This suffering is because of our desire.” The third truth of Buddha’s enlightenment is that “When desire is eliminated, suffering is eliminated.” Buddha’s fourth truth revealed the “Eight-Fold Path” to removing desire from your life.
However, Jesus dwelt with suffering in a different way. When Jesus saw a man who was crippled for thirty-eight years, Jesus healed him by saying, “Take up your bed and walk.” When Jesus found a dead twelve-year-old girl, he brought her back to life. When a blind man approached Jesus, He restored his sight. When five thousand men plus woman and children were hungry, Jesus multiplied five loaves of bread and two fishes to feed the entire crowd. Jesus performed many miracles to set people free from their suffering.
Buddha dwelt with suffering by trying to deny its existence. Jesus dwelt with suffering by relieving it.”
According to Daniel King, the movie The Last Airbender provides believers with an opportunity to explain the difference between Buddhist and Christian worldviews.
Daniel King is a missionary evangelist who has ministered in over 50 nations around the world. The goal of King Ministries International is to lead one million people to Jesus every year through massive miracle crusades, leadership training, literature distribution and humanitarian relief. For more information about Daniel King, visit 
Is it horrible to think maybe we should not have a group response to a movie set in a make believe place with make believe people who ride on make believe animals. Maybe we can concentrate on doing actual kingdom work instead of chasing comic book characters. If you want to change movies very quietly have you and everyone you know stay away, if movies like this make no money they will stop making them. …ok off my soapbox now
Cat, thanks for your comment. I think the sad reality is that people will continue to go see all sorts of movies – the "good" and the "bad" – even if we do manage to get all of our friends (which would be one heck of a task) to boycott certain films. I think we'd be better off using what is created, regardless of it's original creation, for the glory of God. I think that's what the nature of this article is explaining. Why not use for "good" what was intended for "evil?"
First, you need to say how to respond to Buddhism as a philosophy or to Buddhism as a religion? There is a difference.
Second, King's simplistic response (as presented above) misses the mark, totally. While Jesus relieved physical suffering in some people in his day (but not all), but Jesus willingly went to the cross for all of us. To relieve the suffering of others, Jesus embraced suffering. We are called to pick up our cross to relieve the suffering of the world if we are to follow Jesus.
That being said, are Christians not told to give up desire? Do not covet what belongs to your neighbor. The love of money (not simply money) is the root of all evil. Don't be anxious for our needs, as a sparrow cannot fall without the Father knowing it.
When it comes to prayer and meditation, I know many Christians (and they solidly Christians) who have benefited from meditation techniques learned from Buddhism. Personally, meditation techniques don't do much for me, but no one has ever confused with with a monastic.
Much of Protestant, Evangelical churchmanship (to use an old term) and ecclesiology has gone a long way to remove the mystery from the worship and spiritual life of Christians. You may object to the Rosary on theological grounds, but do you see Protestants substituting an Orthodox prayer rope? http://orthodoxwiki.org/Prayer_rope
Maybe people wouldn't be so fast to find an expression of the mystery outside of Christianity if some of the more well known manifestations of western Christianity didn't act like philosophical materialists who go to worship to get emotional highs. Rather than worrying about countering Buddhism, we should be worried about why people think of anything but Christianity when trying to explore Mystery in their own lives.
Bob,
When you respond to someone is it through the convictions of your beliefs or through the perspective of your values? Or is my question just a matter of splitting hair through semantics? The reason I inquire is that I believe the thesis of your response is in error. Buddhism is a philosophical religion. Either an individual is a Buddhist or they are not.
I do agree that King’s approach is a simplistic one-dimensional view of Buddhism, which totally misses the mark. I also agree that Jesus embraced suffering and His followers are called to do the same.
That being said, Buddha himself taught that desire is the source of suffering. Therefore, in order to eliminate suffering one must eliminate desire. Besides being an obviously difficult goal to attain, I find it curious since it requires desiring to eliminate desire. You asserted that Christians are told to give up desire. Really? What about Seek first the Kingdom of God or blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled? According to Jesus, then, the issue is having the right desire, not eliminating desire.
Curious, how does a solid Christians benefit from using Buddhist meditation techniques? I suggest that it cannot be, for what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
I wonder, could there be a correlation between those solid Christians using Buddhist meditation techniques and those practicing western Christianity and acting like philosophical materialists who worship to get emotional highs?
Countering Buddhism is not the issue here, fulfilling what God commanded through the Great Commission & Great Commandment is. At best, King’s attempt at using a contemporary movie to engage Buddhists with the reality of Jesus Christ is a weak attempt at evangelism at worst it is still a weak attempt at evangelism. As long as it lines up with the Word who are we to question what the Spirit has lead him to do? Perhaps a better question to ponder is does a weak attempt at evangelism do more harm than good?
Part of me can't believe this is even a question. Unfortunately, I know that to many people it is.
First of all, if we're following Jesus, our first response to pretty much anything has got to be Love.
Second, there is no Christianity vs. Buddhism competition. Or at least there shouldn't be.
Thirdly, I take great exception to Christopher's comment above that a "solid Christian" cannot benefit from using Buddhist meditation techniques, and with his use of the word "wickedness" in relation to Buddhism. I suppose you're against Christians doing yoga, too? Spiritual practices do not change one's beliefs. Or do they? Perhaps getting closer to God does change one…and change is what Jesus was after, anyway.
[...] full article is: The Last Airbender: How Should Christians Respond to Buddhist Philosophy? It’s short and not particularly deep, so it’s easy enough to read real quick. Though I [...]
Are you serious?
You're serious, aren't you?
Really?
You're serious?
…
Wow.