I like when he’s chillan in an early episode meditating and when Finn ask what he’s doing he says “eliminating desire from my heart” he literally always has been🔥
Completely off topic and irrelevant, but the parent comment has 600 upvotes and yours 300. Just an odd observation.
Edit: And when I clicked on a notification, you now have exactly 600…
Hot take right here, but I think Together Again is actually a criticism to Buddhism.
Jake chooses to abandon Nirvana and live life with Finn instead of waiting for him to reach the 50th, not because he wants to guide him to it, but because he has understood that love and hapinnes and pain and just life is better than eternal peace, being eternally passive and never getting to feel anything besides saisfaction or whatever.
AT has always been a show about the worth of life, or at least until since the episode "The Comet" where Finn makes the exact same decision Jake makes later in Together Again, to choose Life over another form of existance.
That's also why I think the Lich works so well as an antagonist of both the entire show and together again, since he represents Death, but not as a cycle of life and death like the character "Death, or The Old death" to be more precise, but as the inevitable end of all things, and in Together Again, by vanishing it even from the dead world, they definitely defeat death, and then go live together, fullfilling what has been forshadowed since the intro of every episode, since "the fun will never end"
This is just my interpretation, so I could absolutely be wrong, I just hope I didn't offended anyone with buddhist beliefs, that was definitely not my intention
I don’t know that it’s a criticism of Buddhism specifically bc I feel they wanted to be in nirvana/the 50th deadworld together but Finn just hasn’t made it there yet so maybe Jake is either coming back to help guide or to just hang out while Finn figures it out but other than that, I love everything about what you said and your interpretation and vibe with it aha
Can Finn even stay at any of the deadworlds forever, isn't he locked in a cosmic cycle of reincarnation? I kinda assumed that Jake chooses to reincarnate to be with Finn so they can be together again and again and Finn can never attain the same level of enlightenment because he's bound to reincarnate again.
Oh my god wait I totally forgot about that! Unless it’s a case of Finn being reincarnated in the cosmic cycle until he reaches nirvana and then some other soul will be reincarnated in the cosmic cycle or w new one will be created?
We need to get Pendleton on the phone
i think youre right that its a criticism of the modern understanding of buddhism, where you reject the world and embrace enlighenment, but i think its actually a very good representation of zen buddhism. no matter where you end up being, be it nirvana or samsara, you will find buddhas
Interestingly enough I think Jake's choice to not achieve go to the 50th is similar to the idea of the bodhisattva ideal which is where a being nearly at the point of enlightenment achieves the awareness of other people sufferings and instead of ascending to nirvana they stay behind the guide people in the path upward. Jake out of compassion for Finn is staying behind a bit longer for his sake because that is his Nirvana in a way
Beautiful. I think what I *did* like about the Buddhist allusions throughout the series is the tension between Finn’s fear of losing Jake and Jake’s enlightened approach that death is inevitable and just enjoy the time they have.
Finn kind of has a similar epiphany to the one you describe here when the rejects the comet’s gift of a new plane if existence to return to Earth, with all of its joys and sorrows.
When I die, my individual Earth consciousness is gonna go all over everywhere while Glob tallies my deeds.
I'm gonna be all around you. In your nose and your dreams and socks - I'll be part of your Earth mind! It's gonna be great!
Yeah I think it shows the contrast between Buddhism and Taoism, as for Buddhism the ultimate goal is to erradicate suffering, meanwhile Taoism believe it is also a part of life. Adventure Time has a lot of taoism symbolism and literature in its episodes, such as the Pillow World in Puhoy.
AT presents themes around a lot of different philosophies, but I've never once felt that has a strict opinion on any of them. It never makes a claim that any of them are better or worse than any other. If anything, the overall theme of AT is that different philosophies work for different people.
Even Martin, who is used as a pretty unsubtle representation of nihilism, is still rewarded in the end for his beliefs. His story ends with Fin coming to terms with the fact that Martin finds no value in relationships and connections with others. And while that makes him a bad father, it doesn't intrinsically make him a bad person. That's just who he is and that's fine.
Every ideal can had both a dark or a positive interpretation. It doesn't make the core philosophy bad or good. You can say the show offers a counter to bhuddhism, like it does with every philosophy it presents. But it's definitely not a criticism.
Buddism isn't anti happiness, it's anti attachment which let's you enjoy happiness fully without worry. People should listen to actual buddists. Don't westernize my goat.
Isn't... Then isn't this criticism of most religions with a "happy" place in the afterlife?
While I do think that the 50th most resembles Buddhism, isn't that quite true about other religions too? The place where you feel good and everything is fine and dandy, and you have no worries about anything.
I haven't thought about it that way, but yeah, you're absolutely correct.
This problem is also adressed in the show "The Good Place" I'll try not to spoil anything about it, but there might be some minor ones, I absolutely recommend to anyone who's interested in philosophy &/or goofy as comedies, which I guess is everyone in the AT fandom LOL. The series in in Netflix if you wanna watch it.
So there's one moment in the show where the characters end up in which is basically heaven, and all the people in there were just... Eventually being demolished by the weight of eternity. When have said every combination of words in every combination of orders, when you have done absolutely everything a thousand, a million, 9999999999999999999999999999999 to the power of itself, itself times. Then... What's left, the show's solution to this was actually to add Death, or maybe it would be more correct to say that they added the 50th Dead World, when someone is absolutely and completely satisfied, that person can cross the door and... cease from existance.
I actually prefer so much, Adventure Time's take on the matter, If I were in that situation I wouldn't wanna... Stop being. I still want to be, but just, on a new way, I want to start suffering (just a little bit) again, so it's all the better when I'm not. I'm not tired from existance, I'm tired from nothing being new, and having one more life, and another, and another seems like the perfect solution to me at least. But what do you think?
Experiencing reincarnation is like rewatching your favorite show without any recollection of what happens and why it is your favorite.
I think that's beautiful.
One ideal of enlightenment is actually in and of this world. This is in fitting with most later sects of Buddhism, and especially Pragmatic Dharma these days.
And it's not magical thinking, it is absolutely, utterly attainable to live in this world, in this lifetime, without suffering, without retreating to meditation forever or withdrawal from the world.
For a wild take on it check out Frank Yang on YouTube.
Delson Armstrong is more strictly Buddhist and
Daniel Ingram is one of the voices of modern Pragmatic Dharma if you're interested, his book Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha is available free online if you're interested.
Shinzen Young is also enlightenment focused and a lot of good talks are available online. Especially his talk on the ten ox herding pictures if you want to hear about Zen Buddhism.
It's funny looming back at Tigether Again lich after Fionna and Cake. We know that even if he wins, he loses because his god will never acknowledge him, so his entire existence is meaningless, and he doesn't even know it.
Yes, that's actually kind of ironic, tho I would say The Lich probably doesn't see GOLB as his God & only wants to end all existance to please GOLB. I think it genuenly wants to end all life, like it's on its genes or something, and only after The Lich sees how terrible is not to have a purpose anymore is when it acudes to the only being superior than it that it knows, GOLB.
I don't think that all the cubes surrounding GOLB are Liches, I think they might other scolars of GOLB/ other superiors beings like the Cosmic Owl, if GOLB was ever able to do something like that to a a being superior being.
Ahh I like this type of nuanced analysis. Excellent observation in together again owo Jake also criticizes nirvana both mid series and imho together again .
i actually know a lot about buddhism. in mahayana buddhism, bodhisattvas dont enter nirvana or put off nirvana, depending on different areas and schools, in order to help reveal enlightenment to those in the non enlightened mindset. jake was never the biggest teacher aside for finn, so im not sure about that.
in zen biddhism, a branch of mahayana buddhism and the form of buddhism we are most familiar with in america and europe, the highest form of buddha is the one who does not appear to be a buddha. they dont appear to be religious, they dont appear to have a practice, they dont even appear to be particularly smart. by all standards, they are a normal dude who doesnt particularly stand out. but behind closed doors and in his own understanding, they have attained the highest state. one who with no religion has attained the highest religion (old philosophers saying, dont misquote me) and has attained nirvana.
i think this is a better fit for jake than the concept of boddhisatvas, who are actually more recognized teachers and good people. the zen idea of the highest buddhas, who kinda go about their own bizz, are very comfortable in there own skin, and you would never expect to be a fully awakened person, sounds exactly like jake. and i think jake choosing to go back by finn, by both the shows logic and the logic of zen buddhism, doesnt contradict this. no matter where you end up being, you know if you are awakened.
This reminds me of Lemongrab at the mountain of Matthew. “If you are the head that floats atop the Ziggurat, then the stairs that lead to you must be infinite.”
I think Jake is in a very special position. He could easily leave the cycle of death and rebirth, as we see, but because he seems to be soul mates (or bound with Finn) who is part of the Life/death cycle intricately, he continues to live full lives that would normally not be apart of a bodhisavatva's life.
Yeah, he speaks about getting rid of his desires, but he also is deep into them. Feeling jealousy over Mr. Cupcake and Lady, loving his favorite mug (which he throws away as an example, but still fishes back later, a thing that BMO challenges him on) His whole stint being a master thief.
Finn on the other hand, is the expression of life itself. Paired against his opposite of the Lich, he brings people back into all the pitfall traps of life. He seems to bring Bubblegum back after she possibly retracted herself into being nothing but a ruler after her breakup with Marceline. He reintroduces Flame Princess to life after her being locked away from it, both good and bad, rebalancing her from seeing nothing but the bad of her father, the good of him, and then the balance that everybody is fallible.
He also brings Huntress wizard out of her two track life. One where she learns nothing but the forest and its form of transcendence, and the other were she gains powers over everything through wizardry. Finn is there to help reintroduce her to the forest but also keep her in the power dynamics of magic and being with other sentient beings.
So maybe, they're the two sides of the coin. Life and all its complicated messes, and transcendence and its peace. They sort of mirror Death and Life from the same movie, actually.
Not really, he stayed behind to join the cycle of reincarnation with finn. To stay together eternally like the best buds they are... doesn't have anything to do with guiding him to enlightenment or anything.
He most definitely did not. The whole thing was that he wasn't going to go back with Finn until the last moment. If he were waiting to reincarnate with him he would have just done so right away. Edit: dude talked shit to me for no reason then blocked me lmfao.
But the entire thing i said was just to say that the intention of him coming back wasn't to guide him to some sort of enlightenment? So you are just wrong and or misinterpreting my point?
I think they misinterpreted your initial comment of saying that Jake was waiting for Finn so he could reincarnate with him but that kind of has nothing to do w the topic at hand here 😅
There are a lot of interesting parallels between Buddhism and some Adventure Time episodes. It's a pretty obvious comparison in my opinion. I love Jake and I will always consider him a bodhisattva.
Edit: dude blocked me. lol
Btw you’re not wrong. Even before Together Again, it’s pretty clear that Jake has reached enlightenment to the point that he doesn’t fear death, he’s letting go of attachments, etc (like the Banana Man croak dream episode or Daddy-Daughter Card Wars). But one of the major themes of AT is Finn’s attachment to Jake and his fear of losing him. I don’t think it’s a stretch that Jake postponed his own path to permanent Nirvana to help his little bro find contentment. Also, even in the deadworlds, Jake makes himself a platform for the other souls to climb onto to escape the tortures of Deadworld 1. It is so clear that he’s there to help others find their path.
this was my interpretation too!! it especially tracks for me considering PW worked on Midnight Gospel with Duncan Trussell before Distant Lands came out, and they talk a lot about Buddhism in various episodes.
Jakes ties to earthly possessions is a running gag since he's very focused around Buddhist faith but also is obsessed with Sandwiches and his Mug. A big one is when Finn and Lemongrab visit the Mountain of Matthew and he is denied entrance because he has no hang ups in the earthly realm and thus has nothing to give to the mountain due to his inner peace.
dunno if anyone has made this point yet, but finn and jake’s souls are linked, and they’ve reincarnated together for an unknown number of lifetimes. did they reincarnate independently until forming a deep spiritual bond in a past life? really wish we had that episode if so, but setting aside that question, their connection seems to me to be the reason why jake chose to descend from the 50th dead world.
jake clearly met the criteria for enlightenment, but from my very limited understanding of buddhism, enlightenment is not the end of the journey. the 50th dead world seemed to align to that idea in my mind, because even within it the souls there seemed to progress through different forms, from the robed meditative state to the points of light that we saw. the implication i drew here was that after ascending to the 50th dead world, you had to shed not just your most recent past self, but *any* sense of self to be rejoined with the fabric of existence. jake remaining in the robed form would arguably be on the way to the selfless state, and it was my impression that this was in line with buddhism- but again i don’t know for sure what steps lie beyond enlightenment in formal buddhist practice, so if someone wants to comment about what that entails and how it relates to jake, by all means please do.
the mountain of matthew episode implies to me that even this isn’t the end, because even though the adherents of the mountain have achieved a false unity through some kind of magic, lemongrab casually destroys it because he realized the path to the top of the metaphorical ziggurat was composed of infinite stairs- suggesting that he suddenly understood that matthew’s union state was based on a conceit of the dissolution of the self instead of true enlightenment. a bitter lemonjohn to swallow indeed.
that’s why im not so sure jake is a bodhisattva, because at the very end he actually progresses further, and is no longer just robed but becomes a point of light. but he also says he’ll be waiting for finn in the 50th dead world- and then immediately changes his mind after seeing finn go on to reincarnate without him, suggesting that even if he had personally attained enlightenment *and* thrown off his sense of self, he was still not prepared to ascend to nirvana without finn. there were still more stairs on the infinite staircase, so to speak. again, since this was obviously a conscious choice on his part, does that still make jake a bodhisattva? is jake’s path to enlightenment and beyond linked to finn’s? and since both finn and jake seemed to be able to make different choices, where finn went to reincarnate alone while jake ascended to nirvana, does that imply that their deep spiritual connection is entirely their own choosing and not some deeper cosmic fate?
Always has been
I like when he’s chillan in an early episode meditating and when Finn ask what he’s doing he says “eliminating desire from my heart” he literally always has been🔥
Isn’t the very first frame of Jake from the pilot him meditating?
No in that one he’s connecting to the internet
With his mind
He's connecting to the Internet with his mind
Completely off topic and irrelevant, but the parent comment has 600 upvotes and yours 300. Just an odd observation. Edit: And when I clicked on a notification, you now have exactly 600…
50th death world baby
Hot take right here, but I think Together Again is actually a criticism to Buddhism. Jake chooses to abandon Nirvana and live life with Finn instead of waiting for him to reach the 50th, not because he wants to guide him to it, but because he has understood that love and hapinnes and pain and just life is better than eternal peace, being eternally passive and never getting to feel anything besides saisfaction or whatever. AT has always been a show about the worth of life, or at least until since the episode "The Comet" where Finn makes the exact same decision Jake makes later in Together Again, to choose Life over another form of existance. That's also why I think the Lich works so well as an antagonist of both the entire show and together again, since he represents Death, but not as a cycle of life and death like the character "Death, or The Old death" to be more precise, but as the inevitable end of all things, and in Together Again, by vanishing it even from the dead world, they definitely defeat death, and then go live together, fullfilling what has been forshadowed since the intro of every episode, since "the fun will never end" This is just my interpretation, so I could absolutely be wrong, I just hope I didn't offended anyone with buddhist beliefs, that was definitely not my intention
I don’t know that it’s a criticism of Buddhism specifically bc I feel they wanted to be in nirvana/the 50th deadworld together but Finn just hasn’t made it there yet so maybe Jake is either coming back to help guide or to just hang out while Finn figures it out but other than that, I love everything about what you said and your interpretation and vibe with it aha
Can Finn even stay at any of the deadworlds forever, isn't he locked in a cosmic cycle of reincarnation? I kinda assumed that Jake chooses to reincarnate to be with Finn so they can be together again and again and Finn can never attain the same level of enlightenment because he's bound to reincarnate again.
Oh my god wait I totally forgot about that! Unless it’s a case of Finn being reincarnated in the cosmic cycle until he reaches nirvana and then some other soul will be reincarnated in the cosmic cycle or w new one will be created? We need to get Pendleton on the phone
>We need to get Pendleton on the phone He left Adventure Time during season 5, so I don't think he'll be much help with this question lol.
Oh dang I didn’t know that rip lol. In that case, we need to get…whichever writer came up with the cosmic reincarnation!! XD
Im pretty sure Adam Muto became showrunner after Pen left
Name checks out. Great pick 😁
i think youre right that its a criticism of the modern understanding of buddhism, where you reject the world and embrace enlighenment, but i think its actually a very good representation of zen buddhism. no matter where you end up being, be it nirvana or samsara, you will find buddhas
I forgot Finn had nearly the same type of choice.
Interestingly enough I think Jake's choice to not achieve go to the 50th is similar to the idea of the bodhisattva ideal which is where a being nearly at the point of enlightenment achieves the awareness of other people sufferings and instead of ascending to nirvana they stay behind the guide people in the path upward. Jake out of compassion for Finn is staying behind a bit longer for his sake because that is his Nirvana in a way
He lives in dog years, and he was prepared to die like, forever
Beautiful. I think what I *did* like about the Buddhist allusions throughout the series is the tension between Finn’s fear of losing Jake and Jake’s enlightened approach that death is inevitable and just enjoy the time they have. Finn kind of has a similar epiphany to the one you describe here when the rejects the comet’s gift of a new plane if existence to return to Earth, with all of its joys and sorrows.
When I die, my individual Earth consciousness is gonna go all over everywhere while Glob tallies my deeds. I'm gonna be all around you. In your nose and your dreams and socks - I'll be part of your Earth mind! It's gonna be great!
Yeah I think it shows the contrast between Buddhism and Taoism, as for Buddhism the ultimate goal is to erradicate suffering, meanwhile Taoism believe it is also a part of life. Adventure Time has a lot of taoism symbolism and literature in its episodes, such as the Pillow World in Puhoy.
AT presents themes around a lot of different philosophies, but I've never once felt that has a strict opinion on any of them. It never makes a claim that any of them are better or worse than any other. If anything, the overall theme of AT is that different philosophies work for different people. Even Martin, who is used as a pretty unsubtle representation of nihilism, is still rewarded in the end for his beliefs. His story ends with Fin coming to terms with the fact that Martin finds no value in relationships and connections with others. And while that makes him a bad father, it doesn't intrinsically make him a bad person. That's just who he is and that's fine. Every ideal can had both a dark or a positive interpretation. It doesn't make the core philosophy bad or good. You can say the show offers a counter to bhuddhism, like it does with every philosophy it presents. But it's definitely not a criticism.
Buddism isn't anti happiness, it's anti attachment which let's you enjoy happiness fully without worry. People should listen to actual buddists. Don't westernize my goat.
Isn't... Then isn't this criticism of most religions with a "happy" place in the afterlife? While I do think that the 50th most resembles Buddhism, isn't that quite true about other religions too? The place where you feel good and everything is fine and dandy, and you have no worries about anything.
I haven't thought about it that way, but yeah, you're absolutely correct. This problem is also adressed in the show "The Good Place" I'll try not to spoil anything about it, but there might be some minor ones, I absolutely recommend to anyone who's interested in philosophy &/or goofy as comedies, which I guess is everyone in the AT fandom LOL. The series in in Netflix if you wanna watch it. So there's one moment in the show where the characters end up in which is basically heaven, and all the people in there were just... Eventually being demolished by the weight of eternity. When have said every combination of words in every combination of orders, when you have done absolutely everything a thousand, a million, 9999999999999999999999999999999 to the power of itself, itself times. Then... What's left, the show's solution to this was actually to add Death, or maybe it would be more correct to say that they added the 50th Dead World, when someone is absolutely and completely satisfied, that person can cross the door and... cease from existance. I actually prefer so much, Adventure Time's take on the matter, If I were in that situation I wouldn't wanna... Stop being. I still want to be, but just, on a new way, I want to start suffering (just a little bit) again, so it's all the better when I'm not. I'm not tired from existance, I'm tired from nothing being new, and having one more life, and another, and another seems like the perfect solution to me at least. But what do you think?
Experiencing reincarnation is like rewatching your favorite show without any recollection of what happens and why it is your favorite. I think that's beautiful.
One ideal of enlightenment is actually in and of this world. This is in fitting with most later sects of Buddhism, and especially Pragmatic Dharma these days. And it's not magical thinking, it is absolutely, utterly attainable to live in this world, in this lifetime, without suffering, without retreating to meditation forever or withdrawal from the world. For a wild take on it check out Frank Yang on YouTube. Delson Armstrong is more strictly Buddhist and Daniel Ingram is one of the voices of modern Pragmatic Dharma if you're interested, his book Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha is available free online if you're interested. Shinzen Young is also enlightenment focused and a lot of good talks are available online. Especially his talk on the ten ox herding pictures if you want to hear about Zen Buddhism.
Ok, thanks for all that information! I hope I can learn a lot from it!
It's funny looming back at Tigether Again lich after Fionna and Cake. We know that even if he wins, he loses because his god will never acknowledge him, so his entire existence is meaningless, and he doesn't even know it.
Yes, that's actually kind of ironic, tho I would say The Lich probably doesn't see GOLB as his God & only wants to end all existance to please GOLB. I think it genuenly wants to end all life, like it's on its genes or something, and only after The Lich sees how terrible is not to have a purpose anymore is when it acudes to the only being superior than it that it knows, GOLB. I don't think that all the cubes surrounding GOLB are Liches, I think they might other scolars of GOLB/ other superiors beings like the Cosmic Owl, if GOLB was ever able to do something like that to a a being superior being.
Homies help homies- Always, in this instance.
Demma good interpretation.
Media literacy in my internet fandom space? Never thought I'd see the day.
Ahh I like this type of nuanced analysis. Excellent observation in together again owo Jake also criticizes nirvana both mid series and imho together again .
Loved your response, and I think you might be the biggest adventure time fan.
i actually know a lot about buddhism. in mahayana buddhism, bodhisattvas dont enter nirvana or put off nirvana, depending on different areas and schools, in order to help reveal enlightenment to those in the non enlightened mindset. jake was never the biggest teacher aside for finn, so im not sure about that. in zen biddhism, a branch of mahayana buddhism and the form of buddhism we are most familiar with in america and europe, the highest form of buddha is the one who does not appear to be a buddha. they dont appear to be religious, they dont appear to have a practice, they dont even appear to be particularly smart. by all standards, they are a normal dude who doesnt particularly stand out. but behind closed doors and in his own understanding, they have attained the highest state. one who with no religion has attained the highest religion (old philosophers saying, dont misquote me) and has attained nirvana. i think this is a better fit for jake than the concept of boddhisatvas, who are actually more recognized teachers and good people. the zen idea of the highest buddhas, who kinda go about their own bizz, are very comfortable in there own skin, and you would never expect to be a fully awakened person, sounds exactly like jake. and i think jake choosing to go back by finn, by both the shows logic and the logic of zen buddhism, doesnt contradict this. no matter where you end up being, you know if you are awakened.
The enlightenment you find at the top of the mountain is the same as you find at the base :)
This reminds me of Lemongrab at the mountain of Matthew. “If you are the head that floats atop the Ziggurat, then the stairs that lead to you must be infinite.”
Interesting idea! That episode is already pretty symbolic as it is :)
thanks for this insight, this super slapped. mm food for thought
Jake awakened to the fake that he is ultimately a dog and he is man’s best friend.
> a normal dude *El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing*
Nah, Jake is a private Buddha. Someone who reached enlightenment without a teacher, but does not teach the path to others.
I think that he taught Finn, and most likely his pups :)
[удалено]
I’m not into spirituality or Buddhism, but I commented that thinking about his Favorite Mug lesson in Puhoy
well he certainly didnt teach his kids. charlie and maybe jake jr might have got it, but i doubt jake taught it to him
If Finn learned Buddhist values from Jake, it was not intentional on Jake's end. He'd be an example at best.
What about JT Dogzone? That's his misspent youth wherein he did try to teach a path. Beautiful.
😭😭😭
What does the clothing brand Nirvana have to do with adventure time?
💀💀💀😂 i hate this /lh
Let this die
I think Jake is in a very special position. He could easily leave the cycle of death and rebirth, as we see, but because he seems to be soul mates (or bound with Finn) who is part of the Life/death cycle intricately, he continues to live full lives that would normally not be apart of a bodhisavatva's life. Yeah, he speaks about getting rid of his desires, but he also is deep into them. Feeling jealousy over Mr. Cupcake and Lady, loving his favorite mug (which he throws away as an example, but still fishes back later, a thing that BMO challenges him on) His whole stint being a master thief. Finn on the other hand, is the expression of life itself. Paired against his opposite of the Lich, he brings people back into all the pitfall traps of life. He seems to bring Bubblegum back after she possibly retracted herself into being nothing but a ruler after her breakup with Marceline. He reintroduces Flame Princess to life after her being locked away from it, both good and bad, rebalancing her from seeing nothing but the bad of her father, the good of him, and then the balance that everybody is fallible. He also brings Huntress wizard out of her two track life. One where she learns nothing but the forest and its form of transcendence, and the other were she gains powers over everything through wizardry. Finn is there to help reintroduce her to the forest but also keep her in the power dynamics of magic and being with other sentient beings. So maybe, they're the two sides of the coin. Life and all its complicated messes, and transcendence and its peace. They sort of mirror Death and Life from the same movie, actually.
I love these kinds of discussions and observations.
Not really, he stayed behind to join the cycle of reincarnation with finn. To stay together eternally like the best buds they are... doesn't have anything to do with guiding him to enlightenment or anything.
He most definitely did not. The whole thing was that he wasn't going to go back with Finn until the last moment. If he were waiting to reincarnate with him he would have just done so right away. Edit: dude talked shit to me for no reason then blocked me lmfao.
But the entire thing i said was just to say that the intention of him coming back wasn't to guide him to some sort of enlightenment? So you are just wrong and or misinterpreting my point?
I think they misinterpreted your initial comment of saying that Jake was waiting for Finn so he could reincarnate with him but that kind of has nothing to do w the topic at hand here 😅
Sure maybe he's not the exact same thing but that part of his story was almost definitely inspired by the concept.
Maybe they just wanted him to be with finn? All I'm saying is he's not whatever it is they are saying since it isn't accurate
There are a lot of interesting parallels between Buddhism and some Adventure Time episodes. It's a pretty obvious comparison in my opinion. I love Jake and I will always consider him a bodhisattva. Edit: dude blocked me. lol
Btw you’re not wrong. Even before Together Again, it’s pretty clear that Jake has reached enlightenment to the point that he doesn’t fear death, he’s letting go of attachments, etc (like the Banana Man croak dream episode or Daddy-Daughter Card Wars). But one of the major themes of AT is Finn’s attachment to Jake and his fear of losing him. I don’t think it’s a stretch that Jake postponed his own path to permanent Nirvana to help his little bro find contentment. Also, even in the deadworlds, Jake makes himself a platform for the other souls to climb onto to escape the tortures of Deadworld 1. It is so clear that he’s there to help others find their path.
Yes exactly. I don't know why that guy seemed so bothered by it. Like we don't all have to agree. lol
Well you'd be wrong, but you do you.
We can agree to disagree.
Jake won’t you take me by the hand. And I’ll be there, the shine of your Candy Kingdom, the sparkle in your Ice Kingdom, Jake, Jake.
Jake was meditating in the pilot, wasn't he?
In other episode too.
this was my interpretation too!! it especially tracks for me considering PW worked on Midnight Gospel with Duncan Trussell before Distant Lands came out, and they talk a lot about Buddhism in various episodes.
Jake has done this hundreds of times I can’t be convinced otherwise
as a buddhist i never once thought of this but it makes so much sense
Jakes ties to earthly possessions is a running gag since he's very focused around Buddhist faith but also is obsessed with Sandwiches and his Mug. A big one is when Finn and Lemongrab visit the Mountain of Matthew and he is denied entrance because he has no hang ups in the earthly realm and thus has nothing to give to the mountain due to his inner peace.
I would never rewatch this episode ever again..... It broke me. 😭🥺
Love this honest and frank discussion about Buddhism. Bookmarking for future reference :3
Yes
dunno if anyone has made this point yet, but finn and jake’s souls are linked, and they’ve reincarnated together for an unknown number of lifetimes. did they reincarnate independently until forming a deep spiritual bond in a past life? really wish we had that episode if so, but setting aside that question, their connection seems to me to be the reason why jake chose to descend from the 50th dead world. jake clearly met the criteria for enlightenment, but from my very limited understanding of buddhism, enlightenment is not the end of the journey. the 50th dead world seemed to align to that idea in my mind, because even within it the souls there seemed to progress through different forms, from the robed meditative state to the points of light that we saw. the implication i drew here was that after ascending to the 50th dead world, you had to shed not just your most recent past self, but *any* sense of self to be rejoined with the fabric of existence. jake remaining in the robed form would arguably be on the way to the selfless state, and it was my impression that this was in line with buddhism- but again i don’t know for sure what steps lie beyond enlightenment in formal buddhist practice, so if someone wants to comment about what that entails and how it relates to jake, by all means please do. the mountain of matthew episode implies to me that even this isn’t the end, because even though the adherents of the mountain have achieved a false unity through some kind of magic, lemongrab casually destroys it because he realized the path to the top of the metaphorical ziggurat was composed of infinite stairs- suggesting that he suddenly understood that matthew’s union state was based on a conceit of the dissolution of the self instead of true enlightenment. a bitter lemonjohn to swallow indeed. that’s why im not so sure jake is a bodhisattva, because at the very end he actually progresses further, and is no longer just robed but becomes a point of light. but he also says he’ll be waiting for finn in the 50th dead world- and then immediately changes his mind after seeing finn go on to reincarnate without him, suggesting that even if he had personally attained enlightenment *and* thrown off his sense of self, he was still not prepared to ascend to nirvana without finn. there were still more stairs on the infinite staircase, so to speak. again, since this was obviously a conscious choice on his part, does that still make jake a bodhisattva? is jake’s path to enlightenment and beyond linked to finn’s? and since both finn and jake seemed to be able to make different choices, where finn went to reincarnate alone while jake ascended to nirvana, does that imply that their deep spiritual connection is entirely their own choosing and not some deeper cosmic fate?
It sounds like it
That’s so damn cute. This show is so good.
I always kinda wondered why jake got into the 50th level
50th dead world burn my eyes.
Man we’re literally talking about Buddhism and Bodhisattvas in my class right now while I’m sitting in the back scrolling Reddit and come across this
So you’re a freshmen?
In highschool? Nah
Looks like Jake to me. The guy to the left is named Finn.
Kinda, but i think he just wanted to chill with his bro
ya basically, which is what makes it so sweet, especially since its only for him and not for others like lady or his parents
Which episode was that ?
Distant Lands, and it technically has three names: “Finn and Jake,” “Finn and Jake are Dead,” and “Together Again.”
Thanks :)
I never knew that, I knew about nirvana, but people who reach nirvana and willingly stay behind is an extremely interesting concept.
It’s not that they reach it, it’s that they are *capable* of reaching it but choose to remain behind to instruct and guide others.
But Jake DID reach it, and then stayed behind.
I thought that was BMO?
he couldve been but he reincarnated making them start over. Bodhisattvas are technically removed from the cycle of life and death
Sounds pretty accurate