Board Thread:Theories and Speculation/@comment-12509038-20150119062617/@comment-8284722-20150122050050

@Eric I think that's good also. It goes deeper into his (actual) origins.

@Uzu I've clarified myself a bit more on my Byakugan theory, and even edited it a bit. But I still stand by my reincarnation thing. For the Avatar, I didn't think there was any legit purpose. It was kind of like Kirin's theory about Asura and Indra: the Avatar is just some demigod and that's why he/she reincarnates. And even then, neither Aang nor Korra did anything to truly stop the cycle no matter how many times either of them lost some of their powers. We could say the same for this, we could not. Since there was no explanation (as Kirin pointed out), it could be either of those. My guess is, though, that if it wasn't mentioned that there was a definitive end to the reincarnation, it probably didn't happen.

For now, I'm going to go off religious concepts, which were a heavy factor in Naruto. Being Catholic, I don't believe in nor know much about reincarnation as described in Hinduism and Buddhism. From what I know, in Hinduism, reincarnation is perpetual and is heavily involved in the concepts of social position, as only if you are reborn into a new social class, or caste, can you move up the social ladder (it's controversial enough to now practically no longer be used in society, but it still holds its religious symbolism). In Buddhism, the only way to escape reincarnation and the six Hells - which are the namesake of the Six Paths of Pain - where people wait to be reincarnated is when a person achieves enlightenment. Not sure which Kishi was using when he conceived Asura and Indra; it's something I'm willing to ask him about if I get the chance.