Talk:Summoning: Demonic Statue of the Outer Path

Translation
I've been looking into the etymology for, and it's pretty interesting. It's strictly a Buddhist term, naturally. It's from the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit Tīrthika, which means "treading the outer path," specifically referring to someone who is walking a spiritual path towards enlightenment, but opposes Buddhist teachings (the "inner path"), and is basically going about it the wrong way.

A proper English translation of Tīrthika apparantly doesn't exist, and "heretic" carries a prejorative connotation that isn't really intended by the term, though it still seems to be the most common translation of both Gedō and Tīrthika, and I can't really come up with anything better, apart from Tīrthika itself.

Also interesting, is the same as the Chinese term for golem, though it's not used in Japanese to my knowledge. Regardless, I think "Demonic Statue" or "Demon Statue" conveys the meaning just fine.

I think I'll add a simple "influences" section to this and the "Shinra Bansho" techniques to explain the Buddhist referances in their names, like with the Six Paths of Pain. FF-Suzaku (talk) 00:35, 16 May 2009 (UTC)