Theory, you, I, life is perfect.

The Hindu non-dualism (mine, for example) is completely neutral. No love, no hate. All that belongs to the lower level of reality, i.e., Pragmatic (Vyavaharika), and not the absolute level of reality (Paramarthika).

And then there is the Mahayana Buddhist view that Samsara (the mundane immanent world) is Nirvana (the unconditioned, transcendent). But they, too, distinguish "two truths", one to navigate everyday challenges, and one for "ultimate Wisdom". Oh, and the Bodhisattva of Compassion is immensely popular.

Where I live, enlightenment plus one Euro coin will buy you a cup of coffee at the metro station bakery.
 
Life cannot be perfect because people / we do not perceive it to be
 
Are you referring to Hesse's Siddharta? A good book! Despite the title, and the plot, I feel that the ferryman is the main protagonist.
I agree ! The Ferryman the main protagonist.
Thinking about my life, the ups and downs of arrival.
 
Life cannot be perfect because people / we do not perceive it to be
I think there is more to it than a simple shift in perspective. For example, the people who are desperately trying to get across the border between Turkey and Greece right now, because in Syria, they were bombed out of their homes, would you tell them to see the perfection in having tear gas grenades fired at them, or being beaten up by the crazed nationalists of the Greek "Golden Dawn"? The predicament they are in is not a matter of perception. Look at it from any angle, always the same picture.
 
Pragmatic (perceived) reality, sure, does not have the peace of Absolute reality. But we have to ford it while we are in the human form. Understanding this helps.
 
Pragmatic (perceived) reality, sure, does not have the peace of Absolute reality. But we have to ford it while we are in the human form. Understanding this helps.

"... ford it while we are in human form ..." seems to imply a process or journey, from a less to a more perfect state of affairs.

Is the Hindu Nondualist understanding that even this process, with all the dangers and discomfort the word "to ford (a torrent)" carries, is part of the perfection at the end?

I'm interested in a more nuanced view than the Western Satsang Circuit's knee-jerk "you are already enlightened, and perfect, just stop the effort".
 
Yeah, I am, just like Buddha (and partly, thanks to him). But like him, I have suffered sorrow, disease, old age and will soon go through what people know as death. No escape from that. But I am eternal, I am Brahman. Only that what constitutes me will change form.
Perfect or imperfect is only human perception.

"na me mṛtyuśaṅkā na me jātibhedaḥ, pitā naiva me naiva mātā na janmaḥ;
na bandhur na mitraṃ gurunaiva śişyaḥ, cidānandarūpaḥ śivo'ham śivo'ham."

Verse 5, Sankara's 'Atma Shatakam' (Six verses to realization)
I do not have doubts about death, nor have I discrimination on the basis of birth. I have no father or mother, nor did I have a birth. I am not the relative, nor the friend, nor the guru, nor the disciple. I am indeed the form of eternal bliss*, I am the eternal (Shiva).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atma_Shatkam

* I differ with Sankara on this bliss business. In realization (understanding) there is neither happiness nor sorrow, but equanimity. But then, poetry requires some rhyming. :D
 
You indicate yourself as many things, some of these things i do not understand. but hey, more power to you
 
Yeah, 'Advaita' (part of Hinduism) is interesting, to which I have added my own flavor. Takes time to be understood. ;)
 
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