Perfection in Buddhism?

Jakbob

Hello and good day to all! One thing that has stuck with me through my journey into buddhism is the concept of perfection. I have, previous to finding buddhism, always felt that perfection does not exist because nature is inherently imperfect which is what causes change to occur. But when reading about Buddhism, nirvana and enlightenment seemed to be described as a form of perfection. Are they? Did the Buddha believe in perfection, or that he or anyone could be? Thank you kindly for your responses~
With metta.

Cloud

Everything is what it is. Perfect and imperfect are part of our dualistic thinking, which is what Buddhism attempts to break us out of. The realization of Nirvana would be perfect only as we would describe it now; actually realizing it, we would not call it perfect or imperfect, because this dualistic thinking would have ceased.

Ideals about things are human conceits. There's nothing with an abiding self or any permanence that can be called or described as anything, really. Not even us. Reality is transient, this becoming that, that becoming something else, nothing remaining untouched by this chain of causality. All that we can do is attempt to see the true nature of all phenomena, for ourselves. Words are just pointers; the work is something we have to do.

DhammaDhatu

Indeed friend. Nirvana and [full] enlightenment are a form of perfection.

They are a mental experience that occurs from perfect understanding & acceptance.

Further, it is essential to understand that this perfection can only occur when the inherent imperfection of nature is fully penetrated & realised.

When the mind sees, via direct insight, that all conditioned things are impermanent & imperfect, the mind lets go, the mind releases, the mind stops craving for & grapsing at impermanent & imperfect phenomena.

This state of letting go, non-grasping & non-infatuation is Nirvana. It is perfect acceptance & perfect peace that occurs from full understanding & acceptance of imperfection.

The Buddha called this the 'unconditioned' (asankhata dhatu).

All conditioned things are imperfect but the one unconditioned thing (Nirvana) is perfect.

All conditioned things are impermanent but the one unconditioned thing (Nirvana) is permanent.


Kind regards

DD

His release, being founded on truth, does not fluctuate, for whatever is deceptive is false; Nirvana — the undeceptive — is true. Thus a monk so endowed is endowed with the highest determination for truth, for this — Nirvana, the undeceptive — is the highest noble truth.

Dhatu-vibhanga Sutta

277. "All conditioned things are impermanent" — when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering. This is the path to purification.

278. "All conditioned things are unsatisfactory [imperfect]" — when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering. This is the path to purification.

279. "All things are not-self" — when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering. This is the path to purification.

Dhammapada

Spaceless

It is indeed a perfection that different from the aspect of perfection perceived by human as the latter brings forth interdependent suffering and affliction that intrinsically do not exist.

MrZukulele

Perfection is delusion, in that it is a dualistic concept; dualistic because it assumes that their can be a moment that is imperfect, and which must be avoided or escaped.

To paraphrase Eckhart Tolle, people make the mistake of thinking that their happiness depends on situations. I.e., this situation is "imperfect". But by the very nature of samsara, situations are inherently unstable.

Their is no perfection, because their is no imperfection. Realize this, and in this very moment, paradoxically you will have your "perfection".