i am a sinner and you are a sinner, but someday the sinner will be brahma again, will someday attain nirvana, will someday become a buddha.

now this 'someday' is illusion; it is only a comparison.

the sinner is not on the way to a buddha-like state; he is not evolving although our thinking cannot conceive things otherwise. no, the potential buddha already exists in the sinner; his future is already there. the potential hidden buddha must be recognized in him, in you, in everybody. the world is not imperfect or slowly evolving along the path to perfection. no, it is perfect at every moment;
every sin already carries grace within it,
all small children are potential old men
all sucklings have death within them
all dying people - eternal life.

it is not possible for one person to see how far another is on the way;
the buddha exists in the robber and dice player; the robber exists in the brahmin.
during deep meditation it is possible to dispel time, to see simultaneously all the past, present, and future, and then everything is good, everything is perfect, everything is brahmin.

therefore, it seems to me that everything that exists is good - -

death as well as life,
sin as well as holiness,
wisdom as well as folly.

everything is necessary
everything needs only my agreement, my assent, my loving understanding;
then all is well with me and nothing can harm me.

i learned through my body and soul that it was necessary for me to sin, that i needed lust, that i had to strive for property and experience nausea and the depths of despair in order to learn not to resist them, in order to learn to love the world, and no longer compare it with some kind of desired imaginary world, some imaginary vision of perfection, but to leave it as it is, to love it and be glad to belong to it.

THESE ARE WORDS OF SIDDHARTHA TO HIS FRIEND GOVINDA IN THE BOOK, SIDDHARTHA" BY HERMANN HESSE.

i just love this excerpt. although i don't agree in every word used especially in the sinner and sin idea because i believe that you and i are no sinner and that there is no single sin committed. sinner and sin for me is also an illusion. i would prefer to believe that we all are saints and that we are all perfect. it is just a matter of perspective....which angle you are looking at?