What I like about what I've found in Eastern Religion most is what I found in Hinduism. See, in Judeo-Christianity after the fall of Adam and Eve most of the faithful and theologians feel that we are fallen and it is only through God or specifically through Christ that we become whole and holy.
Whereas in Hinduism they say we are all divine by nature and it's the illusions of the world that confuse and lead us astray.
Jesus says "The Kingdom of God is within you."
I think that part of what He means is just that, that we have that divine spark within and we must dig deep, find that spark and cherish it.
The second article faith reads: We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.
So even though being LDS and holding to this article of faith should preclude belief in humanity existing in an inherently fallen state many Mormons do believe that we are fallen.
Joseph Smith, I think, was trying to let us know we are not in fact fallen.
The thing is that none of us would be here if the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil had not been eaten by Adam and Eve. Some say that it's not fair for God to punish them when He knew they would sin. But isn't it better that His plan was immune to human failings?
Adam and Eve lived in the garden of Eden on only one condition, that they never eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were innocent, the knew no real joy because they knew no pain. They could do no right because they knew no sin. Until they ate of the tree. Then they wished they hadn't because with knowledge came responsibility and at first it must've been too much and completely overwhelming.
Because of this it is thought that they were to suffer both physical death and spiritual death meaning not only would they grow old and die but they no longer were allowed to walk with God face to face.
After the Fall, Eve said, “Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed [children], and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient” (Moses 5:11).
“Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:22–25).
There is a very different yet important and useful lesson from Hinduism. It is called the atman and then there is brahman or God, the absolute.
Ātman (IAST: ātman, Sanskrit: आत्मन्) is a Sanskrit word that means 'inner-self' or 'soul'. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism, Ātman is the first principle,[1] the true self of an individual beyond identification with phenomena, the essence of an individual. In order to attain salvation (liberation), a human being must acquire self-knowledge (atma jnana), which is to realize that one's true self (Ātman) is identical with the transcendent self Brahman:
From wikipedia.
This is saying that God dwells within you. And Jesus affirms this when He says the Kingdom of God is within you. It awaits you. When you dig deep and discover the place of transcendence and oneness with God, then you truly become self-aware. Only then do you find true freedom and liberation and what Buddhists call Nirvana or enlightenment.
I'm using Buddhist or Hinduism to convey certain points but Mormon, Protestant, Buddhist, Hindu; all these terms are transitory. In the end there is only truth, beyond all these labels and this discovery of the Kingdom within you is the final glance beyond the veil.
Without the fall of Adam and Eve we would not be able to rise. Their story is not one of transgression as much as it is of redemption.
In Hinduism the goal is self-realization and the obstacles are worldly luxuries and trappings because these things are all an illusion and only Brahman or God is real.
There is proof behind the scientific theory that the world is merely an illusion.
The Atonement is the ultimate act of redemption that will resolve every act of transgression and sin, we have all received our golden ticket we need only realize this truth and we are set free from the prison of our own design.