Athens c. 375 BCE
Plato The Republic
Investigation of the 10 books
from a Buddhist perspective
Plato The Republic:
a Buddhist perspective,
dialogue divided into10 books
Was The Republic a Buddhist Dhamma talk? Plato’s most famous dialogue is filled with mysterious riddles and vague descriptions, translator Benjamin Jowett remarked that Plato was unable to have an overview of what he wrote, Greek writing skills in 375 BC Athens were primitive when compared to the modern approach.
His remarks reveal that western scholars were unaware that the meditation system taught by the Buddha reached Europe in the 6th century BCE, their superficial knowledge resulted in a warped view of Greek (and European) history and the origin of western philosophy.
In an alternative view of the same historical facts the Phaistos Disk of Crete, a sophisticated meditation diagram, was designed by mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras (c. 580-500 BC), a follower of the Buddha (624-544 BC). With understanding of the first 10 symbols on the disk that Plato used as his guide, the mysteries of Plato’s dialogue unfolds. In the talk, carefully balanced from the first opening sentence about a horse race with lit torches (symbol of rebirth), Plato uses vivid language and complex riddles that can be translated into formulas that explain the meditation system, step-by-step. The plot ends in the final scene when fallen warrior Er wakes up on his funeral pyre after 12 days: the 12 Dependent Origination factors of the meditation technique taught by the Buddha (metempsychosis in Greek).
In the dialogue Plato reveals the secrets of the light of wisdom of the 6th sense as described in the cave simile, how to distinguish Ultimate Reality and how to influence, through good actions, the destination of future rebirth.
In his near-death experience warrior Er saw the paths to heaven and hell caused by personal kamma – his task was to return after 12 days to tell the tale.
Plato’s lost dialogues copied and
adapted in Byzantium by Christians
Plato’s dialogues disappeared in the 5th century, around the same time when St Augustine of Hippo wrote his description of the City of God – the philosophical foundation of the Christian Church. He reportedly used The Republic of Plato as a major source. A 9th-century version of The Republic resurfaced, copied in a Christian monastery in Byzantium (Turkey). Passages were changed to turn The Republic into a text compatible with Christianity. The key words where the 6th sense was described – the “mind as creator of experiences” – were replaced by words to describe the creator God of Christianity.
Was the oldest oldest surviving manuscript of Plato’s Republic adapted when copied at a Christian Monastery in the 9th century?
Plato The Republic: cave simile and “eye of the mind” was as explained in Buddhist meditation as the “hadaya vatthu” in Pali texts.
The Republic: 10 books linked to the Phaistos Disk
Once aware of the discrepancies, the interpolations in the text of The Republic are easy to spot.
As a “quick start guide” to understanding Plato’s intentions, the 10 books of The Republic can be compared to definitions of the first 10 images on the Phaistos Disk of Crete, the “master key”: each symbol is an ideogram with a definition that is linked to the original meditation system which is still taught, unchanged after 2,500 years.
Plato ‘s 10 books of The Republic followed the definitions of the first 10 symbols of the Phaistos Disk of Crete, a meditation diagram.
Did Pythagoras, younger contemporary of the Buddha Gotama in India, design the Phaistos Disk to teach the meditation system to his students?
Pythagoras and Plato:
to train guardians and a philosopher king
Plato combined the Buddha’s teachings with local Greek culture in The Republic to inspire citizens to develop wisdom: the “dialectics of philosophy”.
To overcome language barriers Pythagoras designed a system of abstract symbols and numbers to teach the Buddha’s meditation system. The “mystic numbers”, a source for Plato, were eventually expressed by the Ogham and Rune systems used in Europe until the 12th century.
Plato followed the meditation system as his guide and often used examples from Buddhist Pali sources. The 10 books of his dialogue represented the “perfect number” mentioned in Book VIII: the “10 perfections” – 10 parami in Pali.
C. 550 BC Hakkâri stele at Babylonia where Pythagoras studied: an illustration of 6th sense located in the heart, hadaya vatthu in Pali
Plato’s Guardian (symbol no. 2) and Philosopher King (symbol no. 37) on the Phaistos Disk
“The Creator”: 6th sense
The cave simile and eye of the mind as explained in Buddhist meditation as the “hadaya vatthu” in Pali.
In the simile of the spindle and whorl the cycle of rebirth is illustrated: kamma is the cause that will result in effect, rebirth is like weaving a thread that ties every new birth to the cycle of existence in samsara. The process can be observed with the 6th sense, “eye of the mind”, when practicing the meditation system.
Plato The Republic Book VII: eye of the mind that can leave the cave to see the truth outside with the “light of wisdom”
Plato The Republic Book X: spindle and whorl as metaphor for rebirth: Dependent Origination meditation
Simile of the Divided Line:
how to see truth with the mind’s eye
In Book VI the simile of the Divided Line is a preparation for the simile of the cave in Book VII
where the 6th sense and the light of wisdom will be described in the cave simile.
Socrates describes different levels of quality when observing objects, starting with shadows, secondly reflections in water – which are “imitations”, not real objects.
Investigating real objects – the “Intelligible” – offers the most information. At the 3rd level of understanding, images can be seen with the eyes. At the 4th and best level, objects are observed with the concentrated 6th sense: “Ultimate Reality”, when objects can be discerned as particles in space.
Simile of the Divided Line:
there are 2 ways of looking, reflections of shadows, an imitation, or knowledge to see “ultimate truth”.
Simile of the cave and the Story of Er
In verse 37 of the Dhammapada the Buddha described the 6th sense:
Wandering far and wide on its own, without form, the mind lies in the heart-cavern within. To bring it under control is to be freed from the bondage of ignorance.
-Ajhahn Munindo – published by Aruna Publications 2006
Socrates described “….the eye of the soul, which is literally buried in an outlandish slough, is by her gentle aid lifted upwards…” [533] Benjamin Jowett 1888
Plato The Republic Book VII: when prisoners bound by chains of ignorance who see only shadows on the wall leaves the cave, they will see the truth outside with the “light of wisdom” – the eye of the mind.
In Book X the cycle of rebirth is explained in the Story of Er, who returns after 12 days (12 Dependent Origination factors) to tell about kamma and its effects on the quality of future rebirth.
The Republic Book VII: simile of the cave, metaphor for the 6th sense, “hadaya vatthu”
The Republic Book X: story of Er, spindle and whorl coded metaphor for the process of rebirth
Book VIII: Perfect number 10 & the thread of kamma
In Book VIII, directly linked to the Buddha’s Eightfold Noble Path, Plato mentions a “perfect number”. A cryptic paragraph with a series of complex calculations follows, as yet unresolved, but the goal is known:
“And this entire geometrical number is determinative of this thing, of better and inferior births.” [546] – translation Paul Shorey (1935)
Now this number represents a geometrical figure which has control over the good and evil of births. [546] – translation Benjamin Jowett (1881)
When Plato’s “mathematical formula” is analysed based on the “perfection of the 10 parami” as taught by the Buddha, the mathematical calculations result in symbolic numbers: steps to attain liberation, which can be explained by a series of symbols from the Phaistos Disk.
Plato’s line of thinking about the “perfect number 10” continues to Book 10 where the thread of kamma and its effects on the quality of future rebirth is explained by the simile of the spindle and whorl in the story of Er.
The two complex formulas are linked: the perfect number 10 appears in Book VIII, in Book X the whorl has 8 parts that represent the Eightfold Noble Path of Purification.
Plato Republic Book IX: Riddle of Number 7 2 9
In Book 9 a cryptic calculation results in a formula that describes the happiest ruler, the number 9 is a reference to the “Nine Qualities of the Buddha” described in Pali texts.
A line is divided into 3 and again each length into 3, total 9. The cube of 9 results in the number 729. Socrates states that the philosopher king will be 729 times happier that the tyrant.
What is the symbolic meaning of the number “729”?
“The house where the mind lives” (7) is Investigated (2), purification brings the highest happiness (9).
Number 729 solution: Seven Stages of Purification investigated by the Guardian who emulates 9 Qualities of the Buddha
Osismii coin France : the illustration of the house on the guardian’s head & the horse as teacher is a visual application of concepts of number 729
Legacy of Pythagoras and Plato:
1,800 years of dialectics of philosophy in Europe
The Republic opened with a reference to the Thracians – traders from Gotland in Scandinavia who were philosophers, the Gundestrup Cauldron was thought to be made in Thrace around 93 AD and eventually buried in Denmark after sites in southern Europe were destroyed.
Objects were made in Europe with knowledge of the mystic numbers of Pythagoras and the dialogues of Plato, abstract symbols of the Ogham and Rune scripts strictly followed the codes of the symbols on the Phaistos Disk, a meditation diagram, until the 13th century in Sweden – a period of up to 1,800 years.
Was Hadrian a philosopher king as described by Plato? Image: Hadrian meditates (Petra coin), horsemanship (hippika gymnasia) to follow the Buddha’s life as ascetic
Pantheon in Rome built according to mystic numbers of Pythagoras: “eye of the mind” following numbers as illustrated on the Phaistos Disk, a coded meditation diagram
1,800 years legacy of the “mystic numbers of Pythagoras” : Linear A clay tablet from Crete with symbols used as source of the Ramsund rune stone in Sweden
Original meditation system:
taught unchanged after 2,500 years
The “unwritten doctrines” of Plato were never lost, but were only forgotten when people stopped meditating.
Theory is still taught at university level and meditation techniques practiced successfully under guidance of experienced teachers, unchanged after 2,500 years.
On the illustration is a modern meditation chart with a layout that contains the same information as the Phaistos Disk.
Sketch of an Excellent Man
Documentary with a description of the meditation system still taught unchanged after 2,500 years.