What is Truth?

[lojong1]

You may be right in some cases. Which translations are you reading?

The two I have in my hands this second are Vipassana Research Institute's MahasatipatthanaSutta Paali/English, and Nanamoli's MN.
VRI's translation has: none of the 'vaa'/either/or's of the Paali; "with the bodily activities [plural] calmed, I shall breathe in," which makes sense to me. I don't see how the Paali past participle here could be mistaken for a present or future construction, or the need for any conscious intervention in the process beyond tying observations to the breath, so why does it happen?
Nanamoli has half the 'vaa'/either/or's; and "I shall breathe in tranquilizing the bodily formation [singular]."

Ajahn Passano writes: "Then the next stage is calming the body (passambhayam Kayasamkharam) – to consciously calm the body...". Is that not a completely different experience than observing what is already calmed of itself? Maybe some of y'all who tend to stay in Jhanas much of the time can say if it makes more difference as concentration improves.

Buddhadasa Bhikkhu wrote: "Note the specific wording of this step. "Calming the body­-conditioner" refers to calming the breath-body."

What is truth? Why yes, it certainly is.

[Nicholas Weeks]

An old thread and an ancient theme - here is a recent piece on Plato's Republic:

https://theimaginativeconservative.org/ ... liott.html

If Plato’s extended metaphor of the mind as depicted by the city is true, every human mind has the capacity to train its Guardians, curb the appetitive part of the soul, and live on the grassy plains in the sun above the cave. It’s a question of true learning.

[SamD]

What is Good and Beneficial.

[Nicholas Weeks]

Tim Addey of Prometheus Trust unfolds some of the metaphysics found in the Republic's Cave:

http://www.prometheustrust.co.uk/html/c ... ative.html

One of the best known passages of in Plato's writings is that of `Plato's Cave' at the beginning of the seventh book of the Republic [VII, 514a ff.]: but perhaps its profundities are worth exploring again because, I believe, it provides a key to the philosophic life, which is also the happy and creative life.

[Sha Bac]

What is Good and Beneficial.

Agree. What is good and beneficial survives. Without surviving, persevering, and prolonging, there can't be any discussion of truth, anyway. So any discussion of what truth is, is undergirded by what is good and beneficial.