Day to play

Picture of the Day 005

A SEA OF PEOPLE

In this beautiful long exposure photograph by optickarma, we see fans heading home after an England vs Holland friendly at Wembley Stadium on Feb. 29, 2012. The police officers on horseback are clearly not moving much, which really adds to the dramatic effect of this photograph and the movement of so many people.

According to the camera info on Flickr, the exposure was 7 seconds long with a focal length of 23mm at f8 and ISO 200.

For those that are curious, Holland won the game 3-2. Knowing how passionate English fans are about football, the crowd looks to be moving quite orderly!

Religious Thought 261

Know God and all fetters will fall away. No longer identifying yourself With the body, go beyond birth and death. All your desires will be fulfilled in him Who is One without a second. Know him to be enshrined in your heart always. Truly there is nothing more in life to know. Meditate and realize this world Is filled with the presence of God.

- Shvetashvatara Upanishad

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If we divide into two camps--even into violent and the nonviolent--and stand in one camp while attacking the other, the world will never have peace. We will always blame and condemn those we feel are responsible for wars and social injustice, without recognizing the degree of violence within ourselves. We must work on ourselves and also with those we condemn if we want to have a real impact.

- Ayya Khema, "Be An Island"

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Religious Thought 260

The wise man knows the Self, And he plays the game of life. But the fool lives in the world Like a beast of burden.

- Ashtavakra Gita 4:1

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The king said: 'Nagasena, he who escapes reindividualization [rebirth], is it by reasoning that he escapes it?' 'Both by reasoning, your Majesty, and by wisdom, and by other good qualities.' 'But are not reasoning and wisdom surely much the same?' 'Certainly not. Reasoning is one thing, wisdom another. Sheep and goats, oxen and buffaloes, camels and asses have reasoning, but wisdom they have not.' 'Well put, Nagasena!'

- Milindapanha 32

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Religious Thought 259

All is change in the world of the sense, But changeless is the supreme Lord of Love. Meditate on him, be absorbed in him, Wake up from this dream of separateness. Fire is not seen until one firestick rubs Against another, though fire is still there, Hidden in the firestick. So does the Lord Remain hidden in the body until He is revealed through the mystic mantram.

- Shvetashvatara Upanishad

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Ashamed of what's not shameful, not ashamed of what is, beings adopting wrong views go to a bad destination. Seeing danger where there is none, and no danger where there is, beings adopting wrong views, go to a bad destination.

- Dhammapada, 22, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

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Religious Thought 258

For see! The Self is in all beings, And all beings are in the Self. Know you are free, Free of "I," Free of "mine." Be happy.

- Ashtavakra Gita 15:6

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That which has form emerges from that which has no form; that which has no form emerges from that which has form. Therefore the path of supreme spirituality cannot be sought in being and cannot be fathomed in nonbeing; it cannot be lost through movement and cannot be gained through stillness.

- Ming-Chiao, "Five Houses of Zen"

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Religious Thought 257

I adore myself. How wonderful I am! I can never die. The whole world may perish, From Brahma to a blade of grass, But I am still here.

- Ashtavakra Gita 2:11

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What, now is the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering? It is craving, which gives rise to fresh rebirth, and, bound up with pleasure and lust, now here, now there, finds ever-fresh delight. But where does this craving arise and take root? Wherever in the world there are delightful and pleasurable things, there this craving rises and takes root. Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind are delightful and pleasurable: there this craving arises and takes root.

- The Four Nobel Truths (from the Samyutta Nikaya, translated by Nyanatiloka)

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