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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Religious Thought 256

He has no desires. He has cast off his chains. He walks on air. He is free, Tumbling like a leaf in the wind, From life to life. He has gone beyond the world, Beyond joy and sorrow. His mind is always cool. He lives as if he had no body.

- Ashtavakra Gita 18:21-22

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Without love we could not survive. Human beings are social creatures, and a concern for each other is the very basis of our life together.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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Religious Thought 255

For pleasures come and go. How often I have watched their inconstancy! But I have forsaken good and bad, And now I am happy.

- Ashtavakra Gita 13:7

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Every time a problem arises, the essential thing is to immediately become aware that the problem comes from our selfish mind, that it is created by self-cherishing thoughts. As long as you put the blame outside yourself, there can be no happiness.

- Lama Zopa Rinpoche, "Transforming Problems Into Happiness"

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Religious Thought 254

Adversity and prosperity never cease to exist. The adornment Of great men's minds is to remain unswervingly just under both.

- Tirukkural 12:115

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Contrary to what some people might believe, there is nothing wrong with having pleasures and enjoyments. What is wrong is the confused way we grasp onto these pleasures, turning them from a source of happiness into a source of pain and dissatisfaction.

- Lama Thubten Yeshe, "Introduction to Tantra"

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Animated Images 255

BABIS OF ANIMALS

Pretty Little Thing

Picture of the Day 004

A tiny house on the Drina River, near Bajina Basta, a small town in Western Serbia. The Drina is a 346 km long river that forms much of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Alps.