For The Love of Cats

My time in North America is coming to a close. Here at Shasta for just a short time I’ve re-connected with old sangha friends and made new ones too. I’m so grateful to all for the wonderful greetings-and-meetings-and-tea’s-and-meals-and-conversations-and new animal friends and a parting with an old animal friend too.

While waiting for the tea to brew at a home this afternoon I spotted this verse on a kitchen counter. It comes from the children’s book The Cat Who Went to Heaven. The words were read at a funeral for the family cat who died recently. Considering my continuing interest in the Okesa, the sewing of it and the deeper meaning, as well as my close association with a number of cats over the past months, I thought it fitting for today’s offering.

This is too great a mystery
For me to comprehend.
The Mercy of the Buddha
Has no end.
This is too beautiful a thing
To understand:
His Garments touch the farthest
Grain of sand.

The story is based on an old Buddhist folk tale, and is a highly symbolic work dealing with the concepts of Buddhism and warnings about the attachment to the pursuit of material gain.

This post is dedicated to Rosemary and to the group of feral cats she feeds each evening.

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