My orange cats are getting close to five years old by now. I should have recorded their birthdays and other important events in their lives. From being just ordinary cats, they have become my friends and family members. These cats have a mind of their own, they have certain likes and dislikes including their ways of expressing their emotions. So, they have distinct personalities and seem to think independently, even logically too.
I did wonder from time to time about cats’ nature and why they seem to have very similar traits just like children. Perhaps, this is because they have complicated brain that could store memories and think including learn from their experiences too. I even wondered whether cats had ‘souls’ or ‘spirits’. I did ask a friendly and learned monk about this issue. He told me that according to old scriptures, we should treat dogs and cats kindly as they would be reincarnated as human beings in their next lives. That’s why they seem to be able to understand human beings and developed relationships. Their present reincarnations as cats or dogs indicated that they almost pay up their some bad karma and would progress to better reincarnations soon.
Sometimes I wondered whether my orange cats could recall their past lives as human beings and their connections with me long time ago. I’d rather they couldn’t recall their past lives lest they would become sad and emotionally disturbed. That’s probably why we weren’t allow to remember our past reincarnations. Suppose I could recall that a person hurt me badly some two hundreds years ago, I could try to revenge on him! It’s better to live in the present and make the best of this opportunity to be alive with wonderful capabilities for good karma.
My orange cats made me more down to earth and humble, I became more thoughtful and sensitive to all creatures. My fear about walking through dark and thick bushes was gone as I could send out friendly vibes to all hidden snakes that I was just passing through. Whenever I encountered a snake, I would tell them not to be afraid of me but he’s better go away fast as my cats would notice him. My gardener was quite surprised that I was very cool when encountering young cobras. I knew they had no intention of hurting us, they were afraid of humans. Luckily, my cats listened to me and let the young cobra escaped without hunting him down.
Some of my lost cats used to hunt small snakes and killed them while playing their games with snakes. I had no idea that young cats could be so fast and skillful in hunting small animals. I didn’t know what had happened until the snakes couldn’t move anymore. That could be why these cats had to pay for their karma with their lives: being hunted by stray dogs. These animals probably had been entangled in their bundle of karmic relations. Buddhist teaching on letting go of old grudges and painful hurts was supposed to help us in breaking the chains of karmic relations with others. So, I wouldn’t create bad karma out of my anger or desire to revenge for past incidents.
Letting go and forgiveness would be easier when I could see that my ‘enemies’ also suffered from common human tragedy of getting sick, losing their loved ones and fear of dying. So, we are connected in our common or worldly sufferings and in the end we couldn’t escape death. Wide spread kindness and compassion would help in healing all sentient beings around the world. I try to maintain positive and compassionate vibes around my house so that my cats would have a healthy long life and a most favourable incarnation in the long run.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.