I had to phone my gardener every few days to ask her about my orange cats. I would like to know whether the black and white stray cat has been to the house. Then there was another pale orange cat that made so much noises which sounded like protesting me for not allowing him to live in the house. I had caught him relaxing in the spare basket on the ground floor. This old basket has become very dusty as the dust from the dirt road was blown inside by strong wind.
I had the chance to look at him closely and saw that he’s rather old and skinny as he has been on the road for several years. I felt very sorry for him and left cat food outside the kitchen in the evening. He’s welcome to eat in the kitchen and sleep around the garden, so long as he didn’t become aggressive towards my cats. My gardener told me that she saw them playing together in the garden.
There was another bold white cat with few patches of black colour. This cat seemed much bigger and stronger than my cats. He has been very daring as I caught him inside my sitting room. He was walking quietly inside the house looking at things from one room to another another. I left the door slightly opened for my cats to get down to the garden if they wanted to take a leak. This cat was like a skillful burglar. He’s very quiet, my cats were both sleeping in their favourite spots when I gave the stray cat a sign that I was in the house.
Kwan always tried to be close to her brother but he was rather indifferent to her approach. She often left Joan to sleep on his own.
He quickly ran to hide under a pile of chairs. I could see his back from the gap between those chairs. He thought he was safe and that I couldn’t see him anymore. I took a photo of his back, it was very funny to see the reactions and thinking process of this stray cat. I let him know that I was behind him so he quickly ran down the stairs. The two orange cats were still sleeping soundly. I should have shut the door and detained this intruder for some interrogation.
He was very persistent and hid around the garden almost everyday. He came to eat his food early in the morning and late at night. The reason I told my gardener to chase this cat away was because he’s very tricky cat with ill intention. I had seen him preventing my cats from coming up the stairs to see me. I could see that he had a devious plan to frighten away my orange cats and dominate the house as his own territory. I caught him threatening Kwan and took over her sitting spot on the staircase. Kwan was forced to sit on the railing waiting for me to rescue her. I told her to make noises so that I could come out to help her. But my cat was too considerate to make noises for fear of disturbing me. These cats did have good memories; I did ask them not to make loud noises long time ago.
So, on top of having big stray dogs (from the neighbour’s’ house) dropping in every evening, we had to be aware of at least two stray cats and a young cat which dropped by from time to time. I put out some cat food at the back of the house to see if stray cats would finish it the following day. The food disappeared in the morning twice already. Perhaps I had to leave some cat food far away from the house so that these stray cats wouldn’t come onto our house. But this might backfire and they thought it was an invitation. Perhaps I had to send them some telepathic messages about my rules of the house.
Joan has changed quite a lot in his character. He seemed to be aloof sometimes as if he wanted to be left alone doing his own things. Kwan still behaved as if she’s little baby with sparking eyes and very playful. Fortunately, Kwan’s warming reactions toward her brother made Joan more sociable. Joan didn’t try to be close to me as he did in the past. I had to try to communicate with him about my concern and affection for him. He seemed to be more talkative with my neighbour these days. Perhaps it was my reactions to him that had affected changes in his manner.
I didn’t know cats could be so sensitive and quick at picking up human’s changing moods and thoughts. I should express my affection towards Joan as much as I had expressed to Kwan. Perhaps he felt that I had ignored him in the past. How I wished I could have read cats’ mind! There’s always a thought in my mind about losing my cats, I was afraid of losing the things I loved. Most of my favourite cats at the temple were either disappeared without trace or killed by the crazy woman over a year ago. Then my first favourite cat was adopted by a couple who lived in the north.
This winter Kwan felt the cold weather so I had to put a towel over her to keep her warm.
But that’s the way of life and karmic consequences. I had to learn to let go and do the best I could for my orange cats to keep them safe and healthy. In less than twenty years we would all have disappeared and become a void in space and time. How fleeting our existence is on this earth! We have so little time to make a good life and lots of good deeds to enable a better reincarnation. Only in the present could we take actions and enjoy the moments of joy and happiness. I could feel the void of nothingness waiting for us in the future. In the end, no one would know about me and my orange cats, the earth would have gone through many drastic changes. It’s so scary to realise how fleeting and ephemeral our existence on earth really is. What seemed so important now would become nothingness in ten years’ time. No wonder some people wanted to live forever and become immortal as non-existence seemed very painful and unbearable.
But according to Buddhism, the soul would reincarnate again and again to experience the sufferings of being conscious beings. Only until a person could become enlightened, he would be free from rebirth or reincarnations. This approach seemed quite nihilistic but the enlightenment would free the person from ‘material’ dimension of existence. The form of existence after enlightenment would be beyond three dimensional thinking or perception. I hoped that I would become enlightened one day so that I would know more about my past connections with my cats and the answers to my questions.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.