Cats who teach me to fly…

She was more than 15 years old. I hope we had given her all that she needed.

She had been a community cat for more than 10 years. Extremely small in size, sweet and chubby.

Hope I did what I could when she passed on.

What is beauty? I guess beauty is when someone put others first. Be kind, compassionate and offer help to others consistently. Regardless of species. I think that’s beauty. Otherwise, I can’t find a reason to be in this world.

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I didn’t get to see her or take care of her. We believe she probably met a car accident.

Beauty was a feral cat who hides from everybody. It took me a very long time to get her to trust me. Bit by bit and day by day, she got closer and closer to me. Until one day I was able to pet her head and finally, did a full body massage for her in a playful way. I would also tap her head and do chanting or took refuge for her. She should be familiar with chanting. Sadly, I did not get to see her when she died. Neither did I have a chance to chant for her.

This is the only photo I have.

She didn’t turn up for her meal and that was unusual. I had aatas chicken gravy ready for her every evening and she would finish all up. It was all too quiet that night. I went around calling out for her and also checked with the people who live there and got to know from the boss at the mama shop that there were children who came to him on that afternoon, showing him Beauty’s photo on their phone and informed him that Beauty had passed on.

I am still sad today… and she was also the cause for me to practise chanting.

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Inspired by Ajahn Achalo 3000 hours of meditation. I started to count the hours of meditation:). Well, it’s not the quantity that matters, it’s the quality.

In this 100 hours of meditation, effort had been made to bring the mind to the present moment. There were days when meditation were unpleasant and other days, pleasant and unexpected.

At first, I was always expecting something and eventually, I do not even bother about the result but to enjoy the present moment. I spent an average of 45mins meditating. Now I started to do walking chanting meditation as well. One day I may replace breathing meditation with chanting meditation.

My mind settled quite quickly with Amitabha chanting. It often gets brighter as well. However easy it may sound, the right concentration is still important. Nobody would believe my experiences in some of the meditation. Therefore I shall not share.

I have heard a lay teacher saying that if we chant the word “chair”, we would go to heaven as well because our mind is pure while chanting. Perhaps one should practise Amitabha chanting and compare with chair chanting and see how the outcome is before giving comments in the public. To me, it simply proves her foolish.

I was skeptical when I learn about the Pureland teachings as well but as I open my heart and give it a try and chanted earnestly and sincerely, things happened! Best if you can realise it yourself. And of course, like Ajahn Brahm says, there is no short cut. We have to keep our precepts, know what the ten unwholesome actions is all about, practise the six paramita, eightfold path… yes, we still must get the basics right.

It is going to take many many years for me to reach 3000 hours of meditation and that is not going to be my target for now. Let’s say I start at 500 hours. Till then…

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When I was about to pack and go, Mel came to me telling me that there were birds that were being poisoned behind the block and most were struggling. Without a second thought, I went to take a look and was expecting to see the worst scene.

This wasn’t the worst and there is nothing to be gladden about. A life is still a life. They were scattered all over.

These were the few. Some were already dead. Some struggling. Yes, they were poisoned. I called ACRES, as usual, they always have cases to attend and was unable to help.

Merely by looking at these birds struggling for their final breathe make it hard for me to walk away. The only thing I can do at that moment was to chant for them. And the purpose of taking such videos was to bring awareness to the public.

It wasn’t enough to do just that. I got Mel to prepare boxes and there weren’t many in my car. So I went around hunting for carton box and I was glad that I found a big broken container nearby. I just need to use an empty box to cover the hole and it can be use again!

I picked the three in the video and those who still move but weak. There were around 7 to 8 of them and I sent them to ACRES. I am glad that ACRES attended to them immediately. They gave them charcoal and keep them warm. I really hope the birds will pull through.

This issue has been brought up many times by the public to the authorities. Even our MP Louis Ng has brought it up too but no one is listening. I have also prepared a petition some time ago.

Will such inhumane culling end? Will factories farming end? Will fur industries end? Will animal testing laboratories end? Etc…

In the end, we only have ourselves to blame because what we have done to others will eventually come back to us and… the climate is changing!

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