Got a cup of bubble tea in the evening. The tea cup they gave me was different from others. I was delighted as the cup was tastefully designed.
So “i-tea” in chinese is call “爱茶”! It’s not “love-tea”, it’s “i-tea”! Not “我茶”, 是”爱茶”!:)
The printed scenery on the cup is nice. Very chinese! I don’t understand the chinese characters that was printed on the cup, but the 爱茶人 means tea lover. Why 一碗 and not 一杯?
This is the back of the cup.
The colours are nice. I think the cup is saying “admiring the mountain while drinking tea”. It uses the sky, smoke, spring water, fire, stone, clear water to describe the ambience. A native chinese would explain better. I am no where near. However, the red mark at the right bottom says “want it fresh, have i-tea”!
I am an art person, beautiful pictures often capture my eyes. Pleasure? Delighted! I am throwing it away. It’s just a paper cup!
Finally I took them home. I was worried about Toofy not being able to adapt to a home environment. Instead, Goofy was the one who took a longer time to adapt whereas Toofy adapted quite immediately. Toofy loves roaming on the street. His AirTag led me to places he frequented. Sometimes, he went as far as Shuang Lin Shi.
Goofy often rested under cars at the multi-storey carpark. I hardly see him moving except for food, pee and poop. Most of the time, he stayed under the vehicle.
ToofyGoofy
Goofy was really loud on his first four nights. Even today, he tends to enjoy singing different tunes every night. Toofy was very patient with Goofy. I can see Goofy was trying to seek comfort from Toofy but they both didn’t get along when they were at the carpark. However, I spotted them sleeping close to each other at the carpark many times.
Toofy has coughing fits which would leave him vulnerable and unable to defend himself if he had remained as a community cat. Goofy tends to stay away from people except me. No one can touch him. It is safe for him this way. Toofy goes to everyone who pets him and would roll and show off his belly.
There has been a few cat abuse cases recently. It was brutal and our authorities are not doing anything about it. Their investigations were not transparent. They closed the cases too soon giving the reason that the cats were hit by vehicle. We all knew that these abused cats weren’t hit by vehicles.
The community cats are well taken care of by their caregivers like myself. We give our effort, time and money. We send them to vet and release them when they recover and provide them with food and clean water every day. When our community cats’ lives are at stake, it is not only about them, it’s also about us! However, our authorities refuse to see this.
There are still other community cats downstairs and they are well taken care of by other feeders. They too are responsible feeders. After removing Toofy and Goofy from the street, I stopped hanging around at the void deck with Toofy late at night and spending time at the carpark in the afternoon with them. I save two hours every day.
When you get older, you just want to have more time with yourself. At least, I am the one. I have enough time to rest in the afternoon and get to do some sketching and reading late at night.
Both are coping well at home today. Basically, Toofy never shows signs of wanting to go out and Goofy becomes clingy like a baby and wants to be petted all the time.
Peeping Tom…No privacy….
Toofy peeping Goofy while Goofy was doing his business!
How could we possibly crave for milk or cheese when we all know that cow’s milk belong to the calf? How could we separate the calf from its mother when it is only a day old?
Videos have shown the desperation the mother cow chasing after her calf when it was
intentionally and cruelly separated from the mother by human beings. Yes, human beings who have long forgotten how they were taken care of by their mother and how they need their mother to survive!
Such livelihood is immoral and unethical, so does ignoring the pain and suffering of a cow. The sight of a mother cow having to produce large quality of milk throughout her entire life is heart wrenching. There is so much pain that I could even feel them. Sadly, human mothers turn a blind eye. What a shame!
The grieving mother elephant who lost her baby in a car accident. She is worth the time sketching her.
Elephant or cow, cats, dogs, horses, birds, rats or penguins, they all love their child! From the grieving mother elephant, we all know we are all the same!
Being a vegan is hard and life being an animal in a factory farm, laboratory, fur farm and places where exploitation towards them is even harder. I’ve always wondered, which part of pain that humans do not understand?
During the Buddha’s time, the human population wasn’t as great as today. Today, we all know that animals are intentionally killed for us. I would say that the three conditions that the Buddha allowed the monastic to eat meat is no longer valid today. The sufferings of the animals is way beyond imagination and comprehension.
Ajahn Sujato and Ajahn Vajiro and many more are vegetarian. They are from the Theravada tradition. They are not defying the Buddha’s instruction. They have understood the conditions that being a vegan is necessary today!
We can get all the nutrients from plants and we don’t need animals at all. If a nutrient is lacking in our body, before we eat, believe that the nutrient that we need is already readily contained in the vegetable that we are going to eat. Our right mindset is very important!
Compassion towards all sentient beings does not stop at visualising but in action!
Finally Sara has gone for a two weeks home trial yesterday. Due to her super hyperactive temperament, it took us a slightly longer time to find her a suitable home. We want to make sure that the adopters are not only responsible, but must also be able to accept her temperament.
Sara can be seen dashing all over the house. No matter where we go, she will appear mischievously right in front of us! It’s a non-stop action! She would suddenly appear out of nowhere.
After a night at the adopter’s house, adopter updated us saying that Sara is an obedient cat and behaved well. I can’t stop laughing upon hearing it. All I can say is the adopters have a big heart for her.
We are likely to visit Sara in another two to three weeks and see if she is coping well. The photos and videos sent to us from her adopter looked positive!
The Dhamma is beautiful in every way and all the time.
Without the teaching of Shantideva’s Bodhisattva way of life, I wouldn’t have practised “sympathetic joy”. Without the humiliation, I wouldn’t have sought the truth. Without Venerable Chodron, I wouldn’t have known Nibbana.
Without the Pureland sutra, I wouldn’t have understood the qualities of the Chinese masters. Without the malicious speech, I wouldn’t have abandoned Sukhavati. Without Venerable Wuling, I wouldn’t have meditated well.
Without pursuing Jhana, I wouldn’t have gone to Jhana Grove. Without consistent criticism, I wouldn’t have abandoned seeking for a teacher. Without Ajahn Brahm, I wouldn’t have realised we are all the same!
Without the desire to be part of the monastic sangha, I wouldn’t have attended the Dhamma teachings online. Without blind comments, I wouldn’t have known that letting go is all the answers. Without Ayya Sobhana, I wouldn’t have known that I am able to “dwell with yourselves as an island, with yourselves as a refuge, with no other refuge…”.
With all these marks the end of my desire to follow a sangha. Sincerely wish all of them well. Thank you!
They were my best teachers. Without them, I wouldn’t have come this far. I have always had soft spot for the elderly. That was why I started volunteering myself in the elderly home after I left school. The same goes towards the elder sangha.
“…with the Dhamma as an island, with the Dhamma as a refuge, with no other refuge.”
“Bhikkhus, dwell with yourselves as an island, with yourselves as a refuge, with no other refuge; with the Dhamma as an island, with the Dhamma as a refuge, with no other refuge. ~ SN 22.43
“Enough, Vakkali! Why do you want to see this foul body? One who sees the Dhamma sees me; one who sees me sees the Dhamma. For in seeing the Dhamma,Vakkali, one sees me; and in seeing me, one sees the Dhamma.” ~ SN 22.87
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I highly recommend reading the sutta translated by Piya Tan. His "Laymen Saints" has been an inspiration to many lay people.
Cats who teach me to fly... 