Cats who teach me to fly…

I had a dream last night. I dreamt of my cats and there were flashes of Buddha’s image at the same time. I am not saying that Buddha was sending message to me. To me, a dream is merely a dream and it means nothing more.

When I woke up, I was surrounded by my cats and I thought to myself that my cats do possess buddha nature. All cats, animals, each and every sentient being possess buddha nature.

A week ago, I had a dispute with two elderly, a male and a female during my regular round of feeding at Whampoa. The police was called up. The two elderly were having a conversation with the policemen about me whereas I remained quiet at a corner watching them. Knowing I have not committed any crime and I had no intention to pursue the fact that they obstructed me from leaving the car park. While watching and listening, the elderly woman accused me   of things I did not say. At that moment, the elderly man told the female woman that I did not say it. Immediately the elderly woman paused and was trying to recall. She shut her mouth after that. At that moment, I realised the buddha nature in them…

I believe even the most wicked man possesses a buddha nature.

With a contaminated mind, it’s hard for me to see a pure being even if He has entered my mind. I remember, shortly after the death of Miemi, Miemi came to my dream. I was dreaming then but not her. The image of Miemi standing gracefully on a white background flashes in my mind. I knew she was telling me she was and is all right. Though the flashes were short and quick, however, it held long enough for me to wake up remembering her. Just like the flashes of the Buddha’s image in my dream last night. 

At least I was reminded that all sentient beings possess Buddha nature. I must keep this in my mind always. 

“If anyone should think that I can be seen among forms, or I can be sought among sound, then the person is on the wrong path. And he will not see the Tathagata.” ~ the four-line verse from the Diamond sutra

My favourite four-line verse in Diamond sutra is:

“Like a tiny drop of dew, or a bubble floating in the stream, like a flash of lightning in a summer clouds, or a flickering lamp, a phantom, an illusion or a dream.” 

“So is all conditioned existences to be seen.”

Thus spoke buddha.

I often murmur these four verses to myself when I do my feeding at Malcom road. Cos the conducive surrounding gives me the conditions to do so:).

Among all sutras, the perfection of wisdom sutra is my favourite sutra. The sutra allows me to not only understand the Buddha’s teaching profoundly but to also understand the right qualities of a Boddhisattva. With every verses I read, I tried my best to visualise myself by standing at Buddha’s point of view, looking into samsara from outside of samsara. 

It is quite interesting, or not at all to see the cyclic existence of all living being suffering in samsara. I visualised the six realms. All sentient being trapped in the ocean of samsara, spinning around life after life in the six realms…aimlessly and meaninglessly.

I try very hard each and everytime to visualise and comtemplate when i come across verses that I do not understand in the sutra. And if I still can’t, I would keep it with me until life experience teaches me. Whether if it was the past or the future, we do learn from our own and others mistakes. It is always good to learn from others mistakes as we do not have to suffer ourselves but rarely people understand the purpose of history.

The perfection of wisdom sutra guides me to the correct understanding of perfect wisdom as well as the humility of a true bodhisattva. A little boastful is considered a destruction of mara. I felt delighted on the qualities of a bodhisattva, their universal compassion and bodhicitta. It is hard to practise, however, I shall not give up!

I come across another beautiful quote today:

An untroubled mind, no longer seeking to consider what is right and what is wrong. A mind beyond judgments watches and understands.~ Buddha

I have been constantly reminding myself,  guess I am not sincere enough…

It has been two weeks since little Tabby and Twister gone to their new home. At first the adopters were complaining about them not being loving enough and would want to try them out for another week. I tried to talk to them by sharing with them my experience. They accepted them finally. I am really thankful to them. The family is not an unreasonable family. I can see that they love the kittens a lot. They just need to be educated. 

Little Tabby and Twister.

This was the picture that caught the adopter’s heart. They wanted to adopt Little Tabby only but I can’t separate the boys. I need them to be adopted in pairs. I am glad that they accepted Twister and love him dearly. This is the only photo that Twister looks adorable and neither Mel nor I can capture another one that looks equally adorable or cuter than this.

Little Tabby is much easier. He is all photogenic. No gimmicks! 

Twister Twister Twister! 

We will be paying them a visit soon. The adopter updated me on their well being regularly and I have nothing to worry about them. They bought a small scratch post for them today. 

Thinking back on the day I saw Dahlia, having failed to find her a good fosterer twice and ended up escaping herself under my air-con ledge. And risking a trapper’s life to rescue her from 19 floor. Giving me a bad name in Stomp and facebook. And giving birth to four kittens in the litter box filled with sand. And I had to quickly removed the kittens and cut away their umbilical cord, clean and wipe them with warm water. And making sure that all five including mummy were alive. 

Now two have gone to good home. Another two seems a little shaky to me despite having good health. Although they are three months old already, however, I felt that they may need another month to be more stable. 

I have no regrets in giving the kittens a chance to live. I have no regrets either for saving Lady’s kittens. All lives are precious to me… And I love them all.

I was supposed to have a short holiday at Siem Reap last week. I postponed to December because I want to take care and spend more time with Lokit. However, things often don’t happen the way we want to.

Last night I spent a short 2 hours at East Coast Park. The weather was cool and windy. The last time I was at East Coast Park was more than two years ago.

I bought this tent a few  months ago and finally, I have a chance to use it.

This is more like a picnic tent. It opened up in two seconds. I just love it! Facing a beautiful blue sky and with all the greenery around me, I felt energised.

I told myself I should come often. Perhaps fortnightly or at least once a month. I do not have to spend the whole day here. A short one or two hours is enough for me to be reenergised.

I can also see moon in this bright sky.

I spotted a star when the sky got a little darker. It reminded me of my trip to Semakau Island where we saw different stars and planets. Well, I don’t think I have the energy to stay up the whole night to look at it again. Sleep is so much important to me now:).

I am looking forward to visit East Coast Park again.

A few days ago, I received a text from CWS, I was told that I was being nominated for the CWS volunteer appreciation award. I was surprised of course and I burst into laughter. I am only a nominee but not selected yet and I am supposed to send them my ‘story’. My story will only be shared if I am selected.

At first I thought I could get away by not attending the ceremony. However, I was asked to share my story even though I could not attend. Mel said it will be rude if I don’t share and it will not be nice too to the person who nominated me.

After thinking about it, I felt that it doesn’t hurt to share, doesn’t matter if I am selected or not. I hope my story can inspire others and if I am not selected, I hope the selected people could do so.

Mel has been working alongside with me all this while. She knows what I have been doing. As a teacher who received numerous awards, she knows very well what to write and she helped me.

My story goes like this…

It all started after my one and only beloved cat, Miemi, passed away three years ago at the age of twelve due to lymphoma. In order to commemorate her, I started feeding the community cats around my block at Whampoa every day without fail.

Half a year later, I finally adopted two tabby kittens from a CWS volunteer. About a few months into feeding community cats, I chanced upon a group of very hungry cats while I was at Hougang. One of them was heavily pregnant. I enlisted the help of the CWS volunteer whom I had contact with. I found out to my dismal that the cat was sterilized. I vowed to make up to her by feeding her for as long as she lives. Hence, I started feeding at Whampoa and Hougang every day. I always tidy up the place after feeding and educate people who care to listen about how wonderful these cats are and their plight.  Once I started to volunteer, there is no turning back. There are no rest days even when I am ill or even when I have moved to Sembawang.  I suffered a lot of verbal abuses, and threats from neighbours in Hougang. I was not deterred by the town council officers and MPs who came to speak to me. I live by the belief that I need to be the voice for not only the cats but animals.

I also realized that the only way to save the cats is to control the cat population. I joined CWS and became an independent volunteer with my friend, Melanie, to sterilize cats. We persuade others to sterilize their cats and nurse sick cats and kittens back to health. I teamed up with CWS officers to conduct mass round up of cats for sterilization in areas with unsterilized cats. For cats that are suitable to be rehomed, I would join CWS’ cat adoption drives and put up online advertisements to help them find a good home. I maintain close contact with my adopters to ensure that the rescued cats are well.

I have responded to appeals for help on Facebook as well such as a feline whose paw was being eaten up by maggots. The feeder refused to send her to the vet so I did so as I could only imagine the pain that she had to go through. I named her Miracle and she proved to be one. She collapsed while the vet was dressing her wound but thankfully, I made the decision to resuscitate her. She eventually recovered but I have decided to keep her as she has a nasal problem.

Another cat that badly needed rescue was a deaf cat which I found at Changi Village. I vividly remembered that it was late at night. I spotted a white cat under a tree near the carpark. I gave it some food but it did not even lift up its head. I walked closer to check if it was dead and realized that the cat was covered with bites and burns and he was deaf. There was poo all around him and he seemed to be in pain. I brought him home and nursed him. He turned out to be of low intelligence and given that he is deaf, I could not bear to release him back to the streets. I decided to keep him and although he is unlike normal cats, I have grown to love him as well.

I strongly believe that all lives are precious. Every time I have to make a decision to sterilize a probably pregnant cat, I struggle internally. I do not allow myself to be desensitized. Whatever decisions I make must be for the welfare of cats, even when I had to make the tough and unpopular decision of taking action to save the tens of community cats from stray dogs after exhausting all avenues of help, or rescuing a litter of 6 black kittens and 4 adult cats, 2 of which were pregnant from AVA. As they were both heavily pregnant, I could not bear to abort the fetuses. I let them give birth and am trying my best to rehome them.
All these would not have happened without the support of other rescuers, especially Melanie, who work alongside with me.

Today, I not only commemorate Miemi, I also commemorate all rescued cats who have passed on or have gone missing under my care. The grief I had for my recent seven rescued kittens who had passed on one after another makes me wonder if I was being  defeated. No, I just feel heart broken. When all is healed, I am all ready for the next rescue.

THE END.

It is not an interesting story. However, these stories are genuine. I don’t know how the outcome will be and I wouldn’t care much about the result but I am really happy that I have a chance to ‘speak up’.

Volunteer appreciation award? I really don’t want to cling on to it.