CrankyBuddhist   the learning never ends …

Cooper is a biting cat. He lives his life with his claws furled on a constant basis and doesn’t think twice about grabbing ankles or wrists or food from hand – that is when nobody is paying attention.

Cooper has mellowed over the two or three years that I have known him. He now spends a lot of his day time with me, curled on my lap as I type, or on the puffy comforter that I spent all night keeping warm for him.

Cooper and I have come to an understanding of sorts.

He still bites, on occasion, but not as hard, and I have learned to ball my hand into a fist when he starts looking too interested in my knuckles. He does delight in drawing blood for visitors though. No matter how often the warnings are given, someone always thinks he’s a cute cat.

He recently sent someone to the doctor for antibiotics after one of his bites got infected. But he was warned, more than once, so I don’t feel one way or the other about it.

I take him into the other room at 11pm every night and put the guy to bed. I rub the spot on top of his head between his ears and wish him nighty-night. The housemate mentions that I have always been so nice to Cooper, it’s a wonder why. I certainly have enough scars on my hand to prove he’s not worth it. But he is. Worth it, that is. He’s worth being nice to, because in the time I’ve known him, and been nice to him, he has decided to be a really adorable cat.

If you are a regular reader of CrankyBuddhist, then you will know that I happen to be staying in a house in Berkeley. In this house lives another human, a dog and two cats.

I have heard from cat people on occasion that their cats are very zen like, living in the moment, and taking life as it comes.

I have heard from dog people, and I include my own musings, that dogs are very buddha like and if we could all learn to live like dogs, the world would be a better place.

So I’ve been observing these two species for awhile now and it occurred to me that both dog and cat people are right. Both dogs and cats are very buddha like. Cats seem to be following a Zen path and dogs may be a more on the Tibetan path of the philosophy. I say that only for comparison’s sake. Cats seem to keep a distance, can be a little aloof, show up for dinner, and swat at people as they walk by. Dogs are more open, compassionate, and exhibit their oneness on a moment by moment basis. But, when it comes down to it, at least the critters in this house, seem to be on the same path even though they are coming from completely different angles.

Now, in my course of observations, I have noticed that the humans on the other hand, seem to follow either the cat path or the dog path, but not very many follow both. Oh sure, a lot do. But usually they drift over to their favorite kind of furfolk. Even myself. I definitely enjoy the company of cats, but I’m a dog person when I get right down to the heart of it.

So then I started thinking about the differences not only in different sects of Buddhism, but in religion in general. About the similarities, which are many, and the differences, which are few.

When it comes right down to it, it doesn’t matter if I am a cat person or a dog person, all I have to be is me, because the destination is the same for all of us, even though we all live our lives quite differently and our paths take us to different places.

Something to contemplate …