Happy Caturday: feeding hungry stray cats at Yannawa Temple once again.

Last week in the countryside had been very productive. Old project which had been waiting for some action suddenly came to life. My old team of house builders became available and the chief decided to start working on my old project. I also had several new saplings planted as a replacement to those drown coconut trees during the flood two months ago. So, I came back to the city with aching body and painful muscles. But life had to move along the time line.

The following day I had a lunch meeting with two old friends at a new coffee shop in city center. The traffic was very bad as people went out shopping before the big holiday and to have early celebrations. I had to pray for the traffic to move so I wouldn’t be too late at our meeting. After the nice lunch and meeting, I rushed to Yannawa temple. The traffic was quite bad again. But my prayers seemed to work and I could reach the temple in much less time than I had previously thought.

The sky was a bit dull as the winter wind started to shift from the north bring more cooler breezes. The temple has been under some big renovation of the original temple building by the river. It seemed that workers had made lots of progress on the construction site. Things were changing fast everywhere; some changes were for better, some were worse off. I was glad to see the small black cat by my side as soon as I parked my old car. This cat definitely knew my car very well. She could either remember the sound of my car engine or read the number plate!

I was away for eight days so these stray cats had to search the rubbish corner of the temple and waited for some monks to feed them. The two ladies who used to come to the temple had long gone. The man on the green old motorcycle had also disappeared. I had the feeling that they had all become ill as those toxic jabs began to affect them. This year, more people (especially film stars, musicians and singers, including people in medical professions and famous boxers) have become hospitalised. More people were discovered dying alone in their houses. The skinny monk told me that many monks were down with cancer and other sickness. This didn’t bode very well for stray cats! I hoped those monks who used to feed stray cats would maintain good health for many years.

The skinny monk didn’t take me seriously two years ago when I told him not to take any more Covid jabs. I gave him the relevant information to search on the Internet and I did talk to a few highly educated monks who could follow up on the topic. So, some monks suddenly threw away their masks after I explained the hidden agenda on the plandemic. These two could understand English so after a while more monks discarded their masks. Finally the skinny monk told me he went to the temple in countryside, where his teacher lived, to detox the bio weapons in his body. His grandfather was a traditional Chinese doctor, so he was taught how to detox the whole body with some herbal leaves concoction. I was glad that the skinny monk would be able to look after those cats around his lodging.

The car park became very quiet as older male cats seemed to have disappeared. One old orange cat had a bad open wound and disappeared after two weeks. The old black male cat had two big holes on his backside. So I had to put some powered medicine on his wounds for two weeks. It was quite gruesome having to tough the wound with my fingers. Luckily he didn’t bite me and continue eating his food. He seemed to be able to walk properly yesterday. Two orange cats had disappeared from the car park these two weeks. One was an old friendly cat while the other was a new stranger from other places. Fortunately, these cats understood my intention so they behaved with modesty and gratefulness.

I had never met temple cats that were so gentle and had good manners like these cats before. It was as if they I understood everything and could sense the vibes of different people. The skinny monk was quite surprised that I could get very closed to most cats and young timid kittens. He couldn’t get close to these cats and had to ask me to give them some medicine as they wouldn’t come close enough. Some kittens even talked to me by staring at me. They asked me whether I was really friendly and that I wouldn’t hurt them. Sometimes they waited in line before I could arrange all the dishes in front of them.

During the past weeks, I have noticed a small kitten living on the ledge of the second floor’s building. This black and white kitten, about three months’ old, was abandoned by his mother cat who went off to get pregnant again. The mother cat forgot to take her only kitten down from the second floor of this building. So, this kitten appeared to be very malnourished as the mother cat had stopped feeding him. This small kitten cried for help in very small voices. I spotted him last week and found a old ladder at the back of the building. I climbed the ladder to give the kitten some wet food and water.

He was still very timid and very jumpy. I could only feed him twice as the ladder had been removed and hidden away. Some monks didn’t want me to climb around the building feeding stray cat. I would have liked to enter one of the room upstairs with windows opening onto the ledge. So, I could climb out and catch that kitten. I would like to see that kitten on the ground like others. But no monk would climb outside to rescue that kitten. I was quite frustrated that I couldn’t help that poor lonely kitten.

That kitten would look at me feeding other cats and kittens in the ground. He would cry out loudly to ask for food and attention. I told him to walk around the roof looking for a way to jump down. A monk told me that the mother cat could find her way up and down that ledge. So, I hoped that when the kitten became desperate, he would struggle to find a way down by himself. His legs needed to get a bit longer to be able to jump over the gap at the back of the building. So, I put some food in a small plastic bag and threw it up to the ledge. The kitten could have his food and stop crying. But he would have to find water from somewhere else.

Older kittens have grown much bigger during the last six months. These five young cats seemed to become more approachable and could be seen resting around the courtyard. The skinny monk told me one of his cats had delivered some four tiny kittens. These temple cats’ life spans seemed to be quite short. Several would perished by cat’s flu in rainy season. Some young male cats would leave the temple in search of young female cats. The fightings among cats could be so serious that these cats could suffer big wounds and died because of infection in their hiding places.

I have learned a lot from the fates of these cats, their joys and sufferings in their short lives. They showed me the reality of existence and how to live in the present. These cats were straightforward in their feelings and emotions; I could see their reactions and expressions were without any hidden agenda. Their expressions of affections and trust were palpable and touching. I thought they might have some connection with me in past lives. It was as if I had known them as my soldiers in my past life, that’s why I felt drawn towards them and I felt that I had to return them some kindness for their past loyalty and friendships. So, I hope that I could continue to feed these temple cats for as long as possible.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.