Buddha and the Cat

http://youtu.be/lQWudtShYP0

Alethea Thompson wrote: i- what do you see in this story?

They should have sent someone else for medicine &or fed the cat. Buddha is alive and well in all of us.

crystale wrote: http://youtu.be/lQWudtShYP0

If the rat does not steal, and the cat does not murder due to its nature.. One question remains to me, how to know if someone is a rat or cat in its nature behaviour?

If someone does something like: stealing, murdering or some kind of sadistic actions, I can not look in a persons mind and say:,, He did this because it is his natural behaviour, as he always have done.''
If I can not see if someone has changed his way of acting in the past, how can I know how to act on his ''Natural behaviour?''

Does this mean that the monk want to say that we should not act on some ones past because we do not know it properly?

In the thread of the topic, this video can to be observed as
one point of view from other angle.

(One tale where tell that cat is held as cursed creature.
and posterior analizis...)

About the other points,I think that the change can to be also
a natural behaviour...

Some cats do not hunt rats...

(please take as metaphore)

but...apologies ...

I did see a cat that
not kill the rat (real cat and real rat)


Natural behaviour is hard to know and also is hard
to know,about of person minds...

but: what can to be consider natural
behaviour?

I opine we do not know "many things".



Regards
http://youtu.be/Iqmba7npY8g?list=RDIqmba7npY8g

Saw an unusual show the other day about unusual animal relationships, and included a few which were predator and prey becoming best friends!! I think all this stuff about 'animal nature' is merely referencing unguided instinct. I cannot speak to the capacity of non-human animals to have complex enough thoughts to override those instincts, but the show seemed to highlight that at least other peaceful instincts like the benefits of trusted companionship or love could override the more common ones of exerting power for hunger and security. Though I'd have to watch the show again, perhaps there was some influence of humans - because pet's are a good example of a non-human animals becoming 'tame' when given role models which provide those things (food, security, company etc). So I do not think instinct alone is representative of our nature, at least not in humans, rather instinct seems to be one aspect which can work with the conscious thinking mind, but also against it sometimes.

I have seen predator/ prey relationships in which they go along, however, in most cases they were introduced at a very young stage, and brought about in a fairly domestic seen in there development, and in all cases, there was ample food source.

The cat in the story was hungry, and I see no indication of domestication in the story, at least for the cat.

Even humans, without food source, etc, turn on each other, devolve to violence, looting, etc. This has been seen in many instances, hurricane Katrina being one, but there are examples all through out time all over the world.

Rousseau said that society is only 3 meal away from revolution.

Zenchi wrote:

RyuJin wrote: The cat was cursed for following its nature...why was the serpent cursed...

In other forms of buddhism cats have a different reputation...most forms revere it...
http://thebuddhasface.blogspot.com/2011/06/buddhism-and-cats-cute-kitten-and-its.html?m=1

http://stottilien.com/2012/06/03/the-symbol-of-serpent-and-dragon-an-jungian-view/

Well, first of all the serpent has, since ancient times been viewed as cursed or evil as it has strong connections to the symbology surrounding Kundalini, which is an energy relatively sexual in natue, located at the base of the spine. An individuals identity strongly transforms and intensifies during puberty. The priests knew full well when they stamped their disproval upon the serpent, and followed up by making sex a sin. The last thing they wanted was for people to be in touch with their bodies and identity. The serpent was a symbol for one discovering about themselves, and the world in which they lived. So, by condemning The serpent the priests killed two birds with one stone, making knowledge and sex forbidden. Instill fear, take away the people's knowledge and identity, why that sounds like a slave race if I've ever heard one...
_

but wasn't the snake not evil before that? i feel that the serpent was once highly venerated. There was a movie on Youtube about Ophiolatreia, but they took it off. Now you have to pay to watch it.

I tried Kundalini meditation intending to be able, at some point, raise the serpent, but i didn't get anywhere with it.

The serpent symbol is not the same in all places and at all times. The Aztec, Quetzalcoatl, a feathered serpent, "was the teacher of the arts, originator of the calendar, and the giver of maize" (Campbell, Hero With A Thousand Faces, page 358). In Sumer and Babylon it symbolized new life or the return of agricultural fecundity following the dry season. Egyptian Kheti is helpful while the Serpent Rerek, a protective deity in the Underworld, has to be driven back. In Hinduism, serpents are worn by Shiva, symbolizing the creative energy of the divine (ibid, page 129, note). In the Hebrew Bible, snakes have different symbolic meanings and so serve specific purposes.

Alethea Thompson wrote:

get medicine for Buddha.


the cat did not repent, nor mourn the Buddha's death

he and the mamushi were the only two that did not

As a result, the cat was held to be a cursed creature.

As a Jedi- what do you see in this story?

that cats and serpents are smarter than buddhists

I don't think Buddha would of minded. It was to be expected really. Cat's got to eat. That's life, Buddha understood that.

OB1Shinobi wrote:

Alethea Thompson wrote:

get medicine for Buddha.


the cat did not repent, nor mourn the Buddha's death

he and the mamushi were the only two that did not

As a result, the cat was held to be a cursed creature.

As a Jedi- what do you see in this story?

that cats and serpents are smarter than buddhists

i want to elaborate on this answer

first i dont think the buddha gave a purple hoot for any medicine

that was something the followers did and its understandable but what does non attatchment and acceptance and objectivity and no mind and empty cups and satori and wu wei and za zen and ect and ect and ect mean if not to be fully in and flow harmoniously with the now.

(i think wu wei may only be taoist but i dont remember, my apologies if i misplaced my enlightened masters)

not that this means one should doesnt fight for life, i wont be drawn into a semantic battle of which side of a hair we focus on

the point is when do the patients prescribe medicine to the doctor?

it was probably the buddhas own cat that ate the mouse

or even the buddha himself disguised as a cat and laughing his tail off at the looks on the faces of his disciples when he did it!

i cant help but laugh myself when i think of it

and why are disciples so dense anyway?
how many miracles does someone have to perform before you just belive what they tell you?

im pretty sure if i saw someone walk on water and turn water into an empty cup of wine that rose from the dead i would take their word for it when they tell me there is no spoon

also whichever representational meaning we want to ascribe to cats and snakes i think we can agree they were only at the funeral because they were hoping to find more mice

and ive never met a cat that could care less about this alleged curse its under

i told my girlfriends cat about it and he laughed at me.
then he pounced on my head and darted off into the kitchen

so this is why i said cats and serpents are smarter than buddhists

i realised that was a lazy answer so i hope this is better