The Dalai Lama's Cat is back: irreverent, vain--and as delightfully
insightful as ever!
"If you're wondering how being in the presence of an enlightened person
may be communicated on the pages of book written by a flawed and
complex--if extremely beautiful--cat, let me confess that my only job
here is to offer you a mirror. A looking glass of a particular kind. One
that reflects back not the contours of your nose or the arch of your
brow, but which provides a much deeper reflection of who and what you
are.
Look closely, dear reader, there's no need to be afraid. For what you
will discover, if you ever doubted it, is that your own true nature is
quite different from whatever flecks and imperfections may temporarily
obscure it. At heart you are a being whose pristine nature is nothing
other than pure, great love and pure, great compassion.
Mine too!"
When the Dalai Lama's inner circle is set the task of providing His
Holiness with a book he can give his visitors, an unexpected volunteer
stretches out her paws. The book is to summarize the four key elements
of Tibetan Buddhism--and, importantly, to communicate how it feels to be
in the profoundly reassuring presence of His Holiness. Who better to do
this than his much-loved feline?
Through encounters with celebrity visitors and her own intriguing
adventures, the Dalai Lama's Cat explains all four key themes, not so
much as ideas but as practices to be embodied. Along the way she even
gets a new title: "Therapy Cat."
If you have ever sought a summary of Tibetan Buddhist wisdom, albeit
from an unusual and whiskery source, this may just be the book to get
you purring!
