Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

The cat that went to heaven

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Happiness and Wanting | Ajahn Brahm | 24 February 2023

2 min read

Content note: retelling of Elizabeth Coatsworth's 'The Cat Who Went to Heaven' (1930; American author) — his attribution details are inaccurate; copyrighted source; pet death

The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

that book about the cat that went to heaven book. It's one of my favorite little books and I did get the library to purchase a few of them but they all tend to disappear because it's inspiring books. All it is is a story. It's over 100 years old now that book. It says western lady living in Japan about this painter who was really destitute and there was a a competition to actually to do a painting of the Lord Buddha's uh paranana and all the animals who came to worship at the Buddha's feet just before he passed away. That was in the Japanese Buddhist tradition. And this painter got given the contract. It was just a wonderful thing for him. So every day he would meditate and then he would paint. First the Buddha and then an elephant and a horse and a lion. All these animals mentioned in the suitors. But there was also a little cat who would every day sit next to the painter. And every day the cat seemed to get more sad because the cat would never see himself in that painting. And when the pager had finished the very last animal in there, that little cat looked so incredibly sad. He looked at the cat and the cat looked at him. He said, "If I paint you in that painting, you will never be accepted. cat never visited the Buddha. But then he looked at the cat. Oh, what the heck? And he painted the cat in bed. And as soon as the housekeeper saw that he'd broken the tradition and put a cat, you know, in this picture, his housekeeper thought, "We're ruined. You spoiled it all those weeks." But anyway, it was finished. So one of the monks came from the temple, took one look at it. Very well done. What have you done putting a cat in this picture? So the monk said, "We will take it to the temple, but we'll burn it tomorrow morning. We can't use it. It's untraditional." And so the whole little family there. Oh, I should have mentioned as soon as soon as the cat saw its image, the very last um animal on the the line, the cat saw its image on the the painting. It got so happy its heart burst with joy. It died out of happiness, sheer bliss. So they lost the cat. But anyway, the following morning that the the priest and said, "Come to the temple now. You got to come now." When he went to the temple, a huge throng of people there, monks from all the temples in town were there who saw his painting and been burnt. and he saw where he painted the the cat. The cat had vanished. There's no cat at the end of the painting. He followed the line of animals in front of the elephant. The first animal there was the cat and the hand on top of the cat.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 1:03:02 (to 1:06:44)

A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

A poor painter added his sad little cat to a Buddha painting where no cat belonged. The cat died of joy, and next morning appeared at the front of the line with the Buddha's hand on it. Ajahn Brahm loved this book as a young Buddhist. When rules and kindness pull apart, let compassion decide.

In brief (our summary)

From a little book over 100 years old by a Western lady living in Japan (as he recalls): a destitute painter is commissioned to paint the Buddha's parinibbāna with the animals who came to pay respect. Each day he meditates and paints another animal while his little cat sits beside him, sadder each day because it isn't in the picture — cats never visited the Buddha. At the end he thinks 'what the heck' and paints the cat in; the cat's heart bursts with joy and it dies. The temple monk says the painting will be burned as untraditional. Next morning crowds gather: the cat has vanished from the end of the line and appears at the very front, before the elephant, with the Buddha's hand upon it.

Teaching point

Decisions made from kindness and compassion can be right even when they break tradition.

When this story may help

  • moral dilemmas
  • rules vs compassion
  • pets

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Happiness and Wanting | Ajahn Brahm | 24 February 2023 · 2023-02-24 · ▶ watch from 1:03:02 to 1:06:44 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

2 other tellings of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions (machine-punctuated); words left exactly as captioned. 'pager' = painter; 'paranana' = parinibbāna.

The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version

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