Once, there lived a young Japanese artist. He and his housekeeper barely scraped by with the few pennies he got from selling his paintings. The housekeeper bought a cat with some of the money the artist earned. At first, the artist disliked the cat, but he changed his attitude slightly. The cat was named Good Fortune. It turned out that Good Fortune had good manners and prayed silently to the Gods. One day, the artist stumbled upon some luck. The priest told him that he was to paint a picture of the death of Buddha for the temple, and not only would he receive an early payment for it, the style would be adopted by the whole town. The artist got to work, realizing that this was his first, and perhaps, last opportunity for fame and fortune. However, when the priests came to examine the picture, they noticed a cat painted on the image and said it was not supposed to be there and the painting was to be burned. To everybody’s shock, the painting survived the flames and had been altered so that the Buddha was shown blessing the white cat that the artist had painted.
The highest level of forgiveness is to give up anger for somebody who has wronged you regardless of whether or not he/she deserves it. Everybody can have a second chance. In the story, Buddhists regarded the cat with distrust. They spread rumors that the cat rejected the teachings of Buddha and refused to bid farewell to Buddha when he passed away. Therefore, the cat did not receive Buddha’s blessing. However, the cat, specifically, Good Fortune, did penance and proved herself to her owner and Buddha. In fact, the artist painted a cat on the painting as a symbol of forgiveness towards the cat. Even Buddha felt sympathy for the cat as she had apologized. He made the painting fireproof just as the priests were about to burn it. After the fire, Buddha was depicted blessing the cat. Although the cat was evil in most people’s eyes, she redeemed herself and so she received Buddha’s blessing, signifying that she would no longer be damned. While making mistakes is unavoidable, there is always a chance to correct them.
People and things are always capable of changing themselves for the better. Nothing remains stagnant forever and so we have to constantly reexamine things with a new lens. In the story, the cat was said to have refused to honor Buddha and showed disrespect. However, towards the end of the story, the cat was shown bowing down to Buddha on the painting. The artist also changed. When his housekeeper first brought home the cat, he was frustrated and almost got mad. Nevertheless, he watched the cat’s behaviors with close attention. The artist realized that cats were actually good, but people simply did not know. The artist went from disliking the cat to being willing to sacrifice his one and only opportunity just to make Good Fortune happy. The Buddha also changed his opinions towards the cat. Initially, he refused to give a blessing to the cat, meaning that the cat was the only animal that could not go to heaven after dying. However, in the end we see Buddha blessing the cat as he was about to die in the painting. The cat, the artist, and Buddha all changed throughout the story. We can correct our own mistakes and prevent them from happening in the future.
True compassion is when we help others without expecting any sort of reward in return. In the story, the artist painted the woodpecker on the canvas as Buddha lived one of his previous lives inside the body of one. According to legend, a woodpecker spotted a lion that was in deep pain and it was revealed that the lion had a bone stuck in his jaw that was causing him immense discomfort. Woodpecker bravely stepped inside the lion’s open mouth and carefully removed the bone. Later on, the woodpecker was hungry but no food was in sight. He saw the lion that he had saved earlier and that he was about to sit down to a hearty meal. Woodpecker hinted that he was hungry, but the lion forgot about gratitude and refused to share his food, even though the bird was so small that he would only eat a tiny morsel. When the forest God told Woodpecker that he could have just plucked out the lion’s eyes for being so ungrateful, Woodpecker replied that helping others and expecting a reward is nothing more than a temporary loan. The highest degree of kindness and benevolence is when we help others without asking them for anything in return.
The Cat who Went to Heaven is a story about a penniless artist who lived with his housekeeper. One day, the housekeeper brought home a pet cat. The artist was strictly against it at first, but he realized that it might not be such a bad idea after seeing that it was a calico(three-colored) cat. The artist was commissioned to paint a picture of Buddha’s death. However, at the end, he felt bad for the cat and decided to paint one on the picture despite the legends that the cat refused to accept Buddha’s teachings. This story teaches us that first, the highest form of forgiveness is to forgive somebody unconditionally. Second, we cannot always view one person or thing with the same lens as everything is capable of change. FInally, true compassion is when we aid others for no repayment.
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