NORBU THE CAT I was prepared to find a dog a year ago (in 2001) when I had a dream. A cat was wrapping around my leg, purring and giving off love. Five Sikh spirits told me I was to get a very powerful cat at the animal shelter. I went there and found that the attendants had let him out of his cage. All the other cats wanted to get out to be with him. I adopted him and on the way home I saw in visions that he had been a Tibetan monk in his last four lives. I picked up that he had taught meditation. That had been his speciality. He didn't seek enlightenment or power, he just taught meditation. Some angels (spirit guides) corrected me and said 'five lifetimes as a meditation teacher'. No, I could sense four lives as a teacher of meditation. So I ended up arguing with them. I could see the four lifetimes quite clear and let them know it. I couldn't quite make out something else that they were saying to me though. I wondered why he was an 'unlucky' black and then I understood that if he had been any other color he never would made it to me. He had come back as a cat for several reasons. One, he had a few years between his last lifetime and the next one so he had a few years to spare. Also he is not certain that he will to come back at all. Another reason he returned as a cat was that he spent much of his life as an ascetic and he needed to make up for lot's of human affection that he did not receive when he was a human. I felt as though a great honor was being bestowed on me. To help a saint is the fastest way to heaven (according to Buddha and Jesus). I sat on the couch when I got home and went back to arguing with my angels. 'Not five, four lives teaching meditation'. Then they became quiet and I smiled over my little win. (It's not very often that angels ever make mistakes.) Then the most interesting thing occurred. If you meditate then you are aware that there are some inner places or levels you can sometime attune to that will take you to a very spiritual place. A way of focusing is part of it. It's hard to get there and hard to stay there. I was trying to get there when suddenly Norbu ran over to me, placed his paw on my 'chi' point (right about the navel) and suddenly my focus went into that very spiritual place. 'Ah, this is Norbu's fifth lifetime teaching meditation!'
UPDATE 2010: I later saw that as a human he had even taught the Dalai Lama but I am not certain if it was in his last lifetime as a human or in one of his previous lifetimes. Then I also determined that Norbu was the reincarnation of my former teacher Ngak-pa Yeshe Dorje Rinpoche. I had never been told that my teacher had ever taught the Dalai Lama so I assumed that my cat was the reincarnation of a different Buddhist teacher for about a year. However, since the Dalai Lama asked my teacher to build a monastery at Dharmsala India it seems very highly likely that he would have taught the Dalai Lama. He built the Zilnon Monastery which is in great need of repair. (You would get very great blessings from helping repair this monastery.) When I stated that he did not seek enlightenment but only taught meditation I did not understand what he mean't. The fastest way to enlightenment is not to seek it but to help others get there. You can't get there any faster. If you help a person get ahead then you get pushed ahead automatically. And teaching meditation is the greatest help that you can provide to a person.
© 2001-10 John Pinil |