Have You Ever Wondered What the Dalai Lama's Cat Would Say? Check Out This Novel

Every once in a while you come across a book that engages you so much that you can feel the emotions of the characters.  It’s a little embarrassing to say that this has happened to me with a feline protagonist.  His Holiness’s Cat (also called HHC or Snow Lion among other names) is the Dalai Lama’s cat living with him in his quarters in Jokhang.  Snow Lion was saved when two young boys were selling her and her littermates to make a small profit.  They were all taken too early from their mother, and Snow Lion was particularly vulnerable and weak.   Snow Lion tells her story in The Dalai Lama’s Cat by David Michie. David Michie has also written other fiction including two more books about Snow Lion (I love series) and several nonfiction books about Buddhism.

From her perch in the Dalai Lama’s chambers Snow Lion observes the Dalai Lama’s meditation practice and his interactions with people from all walks of life as they flock to him.  Snow Lion learns more than anyone could ever learn about Buddhism without becoming a monk herself.  And, Snow Lion has the additional experiences of going to Café Franc down the street each day where she observes even more of life in a Buddhist-friendly environment.  Snow Lion’s observational skills are exceptional.  And her writing is fantastic.  In fact, sometimes you even forget that it is a cat that is writing this fictional story and you wonder how much of it is true.

Each chapter of the book has a perfect arc.  The Dalai Lama, with his incredible kind and compassionate wisdom or one of his assistants helps a person or Snow Lion resolve internal or external conflicts or dilemmas.   

For example, the Dalai Lama temporarily rescues a Lhasa apso, Kyi Kyi.  Snow Lion is overwhelmed with anger and jealousy which leads to much suffering.  A bit later she learns that Kyi Kyi was left at the end of a heavy chain to die before he was rescued.  Snow Lion’s jealousy and anger turns into compassion and she makes an effort to treat Kyi Kyi with kindness, a feeling that results in joy for both of them instead of pain and suffering.

On another day, Snow Lion is on her porch and she sees Lauren, one of the Dalai Lama’s assistant’s 14 year old daughters come into the Dalai Lama’s office.  Lauren proclaims that she was told by her doctors to eat meat because she had a serious iron deficiency and had taken to trying to eat rocks.  The problem is that she is a vegetarian and eating meat is against her moral values.  The Dalai Lama tells her that he too has to eat meat sometimes for nutritional reasons.  He explains that eating other living beings does not have to be black and white.  He says that one should try to kill as few living beings as possible but that there may be necessity to eat meat for medical reasons.  He also explains that even when people eat just vegetables it results in the killing of living beings because when land is cleared and sprayed with pesticide, insects are killed.  This helped Lauren to resolve her moral issues with her new diet.

These types of endearing encounters run throughout this enchanting and engaging book.  I honestly learned more about Buddhism from this first of three books about Snow Lion and the Dalai Lama than I learned from most of my other Buddhist Dharma talks and books.   I can’t wait to read the second and third books.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!