Dharma the cat comics

[Kartik Subbarao]

I've found these to be pretty clever and often right on the mark :-)

http://dharmathecatcartoons.com/
http://www.mahabodhi.net/dcat/DharmaTheCatCartoonsPreviewOpt.pdf

Here's one that I find particularly insightful.
Episode 10, "Non-attachment", with the sand castle:
http://www.quangduc.com/English/story/dharmacat/dharmacat-02.html

Even if we recognize that our creations are impermanent sand castles, we
can become attached to the *way* that they are destroyed -- in this
case, that they be "cleanly" washed away by the tides of the ocean
instead of being "crudely" stomped out. Good illustration of how ego
attachment can shift to a subtle form.

I can relate all too well -- I've been relieved when some of my
sandcastles came to a peaceful conclusion, and have been vexed by others
that were abruptly kicked in :-)

-Kartik

[Abhiram Vijayasarathy]

Thanks Kartik.  Some of these are quite fun and somewhat deep.

I thought the "EGO" one was hilarious.

[Kartik Subbarao]

On 07/05/2010 08:42 PM, Abhiram Vijayasarathy wrote:
> Thanks Kartik. Some of these are quite fun and somewhat deep.
> I thought the "EGO" one was hilarious.

Yeah, "Ego" (episode 7) is a good one!
http://www.quangduc.com/English/story/dharmacat/dharmacat-02.html

It's a perfect illustration of how subtly ego (ahankara) can insert
itself into our thoughtstream.

This can happen a lot during meditation. One moment we can be just
*experiencing* profound calm and stillness, but the next moment we get
overeager about the experience we're having and start taking pride in
having *achieved* that state. Poof -- the moment is gone, the ego having
robbed us blind.

But that's okay -- we can only be robbed so many times in this way
before we start to catch glimpses of the thief. Meditation then becomes
a great tool for recognizing ego in its various forms and guises. This
pattern recognition carries over into our daily lives, where it is
immensely helpful.

-Kartik