Amid the clamor of pedestrians and bicyclists, food-stall proprietors and beggars, two ragged street children were anxious to bring their day’s trading to an end. Earlier that morning, they had come across a litter of kittens, concealed behind a pile of burlap sacks in a back alley. Scrutinizing their discovery closely, they soon realized that they had fallen upon something of value. For the kittens were no garden-variety alley cats; they were clearly felines of a superior kind. The young boys were unfamiliar with the Himalayan breed, but in our sapphire eyes, handsome coloring, and lavish coat, they recognized a tradable commodity.
Snatching us from the cozy nest in which our mother had tended us, they thrust my siblings and me into the terrifying commotion of the street. Within moments my two elder sisters, who were much larger and more developed than the rest of us, had been exchanged for rupees—an event of such excitement that in the process I was dropped, landing painfully on the pavement and only narrowly avoiding being killed by a motor scooter.
The boys had much more trouble selling us two smaller, scrawnier kittens. For several hours they trudged the streets, shoving us vigorously at the windows of passing cars. I was much too young to be taken from our mother, and my tiny body was unable to cope. Failing fast for lack of milk and still in pain from my fall, I was barely conscious when the boys sparked the interest of an elderly passerby, who had been thinking about a kitten for his granddaughter.
Gesturing to set us two remaining kittens on the ground, he squatted on his haunches and inspected us closely. My older brother padded across the corrugated dirt at the side of the road, mewing imploringly for milk. When I was prodded from behind to induce some movement, I managed only a single, lurching step forward before collapsing in a mud puddle.
It was exactly this scene that His Holiness witnessed.
And the one that followed.
A sale price agreed on, my brother was handed over to the toothless old man. I, meantime, was left mired in filth while the two boys debated what to do with me, one of them shoving me roughly with his big toe. They decided I was unsaleable, and grabbing a week-old sports page of the Times of India that had blown into a nearby gutter, they wrapped me like a piece of rotten meat destined for the nearest rubbish heap.
I began to suffocate inside the newspaper. Every breath became a struggle. Already weak from fatigue and starvation, I felt the flame of life inside me flicker dangerously low. Death seemed inevitable in those final, desperate moments.
Except that His Holiness dispatched his attendant first. Fresh off the plane from America, the Dalai Lama’s attendant happened to have two $1 bills tucked in his robes. He handed these to the boys, who scampered away, speculating with great excitement about how much the dollars would fetch when converted into rupees.
Unwrapped from the death trap of the sports page (“Bangalore Crushes Rajasthan by 9 Wickets” read the headline), I was soon resting comfortably in the back of the Dalai Lama’s car. Moments later, milk had been bought from a street vendor and was being dripped into my mouth as His Holiness willed life back into my limp form.
I remember none of the details of my rescue, but the story has been recounted so many times that I know it by heart. What I do remember is waking up in a sanctuary of such infinite warmth that for the first time since being wrenched from our burlap nest that morning, I felt that all was well. Looking about to discover the source of my newfound nourishment and safety, I found myself looking directly into the Dalai Lama’s eyes.
How do I describe the first moment of being in the presence of His Holiness?
It is as much a feeling as a thought—a deeply heartwarming and profound understanding that all is well. As I came to realize later, it is as though for the first time you become aware that your own true nature is one of boundless love and compassion. It has been there all along, but the Dalai Lama sees it and reflects it back to you. He perceives your Buddha nature, and this extraordinary revelation often moves people to tears.
In my own case, swaddled in a piece of maroon-colored fleece on a chair in His Holiness’s office, I was also aware of another fact—one of the greatest importance to all cats: I was in the home of a cat lover.
As strongly as I sensed this, I was also aware of a less sympathetic presence across the coffee table. Back in Dharamsala, His Holiness had resumed his schedule of audiences and was fulfilling a long-standing commitment to be interviewed by a visiting history professor from Britain. I couldn’t possibly tell you who exactly, just that he came from one of England’s two most famous Ivy League universities.
The professor was penning a tome on Indo-Tibetan history and seemed irked to find he was not the exclusive focus of the Dalai Lama’s attention.
“A stray?” he exclaimed, after His Holiness briefly explained the reason why I was occupying the seat between them.
“Yes,” confirmed the Dalai Lama, before responding not so much to what the visitor had said as to the tone of voice in which he had said it. Regarding the history professor with a kindly smile, he spoke in that rich, warm baritone with which I was to become so familiar.
“You know, Professor, this stray kitten and you have one very important thing in common.”
“I can’t imagine,” responded the professor coolly.
“Your life is the most important thing in the world to you,” said His Holiness. “Same for this kitten.”
From the pause that followed, it was evident that for all his erudition, the professor had never before been presented with such a startling idea.
“Surely you’re not saying that the life of a human and the life of an animal are of the same value?” he ventured.
“As humans we have much greater potential, of course,” His Holiness replied. “But the way we all want very much to stay alive, the way we cling to our particular experience of consciousness—in this way human and animal are equal.”
“Well, perhaps some of the more complex mammals … ” The professor was battling against this troubling thought. “But not all animals. I mean, for instance, not cockroaches.”
“Including cockroaches,” said His Holiness, undeterred. “Any being that has consciousness.”
“But cockroaches carry filth and disease. We have to spray them.”
His Holiness rose and walked over to his desk, where he picked up a large matchbox. “Our cockroach carrier,” he said. “Much better than spraying. I am sure,” he continued, delivering his trademark chuckle. “You don’t want to be chased by a giant spraying toxic gas.”
The professor acknowledged this bit of self-evident but uncommon wisdom in silence.
“For all of us with consciousness”—the Dalai Lama returned to his seat—“our life is very precious. Therefo