On the shores of Inle Lake in Myanmar sits the Nga Hpe monastery, renowed, among other things, for its troupe of acrobatic cats. The monks have trained these cats to jump through hoops. Their story is recounted in the L. A. Times piece “Catapulting to fame at a quiet lake monastery.”
The legend of the first jumping cat of Nga Phe Kyung was born about 22 years ago when a young monk was meditating and a cat came to curl up in his crossed legs. The monk tried to remain focused on his breathing, but his concentration was broken.
He opened his eyes and tried to make the cat move. No sooner did he do that than the cat jumped high in the air. The monk was taken aback, because he had never seen a cat jump as high.
The same thing happened the next day, and so it came to be that each time the monk meditated the cat would come and jump. As time passed, the monk and the cat became friends, and the monk began to encourage the cat to jump as high as it could, at first over his hands, then over bamboo sticks and, finally, through hoops.
See them in action:
The monastery:
More LOLzy photos here.
Jerry, did you know there’s a new iPad app for cats?
Does it come with a special tool for removing scratches from the iPad screen?
Oh wait! I forgot, glass is harder than claws. But I bet a cat can find a way to work around that and mess it up anyway.
An iPad screen is glass? There must be a scratch protector for the screen, like for the iPhone.
I also imagine, that much like the laser mouse, or an aquarium, once a cat figures out that they can’t can’t catch it, they will lose interest.
Yes I said “can’t can’t”, and I meant to do it…
How unnatural.
I guess this must be that long-sought-after Creationist cat/dog-crossbreeding project.
Wonder Cats!
Herding cats!
You don’t need Buddhism to train cats to jump through hoops. Ordinary kitty treats will do.
But a Buddhist can get them to do it for a wooden fish.
Uh, oh! Yuri Kuklachev, of the Moscow Cats Theater, is going to sue someone for breach of copyright – again!
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/06/09/2008-06-09_russian_circus_legend_yuri_kuklachev_fil-2.html
😉
Cat-a-pull’d through hoops.
That reminds me:
– What do you get when you cross a creationist with an apophatist?
…
…
…
– A person who claims irrelevant design.
take home lesson:
Why do something as boring as meditate when you can make cats jump through hoops!
….Buddhism for sufferers of ADD.
Would Attention Deficit Disorder be a help or a hindrance to meditation?
I’m of course of the contention it would be a drastic hindrance.
focus…
focus…
focus…
oooh! look! kitty!
How many of those Burmese cats are Burmese Cats?
Very cute, but I get more kicks out of seeing cats jump through boxes which are too narrow for them to fit through, like Maru of YouTube fame. The best thing about box plunging nekos is that treats are not required (as they are for hoop-jumping kitties) to get box plunging nekos to do their stunt.