The Legend of the Sacred Cat of Burma
Long before the time of Buddha, the Khmer people of Asia built beautiful temples in remote mountain retreats, in which to pay homage to their gods. One of these temples, the Temple of Lao-Tsun, honored the god Song-Hyo and the goddess Tsun-Kyan-Kse. Priests and monks dedicated their lives to worshipping the goddess symbolized by a golden statue with saphire eyes. One hundred pure white cats lived with the priests. It was believed that after death, a priest returned to the temple of the white cats. These cats were, therefore, honored and beloved guests. One of the cats Sinh, was a devoted companion to a very old priest,
Mun-Ha, whose golden beard was said to have been braided by the god
Song-Hyo himself.
One night as the mmon rose and Mun-Ha was kneeling, praying before the golden goddess, Thai raiders attacked the Temple of Tsun-Kyan-Kse, and the old priest was killed. Immediately, Sinh leapt on the body of his master, faced the statue, gazed into the saphire eyes, and silently appealed to the goddess who governed the transmutation of souls. As the priest's soul entered Sinh, the white hair of the cat's body became golden like the old priests' beard and its eyes became saphire blue like those of the goddess. Sinh's face, tail, and legs turned brown like the earth except where the feet rested on the slain priest, there they remained white, denoting purity.
Sinh's transformation inspired the other priests to drive the raiders away. Seven days later, Sinh died and carried into paridise the soul of Mun-Ha. The next morning all the other white temple cats had undergone the same transformation as Sinh. Since then, the priests have guarded their secret golden cats believing them to have custody of the souls of priests.
The legend ends with the maxim:
"Woe to he who brings the end of one of these marvelous beasts, even if he did not mean to. He will surely suffer the most cruel torments until the soul he upset has been appeased."
A Birman Archive, 1996
