The Dalai Lama’s Cat: Buddhist compassion in action
I began this newsletter in March 2022 for two reasons:
To share the insights and practices I learn from my own precious Buddhist teachers so that you may benefit from them too; and
To support extremely vulnerable animals and people in my homeland of Zimbabwe.
Free subscribers receive emails whenever I share a public post.
Paying subscribers get a fresh story or article most Saturdays. These include Buddhist Advice Columns, mouse-size musings ‘by’ the Dalai Lama’s Cat, favourite teachings, short stories and other posts.
Supported charities
I donate 50% of subscriber funds to three Zimbabwe-based charities. As of December 2024, a total of $115,000 has been given mainly to the following not-for-profits:
Wild is Life - home to the Zimbabwe Elephant Nursery, which rescues and rewilds baby elephants who have been orphaned, often in the most traumatic circumstances.
Twala Trust Animal Sanctuary - supporting indigenous animals as well as free food and vet care to over 600 dogs living in extremely disadvantaged communities.
Rokpa Support Network - providing educational, healthcare and financial support to some of the most vulnerable people in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe
In the past few years a really special virtual community has come together around this Substack page. The labels we may apply to our inner life is of less importance than the values were share: compassion, wisdom, the wish to help others - and humour! Together with fellow practitioners around the world, we are delivering meaningful support to many beautiful and appreciative sentient beings like the ones above.
The cost of a paid subscription is US$7 a month, or is 16% lower if you choose the annual rate of US$70.
As we give, so we receive.
As we think, so we become.
The Michie Foundation
With the help of my wife, Koala, in late 2024 we established The Michie Foundation in partnership with Global Development Group, so that those who wish to can donate directly to our three supported not-for-profits.
Receipts provided to residents of USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands are tax deductible. Find out more here.
About me
I was born and brought up in Zimbabwe, Africa, lived in London for ten years and have resided in Perth, Australia since 1998. I always felt a closeness to animals and when I was young I read every book I could find by Gerald Durrell and James Herriot.
Most of my professional life was spent doing communications work for financial services companies. I began meditating for stress management reasons in my 30s. Without knowing it at the time, this started me on a journey which connected me to Tibetan Buddhism.
As a communicator, I wanted to share my wonder at all the insights I was learning from my teachers. This led to my first book in the genre: Buddhism for Busy People. While promoting it, and subsequent books like Hurry Up and Meditate I found that many people interested in these subjects often don’t read non-fiction in their spare time.
Hence the novels which I so enjoy writing: The Dalai Lama’s Cat series, thrillers like The Magician of Lhasa, and most recently Instant Karma: The day it happened. I believe that fiction is an ideal medium to engage readers’ hearts and imaginations as well as their intellects. What’s more, storytelling is part of a long tradition of spiritual teaching, where inner, subtle process become easier to understand when externalised in metaphors and parables.
Since 2015, I have been returning home to Africa leading groups on Mindful Safaris, that combine my love of animals, meditation and the extraordinary natural vistas of my homeland, including Victoria Falls.
In circling back to where I started, the fundraising I am able to do through Substack helps contribute to very vulnerable animals and people back home, through charities who make every dollar we give them stretch a very long way.
Please join us!
Please consider becoming part of our community at The Dalai Lama’s Cat: Buddhist compassion in actions.
Together, readers around the world are building something that really matters. I hope you’ll join us in our journey to extraordinary places, outer and inner.
If you’d dearly love to become a paid subscriber but can’t afford to, please email me at: safari@davidmichie.com
May all beings have happiness and the true causes of happiness.
May all beings be free from suffering and the true causes of suffering.
May all beings never be parted from the happiness that is beyond suffering.
May all beings abide in peace and equanimity, their minds free from attachment, aversion and free from indifference.
May love, compassion, joy and equanimity pervade the hearts and minds of all limitless beings throughout universal space.
