BACKGROUND: Dharma The Cat's comic strip began in Sydney in 1997.  Since then  it has been published in magazines in 26 countries, and translated into 15 languages (see "Magazines").  The web site has won the 10 Best On The Web Award: www.DharmaTheCat.com, and is used in classrooms worldwide, for students from 9 years old through University level (see Fan Mail).  The web site has been listed on the BBC's top recommended home study sites, in the curricula of Philosophy and Comparative Religions.

“Dharma The Cat” has gained a large and loyal international following, evidenced by the volumes of enthusiastic emails from fans of all ages, from all parts of the world.  Their testimonials tell us that these cartoons are hanging on fridges, doors and office windows all the way from Iceland to Argentina.  [see Cartoons]

The comic strip, called "Philosophy With Fur," was eventually published as a book by Simon & Schuster Australia, as well as other territories, and now the property is poised for commercial development in the following areas:

1) Animated TV station breaks (interstitials) -- a 60-second 2D Pilot episode has been produced.

2) Animated Feature Film, based on the graphic novel "The Silk Road Adventures of Dharma The Cat" (work in progress),

3) Animated TV Series (half hours), based on Dharma The Cat's "Human Folly" series,

4) Animated Daily MMS (multimedia message service) for cell phones and broadband downloads,

5) A CD-ROM Game, "Enlightenment, The Game Of Karma,"

6) a Board Game, based on a streamlined version of the CD-ROM game,

7) North American and World publishing of the cartoon book.

1) Interstitials: "Philosophy With Fur” is a series of 52x 1-minute animated comedy sketches based on this comic strip.  They will be interstitials (station breaks) for TV stations and in-flight programming, plus broadband and mobile phone downloads.

They are aimed at the family audience.  The Theme of these sketches is “Havoc, farce and mayhem on the rocky path to Enlightenment, with a Buddhist Cat, a novice Monk and a Mouse hell-bent on cheese.”

The Inner Journey

The animations are all based on the cartoons in a book published by Simon & Schuster Australia, called "Dharma The Cat -- Philosophy With Fur."  The cartoons' 3 characters are Dharma The Cat, Bodhi the novice Monk, and Siam The Mouse:

Dharma The Cat is the King Of Cool.

He looks down from a great height on      the never-ending recurrence of Human      folly.

The Cat is also the Wisest Of Wits.  He loves handing down wry commentary on the ill fortune of being born a mere Human (which is usually the consequence of some terrible karmic blunder in a past life).

This regrettable condition of being Human is hilariously personified by Dharma’s teenage feeder, Bodhi the novice Monk.

Bodhi’s undoing is his over-earnestness, which leads him into uproarious troubles with each of his philosophical lessons.

With Siam The Mouse as his spiritual trainer, and Dharma as his judge and jury, Bodhi enthusiastically stumbles into every possible pitfall the path to Enlightenment has to offer.

On his journey, Bodhi is becoming a true master of the How Not To School of Enlightenment.  He thus lights the way for us all to avoid, thereby giving Dharma plenty of comic material to work with!

Meanwhile, Siam The Mouse is truly The Mouse That Roared.  She is many fans' favourite character, because she is totally undaunted by her lack of size. 

Siam The Mouse is on a never-ending, uncompromising Quest for Cheese.  In this cheeky headlong pursuit, she provides extra spiritual challenges for Bodhi – as if he weren't creating enough of his own! 

Little Siam’s antics also test Dharma The Cat’s tolerance and patience.  She and Bodhi are always threatening to knock Dharma off his pedestal of serenity, and shatter his world of cool in the most undignified ways.

Click above to see Dharma's 60-second animated cartoon.

   this web site designed by David Lourie