We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again: cats rule the world. Maybe that even includes the spiritual world?

Oh, cats. They do not play by human rules. Whether they’re defying the laws of fishbowl physics or riding the train without any human help, it’s clear that cats are going to do what they want, where they want, and when they want.

Here’s a perfect example. This cat, who lives at Shonai Shrine in Yamagata Prefecture, was calmly observing the Zen garden on the shrine grounds. According to his owner, this “patrol” is his morning routine.

And then, just like when your cat decides to sit on the clean laundry you just folded (or creep into your family’s Buddhist altar), this shrine cat plopped himself down right in the middle of the Zen garden.

▼ You can’t even see his little paw prints. Did he teleport there or something?

We’re not sure what the dieties enshrined here would think of this cat sleeping on their well-manicured rock garden, but we’d go as far as to say it looks like the cat is actually part of the Zen.

A ton of Japanese netizens got a kick of out of this cat’s antics. Their reactions ranged from hilarity to disbelief and reverence.

“It’s a cat rock!”

“Cats are the epitome of the gods’ creations. It’s the beauty of a man-made garden plus the beauty of a god-made cat. It’s the best collaboration ever.”

“This kind of garden–a dry landscape garden–uses sand to represent water. That means the cat is sleeping on water, in a sense. That’s amazing.”

“It’s like the garden grew another island. It’s a cat island, haha.”

“I really like unique cats, but I can’t help but get a bad feeling from the end result of cat + sand…”

That last commenter’s got a point there…

Zen Cat’s owner is still basking in Internet fame, but maybe this cat has what it takes to bring notoriety to Yamagata Prefecture!

Featured image: Twitter/jinjahan0817