Reiki and Buddhism - with Jill Thiel, LRMT

The seventh of a series of interviews around the religions from the World Peace Grids, which states:  "May the followers of all religions and spiritual paths work together to create peace among all people on Earth." https://www.reiki.org/world-peace-grid-project

In this week's podcast, Jill explains how she practices Buddhism and how beautifully it aligns with Reiki.  Give it a listen!

Pam's ICRT Classes: https://www.reiki.org/users/pamela-allen-leblanc#classes
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dFm-19
Reiki session:   https://squareup.com/appointments/book/7dvtqlfp939e8g/LPSC51C92BN20/services
Monthly Reiki share:  http://eepurl.com/hWruP5
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/reikifromthefarm/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/hiddenbrookfarmReikiHorsesOils
Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW5ScR7ObSiPIpgnDkWkiQA
email: pam@reikifromthefarm.com

Jill's Information
Website:  www.mnreikicenter.com
Email:
https://www.facebook.com/mnreikicenter Facebook
https://www.instagram.com/minnesota_reiki_center/ Instagram

The Reiki Business Book is available from tens of thousands of Retailers, Libraries, Schools, E-commerce companies, book retailers, and wholesalers across North America, the United Kingdom & Europe, Australia & New Zealand.   Order it here:  Amazon.com The Reiki Business Book or Amazon.ca The Reiki Business Book 

thank you to Music from Pixabay for the intro music
Pam Allen-LeBlanc is a scientist, a businesswoman, and a Licensed Reiki Master Teacher with the International Center for Reiki Training.  She is the author of "The Reiki Business Book" and a co-author of ICRT Animal Reiki training.  Pam teaches Reiki, Animal Reiki, and Animal Communication online and in-person in Canada, the US, Australia

Register for our newsletter!

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Youtube

pam@reikifromthefarm.com

Transcript

Pam: 0:55

On this week's podcast, I'm talking with Jill Thiel with our Reiki religion series. And today we're talking about the beautiful and ancient religion of Buddhism. So Jill, I'd like to welcome you to the podcast.

Jill: 1:11

Thank you for having me. It's great to be here. It's great to be back, I should say. Yes.

Pam: 1:16

I call on you every now and again, and you're always you're always great. I appreciate your assistance. When we want to learn something about Reiki before we get started. I just want you to know that on the farm we've got coming up at the beginning of October. A Reiki RMA class, which is level one and two in masters. Those are licensed classes that count toward professional membership in the Reiki membership association. That's why we call them RMA courses. I also have animal Reiki levels. One and two in masters. And at the very end of the month, I have a holy fire, three Kaurna Reiki class. I also want to let you know about a series of six classes coming up or six days of class coming up in December, where six days in a row on the Friday, Saturday at the end of November, beginning of December, Thursday, Friday is level one and two Reiki. The weekend is animal. Communication, I believe. And Monday, Tuesday is animal Reiki, level one and two. So if you're an animal lover, those six days in a row will get you completely up to speed with all of our Reiki and animal communication and animal Reiki classes. And I also want to call people's attention cuz I know it takes a little bit more planning to the fact that in March I will be teaching. Five day RMA class level one and two in masters, as well as a level one and two Reiki class in Australia in just outside of Canberra. And Queenborough Berry in a little place called Royal at my friend's farm. and if you'd like to join us in Australia go ahead. I'll have a link to my calendar in the notes of the podcast, and I'd love to have you check it out. Jill, what do you have coming up?

Jill: 3:08

What do I have? You can always go into my website, which is Reiki dot com. I've got an animal Reiki masterclass coming up this weekend and hybrid so people can join online or in person, most of my classes are hybrid. I have masterclass the following weekend. Then I'm off a week and then I believe it's back to a one and a two. And then. An animal Reiki one and two at the end of the month, the weekend of Halloween. So

Pam: 3:37

that's lovely. That's the, that's when actually I'm teaching the Kaurna class. So we'll be teaching during that Sam hae holiday.

Jill: 3:48

good energy. It will be good energy for

Pam: 3:51

sure. Guys, I wanted to invite Jill because we're trying to just get to know a little bit better. All of the religions in the world, peace grids. There are 12 religions, 12 of the world's major religions that are represented there. And of course, one of the world's major rep. Religions is Buddhism and Jill is a practicing Buddhist and Buddhism and Reiki. She's also a licensed teacher as like I am with the international center for Reiki training, and I thought she could help us shed a little light on it today. And so Jill, my first question for you is, did you always practice Buddhism or is this something that that came later in your.

Jill: 4:34

Yeah, it's actually something that came later. I grew up in a Methodist family. Okay. And as a kid, I actually really loved going to church and I loved spirituality. I liked all the ritualistic things. I didn't mind. I, as I grew up, there were times where I've questioned my faith and, Things that came up that, I had, talks with God about stuff I'm sure. We all did. And the main thing for me was I did have a hard time really understanding it, the stories and the way that it was presented. So even though I always had a tremendous amount of faith and I believed in this sort of higher power some. Stories that were written. It didn't make sense to me and I didn't really understand, some of these big, Noah's Ark and it just, my brain was like, how is this possible? Which led me to then in college wanting to look into other religions. And so I expanded and spent time in college taking religious studies and learning about different religion. Eventually then what had happened is that when I took my first Reiki one and two class, a couple of years later, I ended up meeting my husband and he's Buddhist and he didn't push it on me at all. I just happened to know that he was Buddhist and he grew up also Christian, I think he was Lutheran. But then as he went off to college, a bunch of his. Friends got into Buddhism and some of them went off and became teachers and what would be like Lama teachers and wow. And so we had a really good in, or he had a really good in to a really good lineage. And so he started practicing this and a lot of his friends started practicing this. So I found it fascinating cuz by the time I had met him, he had been, doing it for 20 years. Wow. And so I was still just, very open at this point and interested. And one day I remember, and I had taken Reiki one and two, and I think I, at this point I had taken the master class. I remember I was riding my bike and this was before. Memes and quotes in Facebook and where people would, put these ideas maybe into your head. I just remember having. Hearing a voice telling me wise things. And I can't remember exactly what I was hearing, but I was like, who is this? And it's and I remember this is the Buddha and how ever that sounds. And I'm like, interesting. How do I know this? And it's you've always known. You've always had access to this information at the time. I didn't connect it, that maybe there was something going on with Reiki that had healed and was tapping into other truths that I had already known, but it made me so curious that I had said to my husband. I really think I wanna go to one of, one of your ceremonies, because I think I'm hearing the Buddha talking to me right. And so that's where it began. From there. Ended up going to, I guess my first class was a really special occasion where I had the opportunity to take refuge and receive a name. And some people might be practicing Buddhism for a long time and may never have that opportunity. So the way it works is if you're lucky to live in a place where you have. A high Lama that you can visit and go to that teaching. It'd be like similar before we had internet. You'd have to travel to William or to you, to Colleen. And there are teachers who are around, but our teachers, my teachers lived in other states and actually the lineage of Buddhism that I practice has made it down to Brazil. So there is a significant. Branch of the Tibetan Buddhism in Brazil because our lineage was guided to get Buddhism to south America. And so I, as walking into this, I didn't realize how special this was because in all of the years that I've been practicing, I don't think they've ever had another naming or taking refuge. That I know of that's come back to Minneapolis. So I was like, whoa. Okay. So it was really big, like there was and these are all formal ways of it would be similar to I don't wanna say joining the church, but and not even being baptized, but like confirmation or something. Yeah. Like there's these other ritualistic sort. Things where you're going, oh, this is a, really, this is a commitment. And I'm saying yes. And I'm like, okay. Yes. I, because I, so you go up. and it's, you're walking up in the line and the teachers up there on, on the podium and, blessing you and handing out cards like, oh, okay, I'm Lama Yeshi, and then you sign it. Here's the date that you took refuge. And in a way, that's the beginning of it because taking refuge is saying that like I'm committing to this, and. And then having a teacher and having a name is another part of that. So then through that, there was an empowerment that weekend as well for red Tara. And so then I received my first Buddhist empowerment and that was a. A really special occasion. And that, that is an empowerment.

Pam: 9:45

Jill, can you explain

Jill: 9:47

that to us? Yeah. It's similar to a Reiki attunement and it's actually a ritual that awakens our capacity for primordial wisdom, a. And it's called an empowerment cuz when we receive it, we're empowered to follow a particular spiritual practice and to master it and to come into its realization. So it's not actually they can only be given by qualified advisor masters and you have to maintain a specific practice. Similar to Reiki, you have to sort. Maintain. There's a practice that we have with, and so there's various practices that I do. And it's based on Boso vows. So you are doing this to help other people to end suffering. So your motivation is purely for freeing other people from. suffering. And so the most common description of an empowerment is that it's a transfer of power during a ceremony. And it's gonna give recipients the authorization to hear study and practice teachings. But it's not actually, sometimes people are like, oh, giving somebody power. It's not really like that sort of a thing. It's actually an activation of ourselves that already exist within us that we just haven't recognized yet. And so you get this empower. Or initiation. And then what happens during this is we ripen our mature to like our Buddha nature and wow. So Al beans possess this nature, this inner nature without receiving this empowerment or similar like OIA attunement It won't be possible to get to where it is that you need to without receiving this blessing, the

Pam: 11:28

blessing and the, that connection. So that you're connecting with some knowledge or something that already exists. It sounds like within you, I'm just, I wanna backtrack just a little bit, Jill, when you were hearing. The voice that was guiding you and giving you wisdom. It almost sounds to me like maybe you were tapping into some past life information and it almost sounds like Buddha was your guide. A lot of us have angels or arch angels or Jesus or Krishna or someone or Gana as a guide and it, it almost sounds like that. Do you feel that there's, that Reiki may have awakened that in you?

Jill: 12:05

Absolutely. Because, when I started. reading and researching and doing the teachings and the practices. It started changing stuff in me and my mind and everything became familiar to me and it was like, I can absorb this information and retain this information. And. and it actually helped me to understand Christianity more. I meet other Buddhist who say that too. There was an awareness there that somehow I feel like in some of the teachings with Buddhism, they have answers. And so it's definitely not like a fear based mentality, real religion or spiritual practice. It's more of an empowerment practice and helping people in compassion and, develop. Wisdom and, getting rid of the poisons of the mind, like in the Reiki precepts, getting rid of anger and worry. And so you're dissolving a lot of the. negative qualities in there. And so you have these tools. And so I've always looked at it as tools and in some way it helped me to understand what they were actually really saying in the Bible. And so I could look at the deeper meaning versus beyond a story let's say in some parts is I don't know that doesn't seem, that seems a little. How could that happen or, or certain things, parts of it. I was able to comprehend on a deeper level what they were actually saying by working with Buddhism as a tool.

Pam: 13:37

It's interesting. Yeah. And so it sounds A couple of things. It sounds like the Buddhist teachings that you've been, that you've learned, been learning and that you've committed to are they're much more formal than I realized. It sounds there's certain practices and ways of doing things and cuz I've long been a fan of the Dai Lama read just about everything that I can read. I like to read about all religions, honestly, because I think what you said. Understanding a little bit more about another religion helps me understand my own a little bit better. And I think just broadens our mind. And you see what sensei was a spiritual seeker. He was constantly learning from other spiritual traditions as well. Now he grew up Buddhist and was a grew up in a community and went to Tendi Buddhist. Is it called temple? Is it called? Yeah. Did he not? Yeah. And I

Jill: 14:34

different sectors like Christianity, you've got Baptist and Catholics and so you think of like different branches and then you've got like the Buddha taught, 88,000 paths to enlightenment. And so like the Cambodians have a Buddhist practice in the TIS and then you've got the Thai, the Thai Buddhas. If you notice they're like pointier. Yes. So there's different practices. And if you think of 88,000 different ways to achieve that. There's 88 th and there's more, but it's that's the path. And so when we think about it, it's so it's not all exactly the same, but a lot of the, there's a lot of the concepts, the core things. But then there may be different tools and techniques just like different Reiki systems may have different tools and technique. That's right. In how they actually do the practices. So there's not just one right way. And different, there's different, Buddhist people like, that live in caves and things like I have a dear friend, who's part of my practice, who she's not living in a cave, but she's living in a, very simple. In, in taking a vow silence for, three or four years going in to advanced practices and things. But there, there were actual people who do live in caves and they, will depending on the various. States that you're changing. And what you're healing in this life. And so that meaning that, different paths and techniques would be required. And so I think this could be part of what inspired a suey is maybe this idea, or just a thought of that. There are different ways that there isn't just one. That there isn't

Pam: 16:08

just one way. And that's actually the whole inspiration, this podcast series. I don't know if I will ever finish writing the book. I did start it, but I heard start learning about all of the different, as many religions as you can because all roads lead home. And I know when I interviewed Munai Mohamed he said, it's if you. If I lived in a mountain and you lived in the valley and we decided to meet at a temple or something, my journey to get there wouldn't even look at all the same as your journey to get there. Mine would be downhillers would be uphill. I'd be coming through this terrain. You'd be coming through that terrain. But in the end we meet at the same place and that's the, you know what, I heard that, that there, there are all these different ways to. Achieve enlightenment, which 88,000 ways, of course. And to get home. And one of the things that I love for instance, I know I love for me personally, I love the I C R T philosophies around Reiki. They just really resonate with me, but I also love that there are so many other different lineages out there. What resonates with me might not resonate with someone else and they might need another lineage to be more appropriate to them. So it sounds like what you're describing with Buddhism is the same, that, and the same is with Christianity. There are so many different sex and with pretty much every religion, there are so many different sex and rather than. Say my sec is the right sec and your sec is the wrong sec. I think we need to be really open to the fact that, this is what works for me and that over there works better for you. And that's fantastic. And I think that's of a big part of the, yeah, the whole reason for this podcast actually. I

Jill: 17:59

know, I know

Pam: 18:00

exactly. I love it. And Jill, just talking about. I've seen written on the web. And of course, if it's written on the web, it must be true. of course I say that facetiously. I see, I have seen written on the web that there are some people who say that Reiki is a Buddhist tradition and. I've always take and then there are other people who say, oh if it's a Buddhist tradition, then you're Muslim. You can't practice it. Or you're Christian, you can't practice it. And they kind of use, use that reasoning. And I take a little bit of exception to that because as far as I understood Sei sensei was a spiritual seeker and he, we've heard that it said that he was Christian. We've heard it said that he was Buddhist. I've been, I've heard that he practiced Shintoism. What I know is that he was very interested in all of. And he does seem to have done his best to learn as much as he could about as many different religions as he was able to at the time. And. So I I realized that he was raised Buddhist, but I've always felt that Reiki was more non-denominational. And I remember asking William Rand once, is Reiki associated with any religion? And he emphatically said no, because religions can divide people and Reiki is appropriate no matter what your religion and it works hand in hand with it. And even if you're atheist or have no religion, it. It still works hand in hand with that. What is your thought around that? Because you have a lot more background in

Jill: 19:39

Buddhism than I do. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I agree with what you're saying, in, in regards to Buddhism and so forth, again, because we have, so let's just say that he was Buddhist, right? Like maybe we don't know. So let's just say that he was, and, but

Pam: 19:53

and he probably. There's good

Jill: 19:55

change that he was, but the Buddhist philosophy is the same as his philosophy of wanting to spread it throughout the world. So there's nothing in Buddhism that would say when I explain that Buddhism. So it was brought to the west because it was exiled and people were exiled and where our teachings come from, my teachings come from, Tibet and Nepal. My teacher was from that region was exiled. Came here. With the shirt on his back and was guided to bring it to the west. And when he brought the teachings of red Tara. So think of where the Dharma you've heard of the Dharma and it's a wheel and it turns, so the Dharma and it's, and the Buddhism is always the wheel. That's. Turning. And so what's happening is that at times you have teachings up here, but then at other times is the world is changing. These teachings go down here. And this is part of these 88,000 paths that are always happening and continuously changing and evolving for what we need, just like what Reiki is doing. And so my teachers have always said to me, And I think about this with Reiki too, is like being very careful about how you represent it and so forth because you never wanna turn anybody off from receiving it. And so the fact that the Buddhism was brought to the west, so Westerners could learn it very much, like how Reiki was brought to the west when Tokata brought it and made change. The Buddhist make changes in their texts. You have sacred texts that people are doing and these teachings and rituals that go on, but as times changing, so do the practices and so forth because the wheel is always turning. So when these practices, for instance of the ones that I'm learning, they're Tibetan practices that were rewritten by a Tibetan Nepali man. Brought to the west. So Westerners could learn them in a way similar to how de kata did now. The stories and everything are all kept authentic, because that is one thing that Buddhist have is like strong integrity with their practices and they have Relic holders. And the process of becoming a Lama is. Process of being a Toku, which means that there is like a birthright, like you can't just become a Lama. There is a lot of work and they like looking at astrology. There's different relics. That the teacher before you, so like when you die, you would maybe have the successor who would then say, okay, Pam's coming back as a woman in, Canada and we need to, but we don't know. We just know she could be somewhere in this region. They have the ability to see all of this stuff around this certain time. And so a lot of times they may be born in the regions of Nepal and in the Himalayas and. and then they send people out looking and they have all of their relics, like their Mala, their bell, all these things. And then the Toku One years old is able to determine what's theirs. They're able to come into the life already knowing teachings and practices that they never learned before. And then they look at the astrology and they compare it and there's all, there's a very vigorous process. And then usually it's would be blessed by like the Dai Lama and so forth. And so it's this birthright that they go out searching for. These teachers, you have one Dali Lama, you have one Carma you have about, a hundred CHES. And then it goes on from there. And those people that are into that. People can make their way into teaching, but it's really through a birthright process that you come back with this information. And there are these rally hunters that can find where these sacred scripts and stuff are put away and know when to bring them back out for the right time. Yeah. So is this huge thing of these things are going on and it's happening and evolving. So these teachings then were brought to the. For Westerners to be able to receive Buddhism and then it was brought to Brazil. So it would be brought. So the, so my, I guess my point is that in no way, was it. People aren't supposed to learn this and we're supposed to keep this for ourselves. And right. So there was an openness with it. There's always been an openness with Buddhism and it's so people, because the whole thing is to free yourself from suffering, and it to remove from attachment. So you have no attachment to something and you are, and you're healing your ego and you're doing all of these things of not. This is my religion and only you can do it and, and if there's respectful ways of practicing and of course traditions and, things that, that would go into any sort of thing, but it's. In my opinion, that if he was born at least a Buddhist person and growing up in that way and study different religions that, that common, like part of him that wanted to spread Reiki throughout the world comes from that Bodhi sofa, intention of wanting to help other people, which in my mind is a Budd. Philosophy, but you don't have to be Buddhist to have that sort of heart and wanna help people. And so I think that even if he was, or if he wasn't, we don't have to have a label because once he obtained that, state it on the mountain where he achieved peace, he had moved beyond all of those barrier.

Pam: 25:25

The thee or the perfect

Jill: 25:28

Sei that's right. And so I think he, at that point, he moved beyond that mind frame of that separation. But he used Buddhism as a foundation in a spiritual practice as ways of helping to achieve that sort of that state, that bud in nature, that he was wanting to achieve. But he doesn't need to be, like I'm Buddhist and there's people who could be, Buddhist, but not practicing Buddhism.

Pam: 25:56

That's right. And a label a well, but now tell us a little bit about, say your daily practices with Buddhism, because as you've described them, I've realized that they're a bit more formal than I thought they were. I know you, we've been together in Buddhist temples and you've explained some of. Teachings and some of the prayers and, the wheels and whatnot, but what would be a Ty, what would be some typical practices for you as a prac? And how long have you been practicing Buddhism? Yeah,

Jill: 26:24

For a long time for a really long time I wanna say, geez, I hate, it's hard putting dates on things anymore, but. almost 20 years. Wow. So it's you've had a while, so it's a while, looking at exact dates or whatever, it's you start to go wait, I don't want, you know what I mean? It's oh, I gotta do math now. No. This time it's been a long time though. And so I've been practicing it for a while and in Tibetan Buddhism or in the lineage that I. You usually, you start with a preliminary practice. So a preliminary practice is something like red Tara. That's a practice that I do. This is a picture of the text. If you can see this, for those who

Pam: 27:12

are watching on YouTube, you can probably see it, but then for those who are listening. Yeah.

Jill: 27:17

And so then in that you have an opening prayer that you do. And then you go into dissolving the space around you. And then through this, we practice what's called guru yoga. So then you can embody through the empowerment. It allows you to take form merge with the, so Tara. So red Tara is one of my practices. So then you're merging with, and going into Tara. PRI wisdom. And and then you are asking basically for your obstacles to be removed so you can obtain your aspirations and help other people. Then we do an offering. And and in offering a lot of times you're doing you're doing gestures with that. And there's different ones for different practices as you're offering. And then you're basically dedicating the practice. And offering prayers of aspiration and dedicating it to other people. So there's a way that you do that and to get through it, I mean like a self Reiki practice, how would I compare that you could do as little or as much as you want to. And to really get through it probably, if you're really doing it and you're really in it, it's an hour, it's probably, it's an hour. When you have the ma and the bead of the ma. And so the ma is to count your prayers. And so when you're doing your prayers, you're doing your ma and so you have to do for red tar, it's a hundred thousand jet soons. And so if you do so many. Per day times this, it comes out to a couple of years, it takes you to do that, to do that prayer, do the re resuscitation of that. And so as you are re reciting this. What's happening is it's rewiring your brain because what you're doing is instead of going, oh, I'm so unhappy, blah, blah, blah. You're like now you're bringing your brain into rewiring. And so that's changing things. And so this changings your mind, because you're literally changing what you're saying to your. wow. And so it becomes very powerful. After you complete the preliminary practice, then you can move into Nuro and Nen. Takes, if you're doing it active, that's another set of practices. And that takes about three, three years, three months, three days to really, to complete that. And within the noro, you've got four different area. That you're dissolving. And so you're doing offerings. You're also doing guru yoga. You're doing frustrations, which is a really vigorous process that you may have seen before, where you see Buddhist, bring their hands up and then they go onto the ground and then they come back up. Those are frustrations. And you'll see, like in Tibet where they'll walk for, Hundreds or thousands of miles doing that. And that's a way of purifying your body karma because it tones all of the meridians and the channels. And what's happening when you're doing that is while you're in pain going, I don't want to be doing this is the exact reason why you're doing it. It's just it's this agonizing. Sounds horrible. But at the same time, it's this offering of I would compare it to Jesus where they're giving the gifts and things like this and so forth. It becomes this it's like this offering. It's like the highest offering almost in a way that you can be giving are, and you have to do a hundred thousand. And

Pam: 30:49

This is a lot more involved than

Jill: 30:51

I really that's. Yeah. It's pretty involved. And then, you're contemplating in permanence which, because one of humans' main human suffering is. Sphere of death and in, and it doesn't like make it easier. But what it does is it helps us to work with one of the main reasons why humans suffer, people suffer. And so as you're going through this process, what happens is that over this time, These feelings, they start to dissolve and it changes you, you can, and then from there then you're ready to move into zoo gen teachings and zoo Z gen teachings is, really what the Dai Lama is teaching. And interestingly enough, They aren't these hard things. It's everything that we know, but all of a sudden it's I got it. and

Pam: 31:39

you know it on a different level,

Jill: 31:40

do you, or it on a different level, because what I'll say is that, and like Reiki, We repeat ourselves a lot. we say the same things over and over again, in Buddhism. It's very much the same way I go to these teachings. I hear different things each time, but when I hear the Dolly Lama or I hear teachers, they're always talking and it's like about the same stuff, because that's what it's about, and it's oh great. I wanna get to the deep stuff. And it's that is the deep stuff, this is it. But somehow over time it just, it's different. And maybe it's comparing, taking a Reiki, one class to getting to animal Reiki and you're going, wow. My life is different. Yeah. It's a change like that. It's a ch it's a measurable change. Where you're going, whoa. Something different is going on here. And and so because of that and because of the motivation of helping other people developing more compassion, I don't see it as being a religion. I see it as being like a tool that has helped me to be a better person to be a better teacher. And somewhat to understand Eastern teachings, there's times where some of the practices and people are like why do they say that in Reiki? And it's, through the Buddhist practice that things make, oh in Buddhism. And a lot of times I do refer to various and I'll say, Hey, I don't mean to talk about it, this. But I know this and this is what I would say that this would mean because it correlates it, with language or various things that might sound off, like maybe like how the Reiki precepts are like just for today do not be angry. And some people are like why would I say just for today, why wouldn't I do it every day? And it's cuz the Eastern concept is being in the moment and being present. And and not being in the past. And and so if we move away from our. Western philosophy on kind of the idealism way of everything could always be better. You can understand the Eastern concepts and that sometimes helps people in classes to understand why some of the things maybe are written the way that they

Pam: 33:47

I know a lot of people, Jill, like this is fascinating. I think I could just talk with you about this all day. Because I think a lot of people, I talk to a lot of people who say, I'm very drawn to Buddhism and just drawn to the generosity, the peacefulness. The meditative aspects and this sort of thing. And certainly I'm a huge Dai Lama fan. just, I devour every book that he writes and every, it's just fascinating philosophies. And how do you find I, I didn't realize you were so deeply into the practice. I knew you were Buddhist. I knew. but I guess I didn't realize what the practice entailed. Do you have a temple or a church or is this all pretty much, mostly self-directed.

Jill: 34:31

In Minneapolis we have a group that meets up with COVID things have changed and we do some stuff online. The, our, my main teacher, she actually runs the center in Brazil. Okay. There's another center R and Ling, which is near San Francisco. And. Cha good. Cha good gunk is the foundation that has a lot of different places around the country. Yes. And so specifically in Minneapolis, we have a group, a Dharma group, and my husband, one of his best friend and then his wife, the one who's on the spiritual retreat because she's moving into higher levels of her training cuz she's, gone onto the silent retreat. And so yes, she may be staying out in San Francisco and working at rigs and laying. And then the husband is here and doing his thing. So that's an interesting, Hey, I'm going off and gonna be gone for three years and So there's, I'm Buddhist, what do I do? And things like that happen. We have a group and they have because of their connection and how long they've been doing it. They can run our group, but they're not in any way teachers or people that can transmit the teachings. They can though we can all practice together. And then they bring teachers in for us to receive the empowerments and various teachings that we need. That's lovely.

Pam: 35:52

So they're more like facilitators, it seems yeah. Yep. Yeah. Very cool. And how does this all go together with Reiki for you? How does that blend work?

Jill: 36:02

It feels like it blends really naturally to me. I do still see myself as being very open spiritually, so other guides come in, other people's guides come in. I work with other guides other than Buddhist guides. But I do have I do have that. And again, it's like my core sort of spiritual practice. But. A few years ago when holy fire came through, I wanna say when the holy fire three came in, I was shown a technique that I could do in my red Tara practice. And then actually charge my Reiki grids as I merge and become Tara. And so I've been shown some techniques. I know other Dharma friends of mine that have taken classes that have also. Said that I find that the language is really beautiful. There's a lot of similarities there and things that it's very easy and natural for me to talk about it. Because that sort of that truth is there. William's done a great job at a lot of the research that he's done over the years. And so there's a lot of things that just resonate and I love it. When people from other religions like are coming in and other Buddhists are going, Hey, this is like da dah, or this is da, or, and it's yes. And so it's really beautiful. I love how Reiki surprises people too. Like one of my friends grew up in a Lutheran and his father was a pastor. and he had said his whole life, he never really had spiritual experiences, he's a Tibetan Buddhist, and he never really has had and Buddhism is like cutting through that. Like those sort of mystical experiences are chatter. It's Hey, can you do that without that? So it's not, they really want you to dissolve all the. Side and the inside. And so the duality is a huge part of it. And he would be talking about I'm in the, bamboo forest and, it's the perfect thing. And you're like, I got nothing, and then he's and then I come to Reiki class and arch angel, Michael shows up and then he's what any, and we laugh. And it's of course. And so I love to see. Expansion of even moving beyond and just like being, I don't feel limited. And I've had good talks with one of my teachers Lama searing, and I've been blessed that some of my teachers are women through the lineage that's been, and that's something. I've heard before where people have said women can't hold positions of power and Buddhism and, in, in some sex possibly, but in the Tibetan lineage that I'm in, there's actually a lot of women. We've also heard the Dai Lama talk about that women maybe he may be coming back as a woman So that, women are celebrated and maybe in some sex, they aren't, but I just wanna know that women are empowered in the Tibetan Buddhism lineage that I'm in. And there's several women and several women teachers. And so one of my dear teachers, LAE, Everest she. She had told me how I can work with Reiki. And I had an astrology reading with her years ago before I even knew the potential. And she pulled some friends aside and was like, who is that girl? If I'm gonna have a healer, I want it to be her. And I'm like, what? And I was like, She's not talking about me, this was, I was really like early on and insecure, some of the stuff that comes along with the Reiki and you're like, wow, the changes that, we tell people can happen. And I was blown away that it was within my astrology chart. And and just so she guided me and had told me early on. And so I felt blessings from the very beginning that it was okay. And that I was empowered and. By the people that were working with me spiritually. And I felt like I had some really solid teachers, that, that couldn't be their, they couldn't be disproven. Whatever they, very. High integrity solid foundation with great practices and and it's always been that way. So I, I feel very lucky that it just seems like it's all meant to be. And it's coming back, like you said, in the beginning, from. Something that was like in a past life for me.

Pam: 40:15

Yeah. And because I think in Buddhism I certainly in most religions actually, and even in early Christianity before it was changed, about 400 ad, I understand that most religions have a belief in reincarnation. I didn't realize astrology was part of, some of the Buddhist traditions. Are you, it sounded like you said it is it is, or it can.

Jill: 40:39

Yes. Yes, absolutely. Yep. And one, and my teacher Lamas is a, is an astrologer. So she does charts and she's a really good astrologer. And they use it as a way. And my teacher before Rimpoche he was a Tibetan medicine healer. He was astrologer, he was a physician like he had the power. To heal. He had the power to call in storms if he, if they needed rain. He was a powerful person and not like I'm powerful, but just, had the ability to work with energy. And so through that also comes there's healing modalities connected to this practice that I. Wow.

Pam: 41:22

It's energy all the way through, so Buddhism. Yeah. Really is it recognizes and, I have a lot of friends who are astrologers and I do follow some of that. And then even like the human design, like a lot of it goes by astrology and it always astounds me how accurate it is, whether you believe in it or not. When you do look at your birth chart and you look. The different aspects of how you probably show up in the world. It always is amazing how accurate it is. Jill, what would you tell any of our listeners who might wanna learn more about Buddhism? Where would be a good place for them to begin? If this was something that they've been curious about or would like to learn.

Jill: 42:02

sure. Turga is a great, you could look that up online, they have online campuses and also local. They're really open network, lot of different Tibetan practices may come together there. And so people may, if they're looking for something it might be a great way. What I find is that some people could get a little bit like, whoa, that's a little over my head, you walk into a thing and people are doing Tibet and you're like, whoa. And and so I was lucky enough, like in Minneapolis that I knew the folks that were running it and they're like my best friends. And so we can just be talking and I'm like, Hey, what do I do on that again? Because you, it's not like anybody's gonna go, you did that wrong. But if you're like, what are you even doing? You gotta get caught up. Yeah. And and so Perga is a really great community with amazing teachers. That has preliminary practice and other information that people sort of basics and things that I don't think that I got when I joined. No, it sounded like you jumped right in with both teams just jumped in. It was hard. And it was like, and I was nervous oh, what do I do where. Put the teachings, and it's fine. And some folks might go that's for me. And rigs and Ling is in San Francisco and they hold retreats. And and so you could look into that. There's a lot of different. Types of Buddhism. And so sometimes what happens if people don't resonate with a certain teacher, it could turn them off completely, so it might be like, oh, I really wanna get into Zen because they hear about Zen and then they go and take Zen and they're like, Ooh, maybe I don't wanna do Zen. Cause it's like, There's a lot of chanting and there's a lot of sitting and, and that's boring and, and just being honest, I've got some wonderful teachers that's we're done, we're supposed to be done at six 30 and you're going until 11:30 PM. On and on, you're like, oh my, I have a teacher like that. I gotta go. But it's, I think it's important to find it's really important to find a good. Yeah. And so don't be turned off if you have an experience and maybe it's not the right one maybe that's just not the right lineage for you. And so don't say, oh, I don't wanna do this. Because of that, it just might be anything else, you're gonna have. Good and bad teachers through your life. And and so that's a barrier that I see if people are to talk to me about Buddhism. One of the things is, oh, I was interested in Zen Buddhism. I was interested in this and I didn't really get it. Or and so then they're like, so I didn't go back. And so look, keep looking. Find a different teacher, there's many different lineages. It's not all exactly the same. Just like going to the Christian churches. They're not all exactly the same. Everything is different. And so you just have to find the right teacher and now. Teachers teach online. You would have access to rigs and Ling and because they do things online and teachers are teaching online. You don't have to always travel which is a really neat thing because it means that you can. Be wherever you are and have access to that. So the rigs and Ling, would be where some of my teachers Lama Padma is. And as I mentioned, Lamas, she's in, in Brazil Lama, cadre, I think she's in New York. And people, they move around and stay in different places. Stuff. And then they might be traveling through your area. So you could also see and you could look on the website because there's different practice groups. So like for instance, in Minneapolis, we don't have like a teacher living here. Except for, we do have Turga. So we have Ming CHES here and he's. He's not, he moves because there's different parts of Turga. But but specifically the group that I'm part of is, the practice group and people can come. The thing with Tibetan Buddhism is though is that you need to receive the empowerments. And so the empowerments it's to do the practice. And so that's where you need. If you really wanna do this, then you need. Go get the empowerment right. So you're empowered to do it and then find your practice group or start with something. Like I said, look into Turga and see a little bit different way that it's set up might be a good option for you as well.

Pam: 46:10

I love that. Thank you, Jill. My gosh. You've given us a lot to think about, and I asked Jill if she would lead us in a prayer or a meditation at the end of our session, just so that we can all have an experience with this. Jill, I'm just, was there anything before we move into that, that you'd like to leave people

Jill: 46:28

with? No. So what I'm gonna do is just call the seven line prayer. I. Say it first in the translation and then I'll do it Tibetan. I'll do it. Tibetan three. Just so you can hear the flow. So this is an opening prayer, and so it would start with on the Northwest border of the country of origin in the pollen heart of the Lotus, you attain marvelous most excellent city renowned is the Lotus born. You are surrounded by a circle of many sky dancers as I practice following in your footsteps. I pray that you approach to confer your blessings GU city. Guru city origin drops on paid. Guru. City drop can guru. Sudi who, all right. Wow. How did it feel?

Pam: 48:42

Like it changes something inside you, like it changes you it's I felt that way. In one of my earlier podcasts, Glen DWA went through. The Thanksgiving address with us first in English and then in, in MIMA in, and and I could feel something inside me changing and it felt like that nice. It felt very similar. And even when you were reading it in English, I was just, I could feel the shifting.

Jill: 49:09

Yeah. It's powerful. I, it really is it's like Reiki. It's just you bring your hands together and just. It's a tool, you

Pam: 49:17

know, and it shifts in energy. Doesn't it? It. Yeah. Yeah. Jill, I can't thank you enough for giving us this insight and this peak into what Buddhism is about. And it's funny I've done a fair bit of reading around it, but you've brought a lot more out than I realized was part of the practice. I really appreciate you spending the time with us.

Jill: 49:43

Thank you so much for having me. Yeah. It's been wonderful and I'm so happy to share this information and I hope that some people are inspired by it and look into it if it, if they feel called to it. I thank

Pam: 49:57

you so much. And I thank you. The listeners. Thank you for Being with us. We appreciate you. I'll have Jill's contact information in the write up. And so if any of you feel a need or would like to reach out to her please go ahead, have a beautiful week. Everyone Namaste.