Bodhis in Action: A Conversation with Veterinarian Jyothi Robertson
Meet Jyothi from our Bodhi Program
Becoming a bodhisattva is about dedicating one's life to the well-being of others. We sat down with Jyothi Robertson to learn more about her experience in our Bodhi program and what it means to walk the path of a bodhisattva.
As the child of two dedicated meditators, Jyothi started early on the spiritual path. Her mother taught her and her brother about many religious traditions and read scriptures with them, from the Bible and the Quran to the teachings of Ba’hai, Hinduism and Buddhism.
She came back to Buddhism in 2014 and studied with several Western teachers and coaches. Jyothi found Sukhasiddhi’s Bodhi Program when looking for something with a strong feminine component.
“I had been studying Buddhism for years without “knowing about the power of the feminine in Buddhism," she recalled. “And when I heard Lama Döndrup speak, it was amazing…I immediately felt I was drawn to this path.”
After taking refuge, Jyothi started the Sunday Dharma Deep Dive series and was especially impressed with the way the texts are taught. The teachings have had an impact on her work as a veterinarian specializing in shelter medicine, who travels around the world teaching surgery. But she’s noticed deeper needs among her colleagues.
“I’m in a community with the highest suicide rate among professionals in the nation,” she said. “There is extraordinary suffering here.” Jyothi is exploring ways she can use the dharma to help her colleagues. Recently she gave the keynote speech at a professional convention.
"My topic was based on compassion for ourselves first,” she recalled. "I led 4500 people through a 30 second breath meditation. Just to take a breath and to sit together. You could hear a pin drop in the room. Everyone needed this.”
As a mother of three, Jyothi isn't able to go to India or Tibet and be in Buddhist practice for three years. She felt drawn to Sukhasiddhi's Dharma Training Program and Bodhi program, which makes it possible for her to immerse her practice in every aspect of her life. Reflecting on how her awareness has changed as she moves along the path, she thinks she had a disconnect.
“I had my dharma practice and I had my life. It was only sitting that was practice. Now everything I’m doing, teaching, being with my children, is all part of the offering. Since starting with Sukhasiddhi, my life and my practice are the same, and that awareness would not have happened if I hadn’t met Lama Döndrup.”
Read below for our conversation with Jothi about her experience in our Bodhi program and what it means to walk the path of a bodhisattva.
“Much of my work relates to the human-animal bond and how to support people's mental wellbeing through their spiritual connection to all beings. One way that this shows up is by supporting people who receive access to care (both veterinary care and their own healthcare).”
-Jyothi on walking the bodhisattva path in her work
Sukhasiddhi: What are some ways that the Sukhasiddhi Bodhi program has impacted your life?
Jyothi: Much of my work relates to the human-animal bond and how to support people's mental wellbeing through their spiritual connection to all beings. One way that this shows up is by supporting people who receive access to care (both veterinary care and their own healthcare) — so I offer my services to the unsheltered populations in my community and help build programs in other communities through animal shelters I consult with to support keeping pets with families. This can take the form of my volunteering to offer monthly vaccine clinics for the homeless (unsheltered), providing physical exams/medical care for their pets, and spay/neuter services. It also takes the form of educating the next generation of animal welfare professionals - so I created an internship program for high school students where I teach students in two-week increments at a local animal shelter that I volunteer with, so that they are exposed to veterinary medicine and sheltering, fields they may not have considered or seen themselves doing previously.
Sukhasiddhi: How does the bodhisattva path show up in your international travels?
Jyothi: In my international travel, I find opportunities to learn about the pressing concerns in other communities and see how I or my family can help with these. Most recently in Panama, I was supporting one of my sons (I have three children and I went to Panama with Flynt, my 12 year old) in his love for the oceans by going to study with a scientist who does coral reef restoration work. We planted mangrove forests, assisted with the restoration of the reef by creating new systems/bases for the coral to adhere and grow, and learned about the delicate balance in the ocean ecosystem. While I am traveling, I offer free veterinary services to local animal shelters or universities (example being in Israel and in Brazil most recently where I taught veterinarians how to do shelter assessments and create disease protocols while my family was also there traveling with me).
Sukhasiddhi: Are there any other ways that the bodhisattva path manifests in your life?
Jyothi: I see my path manifesting in the support for the mental wellbeing of people working in mission-driven fields. I offer meditation practices and a learning module that includes meditation to animal welfare professionals and others in mission-driven fields (or anyone, but I find a direct need for this in these types of areas where people are so passionate about their particular cause that it becomes overwhelming and we see a lot of "compassion-fatigue").
These online modules are offered by me for free as well as the online zoom sessions for anyone interested and this came about after I became aware that my profession (veterinary medicine) has the highest suicide rate of any profession. Being raised in a household that supported meditation practice from childhood, I felt I could share this as a means for grounding and connection, so this is something I am doing through a nonprofit project that I started a few years ago called the Journey You Own.
Sukhasiddhi: What draws you to the way Lama Döndrup covers dharma teachings?
Jyothi: We’re not just reading one version,” she explained. “Lama Döndrup does the research and brings us several translations so we are distilling the nuances of what’s true to the words and what’s true to what we’re doing now. She brings in the history, the context, and all the stories. With Lama Döndrup we’re taught very formally; we’re doing visualizations and they’re pretty intense. And then we go to ‘let’s make it real’ with Susan. The combination of the contemplative and the activist is really unique.