Make the Ageless Wisdom of Tibet Available to All

As we reach the end of 2025 and prepare to welcome a new year, we invite you to pause and reflect on the past twelve months. It's been yet another wonderful year of growth and learning for our global Study Buddhism community. Take a moment to make yourself a warm beverage (or something cooler, perhaps, for our friends in the southern hemisphere!), find a comfortable spot, and join us as we look back on everything we've accomplished together this year at Study Buddhism! If you'd like to view a version of this with images, please click the link entitled "Newsletter" down below.

My Message

I belong to the Harvard Alumni Club here in Berlin, and each year we have a Thanksgiving dinner, which I always enjoy. This year, about 50 people were there. After the traditional turkey meal and an interesting speaker, we were invited to stand up and share with the group, if we wished, what we were grateful for. I stood up and said, "I'm about to turn 81 and, speaking on behalf of the older members among us, I am grateful for waking up each morning, still being alive and still having my wits about me. I can still think clearly and continue with my usual work. My body is still fit, and I can still get around and do the basic things in life without help."

Even if we are still young, we often take these simple things for granted. Our precious human life is not only so rare, but it also so short. When we get older and look back at our youth, it seems unbelievable how quickly time has passed. As one wise old woman once said, "Time is our enemy." That's very true. Our time left with our precious human life grows shorter each day. So, while we still have this golden opportunity, let's resolve in the coming year to make the most of the time we have left and strive to be of as much benefit to others as we can. The best legacy we can leave for the future is all our good deeds.

Dr. Alexander Berzin

Now, let's take a closer look at our achievements throughout 2025.

This year has been truly remarkable for Study Buddhism. In 2025, our website welcomed 2.6 million unique visitors from across the globe — representing continued strong engagement with our content. Throughout the year, these visitors immersed themselves in Buddhist wisdom, reading over 5 million articles available across our extensive multilingual platform.

Our content library has also grown substantially, now featuring 17,100 articles across all our language sections. This year alone, we published 242 new English articles and over 2,000 translations from English into the website’s other languages, reflecting our ongoing commitment to making authentic Buddhist teachings accessible to everyone, everywhere.

Our readership spans the entire planet, with our top ten countries being: Russia, United States, Germany, India, Italy, Spain, Brazil, France, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. The diversity of our global community, and the fact that our website is accessed in almost every country across the globe, continue to inspire us.

While English remains prominent as one of our primary languages, the multilingual nature of our platform continues to demonstrate the universal appeal of Buddhist wisdom. Our most-read language sections this year were: English, Russian, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Tibetan, Portuguese, Polish, and Chinese.

Interestingly, we've observed a shift in how our audience accesses our content. For the first time in years, mobile usage dropped to 54% (down from the typical 67% in previous years), while desktop/PC usage increased to 40%, with tablets accounting for 6%. This shift suggests that many of our readers are choosing to engage more deeply with Buddhist teachings through longer reading sessions on larger screens.

The articles that resonated most with our readers this year reflect a fascinating mix of historical inquiry, foundational teachings, and practical guidance:

• The Nazi Connection with Shambhala and Tibet (English)
• The Sutra of Golden Light (Russian)
• What Is Prayer in Buddhism? (English, Russian)
• What is Buddhism? (English, Russian)
• 8 Buddhist Tips for Dealing with Anger (English)
• Advice Before Starting on the Buddhist Path (Italian)
• Who Is the Buddha? (Russian)
• What Are the Four Noble Truths? (Russian)
• 10 Basic Buddhist Beliefs (English)

Major News: Partnership with Serkong Institute

We're thrilled to announce a significant development for Study Buddhism. This year, we formed an association with the Serkong Institute, a project of the Serkong Foundation, which has initiated a comprehensive four-year program in India on Buddhist logic and debate. The program runs for three months each year and is currently in its second year. Beginning in 2026, a similar program will launch in Italy.

We have received the audio files of the 84 classes from the first year's program and have already transcribed them. We are currently in the process of editing these invaluable teachings. Once completed, we will publish them on our website, making these profound instructions on Buddhist logic and debate accessible to our global community for the first time. Our two courses on Udemy, Introduction to Buddhism, which offers students a step-by-step introduction to Buddhist religion, philosophy and science, and Cultivating Compassion: A Complete Buddhist Course, which provides a structured way to delve deeply into the practice of compassion and its crucial role in Buddhist teachings have surpassed 3,000 students. We’re excited to bring you new courses in 2026!

Social Media

Our community flourished across multiple social channels. Our Instagram following grew by 100% to 10,200, with video content generating 100,000 views. Over on Facebook, we reached 300,000 views with 16,000 engagements from our community. Meanwhile, our X account expanded to 6,700 followers, and on SoundCloud, listeners enjoyed 30,000 plays of our audio content, with 1,000s of downloads for offline listening. Our top listening cities on SoundCloud include Sofia (Bulgaria), Phoenix (USA), Moscow (Russia), Frankfurt am Main (Germany), and Des Moines (USA), showing the global reach of our audio offerings.

2025’s Top 5 SoundCloud Tracks:

1. A Letter of Practical Advice 52: The Emptiness of Cause and Effect
2. Manjushri Prayer: Praise to the Intelligent One
3. The Seven Limb Prayer
4. Heart Sutra
5. 37 Bodhisattva Practices

Our YouTube channel experienced another strong year, though viewing patterns shifted in interesting ways. We now have 79,500 subscribers, welcoming 8,000 new members to our community this year. Throughout 2025, our videos garnered 650,000 views, and viewers spent an impressive 26,000 hours watching our content. Notably, while total views were lower than previous years, viewers spent considerably more time watching, suggesting deeper engagement with our teachings.

In 2025, we published 51 new videos, featuring interviews with an exceptional lineup of Buddhist masters and teachers, including Ajahn Sumedho, Khandro-la, Robin Moore, Ven. Steve Carlier, Geshe Kelsang Wangmo, and Geshe Tenzin Zopa.

2025’s Top Videos:

1. The Eightfold Path Explained by Ajahn Amaro
2. Unlocking the Secrets of Om Mani Padme Hum by Ringu Tulku
3. Samsara: How to Escape the Cycle of Suffering by Geshe Namdak
4. How I Forgave My Abusive Father by Geshe Tenzin Zopa
5. What is Emptiness? by Geshe Lhakdor

Over the last 12 months, we also conducted over 20 interviews with Buddhist masters from various traditions and lineages, as well as eminent scholars in the field of Buddhist studies. And so, in 2026, we have an exciting range of video interviews coming up. Make sure you subscribe to our channel to always stay on top of our latest content!

Looking Ahead

As we close 2025 and look toward 2026, we're filled with gratitude for all of you, our global community of practitioners and learners. Together, we've created something truly special: a space where authentic Buddhist wisdom is freely accessible to anyone, anywhere, in their own language.

The upcoming publication of the Serkong Institute's teachings on Buddhist logic and debate represents just one of the exciting developments ahead. We remain committed to bringing you the highest-quality content, expanding our reach, and making the transformative power of Buddhist philosophy available to all who seek it.

Thank you for being part of this journey. May the year ahead bring you peace, insight, and the continued opportunity to benefit all beings. With gratitude and warm wishes for 2026,

Dr. Alexander Berzin & the Study Buddhism Team

Links:

• Newsletter
• Study Buddhism on Instagram
• Study Buddhism on YouTube

As the final months of the year drew to a close, we celebrated two significant milestones: the 24th anniversary of our online presence—beginning with the launch of the Berzin Archives website—and the achievement of surpassing 17,000 articles published across 37 language sections on our current Study Buddhism platform, with more than 2,100 of them in English. During this three-month period, we welcomed 564,000 unique visitors, who read more than 940,000 articles. Our readers were most engaged with “What Is Buddhism” (English and Russian), “Praises to the Twenty-one Taras” (Tibetan), “The Golden Light Sutra” (Russian), “Ten Basic Buddhist Beliefs” (English), and “The 32 Major Marks of a Buddha’s Physical Body” (English). English, Russian, German, Japanese, and Spanish were the most widely read languages, with the majority of users coming from the United States, Russia, Germany, India, and Italy.

Our presence on social media continues to grow steadily. We released 18 new videos on YouTube, garnering 150,000 views. Instagram saw especially strong growth, with 240,000 views and an 18% increase in followers, adding 2,330 new members to our community. New videos from Geshe Kelsang Wangmo and Geshe Tenzin Zopa performed particularly well. We also managed to fit in several high-profile video interviews in different locations in Japan and Thailand.

A major highlight of the quarter was the publication of The Relation between Wholes and Parts: Gelug Presentation, alongside extensive copyediting and republishing of key materials across various topics such as the Four Noble Truths, Kalachakra practice, and Tsongkhapa’s unique Prasangika view. We also completed AI transcription and editing of 87 classes on Buddhist logic and 30 additional teachings on Tsongkhapa’s Lam-rim chen-mo (the Vipashyana section) and In Praise of Dependent Arising. Furthermore, 282 translations into 17 languages were completed, with Italian, Spanish, Gujarati, Russian, and Ukrainian receiving the highest number of newly translated articles.

Here are some of our major accomplishments from September through November 2025:

Content & Translations

• Composed and published The Relation between Wholes and Parts: Gelug Presentation
• Copyedited and replaced online versions of:
• Refuting the False Self Experiencing the Four Noble Truths (10 parts)
• Overview of “Four Hundred Verse Treatise” (4 parts)
• Kalachakra: The Four Creative Drops (7 parts)
• Emptiness and Dependent Arising (3 parts)
• Explanation of Tsongkhapa’s Unique View of Prasangika (7 parts)
• Copyedited and published transcripts of weekend courses by Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche I:
• Commentary on “Kalachakra Six-Session Guru-Yoga” (6 parts)
• Overview of “The Three Essential Moments”
• Explanation of Selected Bodhisattva and Tantric Vows
• Copyedited and published the English translation from Tibetan of The Steps of Visualization for “The Three Essential Moments” by the Second Dalai Lama
• Copyedited and published transcripts of:
• 27 classes from Dr. Berzin’s course on Nagarjuna’s Letter to a Friend
• 10 classes from Dr. Berzin’s course on the Shamatha and Vipashyana sections of Tsongkhapa’s Lam-rim chen-mo (Grand Presentation of the Graded Stages of the Path)
• Conducted AI transcription and editing of:
• 87 classes on Buddhist logic and debate by Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche II, Gen Tenzin Gurmyi, and Atisha Mathur at the Serkong Institute for Buddhist Studies
• 22 lectures on the Vipashyana section of Tsongkhapa’s Lam-rim chen-mo and 8 lectures on Tsongkhapa’s In Praise of Dependent Arising by Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche II including Q&A and review sessions with Dr. Berzin
• Translated from Tibetan into English and conducted AI editing of:
• 8 lectures by Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche II on Chandrakirti’s Clear Words

• Conducted AI translation and editing from Tibetan to English of:
  • 15 additional lectures by Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche II on Clear Words
• Completed and published 282 article translations from Engish into 17 of our other 36 languages, including:
• Italian (58)
• Spanish (41)
• Gujarati (37)
• Russian (24)
• Ukrainian (20)
• Continued composition of an extensive commentary on The Gross and Subtle Varieties of the Two Types of Dependent Arising in Purchog Ngawang Jampa’s Commentary on “In Praise of Dependent Arising”

Multimedia & Social Media

• Conducted four video interviews with distinguished Buddhist teachers:
• Professor Musashi Tachikawa, renowned scholar and former Director of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University, Japan
• Reverend Isobe Taiseki, Rinzai Zen teacher at Taikoan, part of the Tofukuji Temple in Kyoto
• Reverend Shoukei Matsumoto, best-selling author and Jodo Shinshu teacher at Honen-in Temple, Kyoto
• Phra Pandit Bhikkhu, British-born Theravada monk and founder of the Little Bangkok Sangha in Thailand
• Edited and released nine videos from our interview with Geshe Kelsang Wangmo:
• Published the full interview on YouTube with a dedicated playlist, individual thumbnails, video descriptions, teasers, and English subtitles
• Added subtitles in 36 other languages
• Created:
• 9 Instagram-ready clips
• 12 Facebook-ready clips
• 12 X-ready clips
• 9 YouTube Shorts (60-second mini-clips)
• Edited and released seven videos from our interview with Geshe Tenzin Zopa:
• Published the full interview on YouTube with a dedicated playlist, individual thumbnails, video descriptions, teasers, and English subtitles
• Added subtitles in 36 other languages
• Created:
• 7 Instagram-ready clips
• 12 Facebook-ready clips
• 12 X-ready clips
• 7 YouTube Shorts (60-second mini-clips)
• Prepared 12 visual quotes from video interviews and other sources for Facebook, Instagram, and X
• Produced and uploaded 12 video clips optimized for:
• Facebook: 37-language subtitles
• X: Embedded English subtitles
• Instagram: 9:16 vertical format with embedded English subtitles
• Created 12 article-based posts introducing key content to social audiences
• Designed and dispatched five newsletters to over 9,700 Mailchimp subscribers

Technical Improvements

Dark Mode

• Implemented dark mode support based on browser or system preferences
• Introduced dark-mode.scss and integrated into site-wide styles

About Section Updates

• Updated SoundCloud and YouTube follower counts
• Displayed "Progress Reports" and "Newsletters" only in English locale
• Displayed "Authors & Experts" link only in English locale
• Added Gujarati translations for About and Donations pages

Audio Courses

• Added redirects for renamed Audio Course URLs (English and Spanish)
• Ensured URL redirects from ‘parte’ to ‘seccion’ for Spanish course pages
• Adjusted conditional rendering for toggle controls
• Corrected titles, URLs, and reorganized articles
• Embedded SoundCloud playlists into new and reorganized articles

Slug/URL Management

• Improved slug generator logic
• Regenerated and restored broken slugs/URLs
• Ensured slugs only generate when blank to prevent unwanted changes

Glossary

• Disabled caching for glossary
• Enabled glossary support for Chinese (Simplified and Traditional)
• Fixed glossary bugs (term filtering, display logic)

Reports & Analytics

• Updated base reports layout
• Refactored analytics data structure and fixed user-agent tracking bug
• Launched a new Languages Report:
• Includes article counts, total views, and views per article
• Sorted by efficiency (views per article), rounded to two decimal places

New CMS

• Released new content management system at /cms, replacing /adm
• Core CMS features:
• Add/Edit/Delete content
• Upload and remove images
• Search, sort, and paginate content
• Improved form validations and mobile responsiveness
• Full language support in admin UI
• Secure login and access controls
• Enhanced admin views and workflows:
• Added dynamic editing for glossary, progress reports, newsletters, and more
• Improved sortable tables, input fields for decimals, integers, and booleans
• Enabled alternate language fields and locale-sensitive admin content
• Added retained image support for CMS form redisplays
• Improved styling and layout of all admin views
• Introduced helper methods to standardize CMS behavior across models

Other Improvements

• Added new YouTube videos to homepage rotation
• Updated friendly_id and friendly_id-globalize gems for compatibility
• Updated database dump script and repositioned dotenv-rails for environment config
• Researched and tested AI tools for potential future integration
• Began evaluating new server deployment tools

Thank You for Your Support

None of this progress would be possible without your steadfast support. Your generosity allows us to continue expanding access to authentic Buddhist teachings for students, scholars, and practitioners around the world. With your help, we remain dedicated to our mission to “Make the Ageless Wisdom of Tibet Available to All.”

Links:

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram