By Dr. Alexander Berzin | Founder & Author of Berzin Archives
As we come to the end of the year and reflect on all that has happened, it is easy to focus on the events that have caused so much destruction and suffering for so many beings – wars, natural disasters and so on. But to get depressed and to be pessimistic doesn’t help anyone. It just makes us miserable. Instead, we need to reflect on how fortunate we are to have met with the Dharma methods for dealing with such situations in beneficial ways.
The first step is to accept reality. The first noble truth teaches us that the nature of samsara is suffering, so there is nothing surprising when we see so much suffering in the world. Seeing the suffering of others prompts us to develop compassion and to make efforts to help alleviate their misery and its causes in whatever ways we can, no matter how small they may be. Even if we cannot directly help, we can at least dedicate to all others the positive force and merit we build up from our altruistic acts.
We must never lose hope. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has advised to recall some small way in which things have gotten better over the last year – any small way, no matter what that might be. If despite difficult times something has gotten better, that gives us hope that other things can also improve. So let us hope and pray for that to happen and for all beings to be free of sufferings and their causes. And let us dedicate ourselves to doing whatever we can to help bring that about. I wish you all a healthy and happy new year. — Dr. Alexander Berzin
Now, let's take a closer look at our achievements throughout 2023.
In 2023, our website has welcomed nearly 2,000,000 unique users spanning 238 countries, marking an impressive 72% increase from 2022. Throughout the year, these visitors engaged with a wealth of knowledge, reading over 4,000,000 articles available in our diverse linguistic offerings. This year, we again expanded our reach by introducing five brand new sections: Ukrainian, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, and Punjabi (Indian), in addition to the existing 32 languages.
Surprisingly, only just over 23% of users chose to explore our content in English, indicating a slight dip in its dominance over the past twelve months. The majority, close to 77% of readers, delved into our extensive content library in one of the other 36 languages we offer. This shift underscores the growing global appeal and accessibility of our platform.
English stands as our primary language, leading the linguistic lineup, trailed by Russian, Spanish, German, Chinese, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Italian, French, Japanese, and Indonesian. Notably, this year marks the inclusion of Vietnamese and Japanese among our top ten languages. As previously mentioned, our readership spans the globe, and the following exotic locations are our top ten cities: Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, Bangkok in Thailand, Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Moscow in Russia, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Colombo in Sri Lanka, Frankfurt in Germany, London in England, Singapore, and Jakarta in Indonesia.
Throughout the year, we introduced over 1,250 new articles across all our languages, resulting in a comprehensive collection of 14,750 articles on the website. Remarkably, our readers devoted the equivalent of 3,960 days to studying the Dharma on Studybuddhism.com this year alone, showcasing a remarkable 32% surge from the previous year. In total, we undertook the task of crafting more than 4,000 new translations of articles and subtitles, averaging an impressive 11 creations each day.
The most widely read articles of the year were:
The past year ushered in significant enhancements to our website, aimed at providing an even more enriching experience for our users. Among these improvements is the revamped Accounts section, now featuring Recommended Reading lists meticulously curated by Dr. Berzin. These lists cover a broad spectrum of Buddhist topics, offering valuable insights to those who choose to sign up.
In a stride towards accessibility and inclusivity, we harnessed the power of AI to craft audio versions of our English section's What Is and How To articles. This innovative approach not only caters to diverse learning preferences but also serves as a precursor to possibly extending this feature to some of our other language sections in the near future.
Finally, to ensure transparency and easy access to information, we streamlined the presentation of our newsletters and progress reports. Dedicated sections are now conveniently located at the bottom of the website, providing users with a quick and accessible gateway to stay updated on our latest developments. These improvements reflect our commitment to creating a user-friendly platform that fosters learning, accessibility, and community engagement. We are excited about the positive impact these enhancements bring and look forward to further innovations in the coming year!
Social Media
Our social media community has experienced consistent growth, with our Facebook page and Instagram account both demonstrating impressive performance. Collectively, we've garnered a dedicated following of 55,000 individuals, who have engaged with our content a staggering 4.1 million times. Among our diverse array of offerings, over 50 videos have been posted, collectively accumulating an impressive 835,000 minutes of viewership. Notably, our quotes have emerged as standout performers on both platforms, resonating with our audience and sparking meaningful interactions.
True to form, our YouTube channel has once again surpassed expectations, experiencing a remarkable 26% surge in followers. Throughout the year, viewers have invested an impressive 1.8 million minutes in watching our diverse content, spanning across our extensive library of 514 videos.
Over the past 12 months, our five top-performing videos have collectively garnered over a quarter of a million views, underscoring the resonance of our content with our engaged audience. Here are the top five videos that captivated viewers and earned their place in the spotlight:
These top-performing videos are a testament to the dedication of our audience and the success of our content strategy. As we continue to cultivate our YouTube community, we are excited to deliver even more compelling videos that resonate with our ever-growing viewership!
Over on SoundCloud, we've experienced a 12% uptick in followers, coupled with a surge in downloads as enthusiasts seek to enjoy our content offline. Our top listeners hail from truly diverse locales, reflecting the global reach of our auditory offerings, with Sofia in Bulgaria, Bucharest in Romania, London in the UK, Thimphu in Bhutan, and Cape Town in South Africa emerging as our key hubs of engagement.
Certain tracks have proven particularly popular with our audience, not only capturing ears but becoming yet another conduit for our community to connect and immerse themselves in the authentic Dharma wisdom that we offer. Here are the standout favorites of the year:
On our relaunched X (formerly Twitter) account, the strides made over the past year are nothing short of remarkable. Our follower count has surged, nearly doubling in size, a testament to the growing interest in our content. The impact of our articles and videos has reverberated across a wide audience, reaching over 300,000 individuals and solidifying our presence as a significant player in the sharing of Buddhist wisdom. Next year, we anticipate even greater engagement and connection with our expanding community on X.
In a fitting finale to our updates, our Introduction to Buddhism course on Udemy has sprinted past the milestone of 1000 students. The heartening part is not just the numerical achievement but the overwhelmingly positive response from the majority of these students who have showered the course with rave reviews and bestowed it with glowing 5-star ratings. The popularity of the course and the satisfaction expressed by our learners fill us with delight, reinforcing our commitment to delivering high-quality educational content next year.
All of our work, from maintaining the website and creating new material, to producing video content and translating thousands of subtitles and articles, relies upon you, the public, and your donations. So, I wish to thank you all for your continuing support. Please share with your loved ones and friends our project, or anyone who might be interested in the wisdom of Tibet but does not know of our website and might like to help support our work. Together we shall “Make the Ageless Wisdom of Tibet Available to All.”
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