This blog is now nearing 2 years of activity, which at times may seem hard to believe. One of the challenges I think many people encounter who maintain a blog is having the correct motivation and continually being inspired, so that the blog continues to live on. In a way, its similar to embarking in a new relationship. In the beginning, everything can be really exciting and new. In order for that relationship to continue, those feelings of excitement have to eventually be replaced with feelings of caring and love.

During these two years, many people have left many wonderful comments on the posts and people have also left more private comments through the feedback form, expressing how some of the content on this blog has been useful. As long as this blog provides some benefit to someone, somewhere, I’ll try my best to continue to engage it.

As an interesting note, the blog statistics show that over the past couple 6 months, there have been visitors from over 138 countries, represented below:

Country	Views
United States	13,046
United Kingdom	2,475
Canada	1,868
Australia	1,405
India	1,035
Malaysia	751
Singapore	646
Mexico	314
Netherlands	280
Philippines	279
France	270
Germany	269
Brazil	258
Italy	252
Greece	212
Sweden	209
Thailand	201
Spain	185
South Africa	184
Switzerland	172
Hong Kong	161
Indonesia	158
New Zealand	150
Hungary	130
Nepal	129
Denmark	120
Japan	118
Ireland	111
Poland	104
Bhutan	104
Viet Nam	88
Belgium	86
Taiwan	85
Romania	78
Sri Lanka	73
Croatia	70
Portugal	70
Russian Federation	65
Colombia	62
Finland	62
Republic of Korea	58
Argentina	58
Norway	55
Latvia	52
Slovenia	51
Czech Republic	49
Turkey	48
Puerto Rico	36
Chile	35
Israel	34
Austria	32
Lithuania	32
United Arab Emirates	30
Trinidad and Tobago	28
Pakistan	28
Bangladesh	27
Egypt	24
Serbia	24
Malta	23
Ecuador	22
Ukraine	22
Saudi Arabia	20
Slovakia	20
Estonia	20
Peru	19
New Caledonia	16
Venezuela	16
Barbados	16
Iceland	14
Bulgaria	13
Cambodia	13
Qatar	12
Mongolia	12
Macedonia, the Former Yugoslav Republic	12
Guatemala	11
Costa Rica	10
Cyprus	9
Nigeria	9
Albania	8
Jamaica	8
Myanmar	8
Dominican Republic	7
Macao	6
Kuwait	6
Aruba	6
Bermuda	6
Montenegro	6
Uruguay	5
Armenia	5
Kenya	5
Luxembourg	4
Bosnia and Herzegovina	4
Panama	4
Uganda	4
Cuba	4
Morocco	4
Namibia	4
French Polynesia	4
Iraq	3
Ghana	3
Mauritius	3
Jordan	3
Zimbabwe	3
Belarus	2
Lebanon	2
Maldives	2
Saint Kitts and Nevis	2
Bolivia	2
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	2
Moldova	2
Uzbekistan	2
Suriname	2
Honduras	2
Jersey	2
Yemen	2
Grenada	2
Faroe Islands	2
Palestinian Territory, Occupied	2
Oman	2
Bahamas	1
Turks and Caicos Islands	1
Paraguay	1
Lao People’s Democratic Republic	1
Lesotho	1
Tunisia	1
Netherlands Antilles	1
China	1
Belize	1
Côte d’Ivoire	1
Åland Islands	1
United Republic of Tanzania	1
Nicaragua	1
Fiji	1
Isle of Man	1
Botswana	1
Afghanistan	1
El Salvador	1
Dominica	1
Djibouti	1

Below is a map of the world, showing where visitors are coming from:

Bonds That Link Everyone

Even though most of the visitors I’ve never met, and will likely never meet in this lifetime, I’m led to believe that one thing that has lead everyone to gather in this little space on the internet is the pursuit of lasting happiness and the lessening and removal of suffering.

While I understand that long after people have left this site, people will have returned to their normal lives, and continue to live in their practice, in whichever way or form that may manifest. My hope is that, not through my own efforts, but through the efforts of each individual person, that everyone can move into their daily lives and make their world and world’s of those around them a better place.

One thing that come’s to mind is something that Lama Zopa once commented, regarding how our practice affects the rest of the world. If we make a conscious effort not to harm others, if we meet 200 people during the day, by minding our practice and not harming those 200 people, we’ve already created 200 less problems in the world.

Even though I’m not really a person qualified to say this, I’d like to say thank you ,in behalf of the world, for your ongoing curiosity, diligence, and effort towards inner and outer peace.

Making offerings and supporting Sangha is a great way to accumulate extensive merit and helps keep Buddhist teachings alive by giving aid to those who are striving to practice it in a very conscientious manner.

If there are those who would like to support monastics, but are unsure how, here are a few suggestions. Continue reading »

The Foundation of All Good Qualities is a concise, 14 line verse written by Lama Tsong Khapha which outlines the entire path to enlightenment. My teacher had recommended to recite this text on a daily basis, and over time I’ve found myself very fond of it. Talking to other people who also recite it daily, many people find great benefits from using this as a daily “walking stick.” Continue reading »

Lama Zopa Rinpoche recently did numerous prayers for all the victims of the shooting tragedy that occurred at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Following this example, I did the same for the shooting victims, the families, and the also the shooter. One of the main prayers that Lama Zopa did was the King of Prayers. You can get a copy of it here. If you’re interested in doing other prayers and practices,  I think you could also look into this list, which is some prayers that Yangsi Rinpoche suggests for those that have died. Please also remember to dedicate the merit to all sentient beings.