A little bit about my blog, khenpokarten.org

Today, I would like to speak a bit about my blog, khenpokarten.org. One of my students was visiting and we were discussing a bit about the history of my blog. Going back, I found that my first blog post was published almost 14 years ago on November 15, 2011. My very good friend and Dharma brother, Pema Choephel, suggested that I start a blog. At that time, I really had no idea what a blog even was.

Originally, I was publishing blogs just in Tibetan. Slowly, over time, I began to publish some blogs with the help of my translators, particularly Jampa Tharcin (David Molk), in English. More recently, the activity of my blog in English has picked up as my English has improved a bit and I was able to dictate short posts--with the help of some of my students. Within the last year, I have been able to publish some more complex writings with the recent advancements in translation technology, especially Monlam AI, which has been so helpful. Needless to say, this blog has become one of the main outlets to disseminate my writing. 

Since the inception of my blog, I have posted 514 posts in total and my blog has almost 250k views from countries all across the globe. I also saw that people read the blog from places I would expect, such as the United States where most of my activities are and also Singapore, Tibet, China, India, Nepal, etc., but also some other countries which I really did not expect, such as Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Iran, Finland, Japan, Brazil, etc., which surprised me.

These statistics really amazed me. It seems that every year, social media’s presence in our lives is growing and we are becoming increasingly connected. During the COVID-19 pandemic, times were very uncertain. We could not meet in person, but one good thing was the use of social media. The MDC used Zoom meetings over the lockdowns for prayers and meditation; now, we have more students who join from around the world.

I just wanted to speak a bit about my blog and convey my great appreciation to my dear friend and Dharma brother, Pema Choephel, for encouraging me to set up a blog and creating khenpokarten.org. I feel that social media can really benefit many people by spreading the Dharma, and I am truly happy to be able to use it to benefit others. Actually, social media can become like a "Dharma Center". I feel that if the Buddha were alive today, he may even use social media! Some people think that these things are only negative; in reality, it depends on how you use them. Tashi Delek!