An Appeal

Click on the button to donate 50p to Visible Mantra

Over the years I've made a trickle of money from Amazon ads (about £50 a year). I'm still waiting to hit the threshold for a Google ads payout. But I've continued to put in as many hours as I could to create this resource and write my blog - sometimes to the detriment of my health. This website has become very popular (nearly half a million page views this year!) and yet it could be so much more, and indeed is part of a bigger plan to create resources for Buddhists who use mantra as part of their practice.

This year I'm asking each person who visits the site for a one off donation of 50p (about US$0.80) to the website. This would provide me with enough income to work on the Visible Mantra project full-time.

I hope to bring out the book of the website in 2010 - with high definition images of all the mantras on the site and a few more - and to eventually bring the website up to the same standard: e.g. to have all mantras and bījas in four scripts: Siddhaṃ, Devanāgarī, Tibetan (dbu-can) and Lantsa. I also have planned a Siddhaṃ primer and have made a start on a history of mantra in Buddhism. My aim is that Visible Mantra will also become a publishing house and will attract manuscripts from authors from a range of traditions on the subject of Buddhist mantra. I also regularly help individuals who want inscriptions transcribed and identified, or calligraphy of mantras (though I seldom do tattoos).

My calculations are based on an income of £15,000 per year - this would enable me to pay all my bills and get on retreat a couple of times a year. It's comfortable given that I live communally and fairly frugally (and eco friendly) - by comparison the median annual income in the UK is about £25,000 before tax (UK National Stats). It assumes that about 20% of approximately 150,000 visitors per year (in 2009) will make a donation. Because a lot of people visit the website each person need only give a tiny amount for this to work.

I hope you feel inclined to support me in this venture.

Best Wishes
Jayarava