The big 4-0 is hard for a lot of people. For me, it’s because I’ve set expectations for myself that I haven’t met and that increasingly feel unachievable.

On a bike the demons have nowhere to hide. I have to face them, ride with them - just like I have to pedal through the burning in my legs.

When we learned about the breast cancer (I’m not naming anyone because of privacy), a few of us put our heads together. We knew our patient was sad and scared so decided to have an outdoor “Boob Voyage” party.

The ethical foundation of Buddhist practice is to benefit others as much as we can and, if we can’t do that, at least to not harm them. Living an ethical life where we refrain from harming others with our body and speech is the first step in practicing our faith in everyday life.

NEW YORK – Stressed out while working at a bank in New Zealand, Junelle Kunin began searching for music paired with teachings from the Dalai Lama to calm herself down and allow herself to focus.

The coronavirus is a powerful teacher about life, death, change, compassion and resilience. In general, I think Buddhists recognize how the present times call us to strengthen our spiritual practice and deepen our refuge in Buddha and his teachings.

Instead of saying we “tolerate” other faith traditions, shouldn’t we be saying we “accept” them?

In my time on the religion beat, I’ve been able to cover groups and events that have confirmed that gut feeling I had growing up, the one that said

There are numerous meditation and mind-training practices we can do to support a healthy environment.

At the Spokane Buddhist Temple, people celebrated the annual Obon Festival, a Buddhist celebration that recognizes the importance of one’s ancestors, on Sunday. It featured a memorial service, as well as Japanese art, music, food and dance.

Editor’s note: SpokaneFaVS.com has a feature called “Ask A Buddhist.” Recently someone wrote about a friendship gone sour, and asked for advice on how to handle disagreements with friends. This is the response. Sounds like this was a meaningful friendship. I’m sad to hear you lost it, although I believe true friends can disagree and still support one another overall. It’s worth examining the nature of that particular friendship.

Spokane Buddhist Temple started 1945 with a rented apartment and a group of six dedicated Buddhists.

Buddhist Institute of Universal Compassion on Spokane’s north side offers yoga, Buddhist teaching and meditation.

The International Insight Meditation Center of Oregon is a quiet, peaceful retreat center located on 12.5 acres off state Highway 126. The center is open for daytime use and hosted its first formal retreat Oct. 13 and 14.

There’s a lot more to Buddhism than monks in flowing orange robes who eschew society in the pursuit of the meaning of life. Nearly 300 adherents gathered at the 65th Annual Northwest Buddhist Convention this weekend in Spokane to share the Dharma – the teachings of Buddha.