About 250,000 people practice Buddhism in North American. Locally, there are between 30 to 40 members of the association. Weekly meetings at Chang's home in Macungie usually attract ten. Chang and his wife, Diana, have donated space in their house to store the group's 300 audio tapes and books on Buddhism. He joined the association in May 1987 when it was formed by Dr. Gordon Chen, who has since moved from Allentown back to Taiwan.
Weekly meetings begin with the airing of a tape, which is followed by a group discussion.
It ends with 15-minutes mediation. But we're all very much beginners. Franks said he first learned about Buddhism during a semester of college study in England. For a long time I just thought it was kind of a mysterious, semi-magical thing. I also sort of associated it with 1960's hippie interests.