Buddhist teachings to be noted at "Change Your Mind Day"

By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Change Your Mind Day is an annual festival held in more than 40 cities in the United States to celebrate Buddhism, which is practiced by perhaps one-eighth of the world's population.

Co-sponsored locally by the Northwest Dharma Association and the Seattle Asian Art Museum, the Seattle event will include Buddhist teachings, meditation, chanting and children's activities led by practitioners from several Buddhist traditions.

If you go "Change Your Mind Day" takes place at Capitol Hill's Volunteer Park Amphitheater, 1247 15th Ave E., 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today. It is free and open to the public. For more information, go to the Northwest Dharma Association's Web site: www.nwdharma.org

The festival's growth in Seattle mirrors the expansion of Buddhism nationwide and particularly in the Northwest, which has one of the nation's largest concentrations of Buddhists.

There are about 400 Buddhist groups and temples in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia, compared with 100 in the mid-to-late 1990s.

About a third practice Tibetan Buddhism, with another significant portion practicing Zen Buddhism, according to George Draffan, president of the Northwest Dharma Association.

The groups include American-born practitioners and Asian immigrants.

The Northwest Dharma Association has been working to bring those groups together for events such as Change Your Mind Day.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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