A wonderful and friendly place, affiliated under the Dhammakaya Foundation, headquartered at the…read moreenormous and awe-inspiring Wat Phra Dhammakaya temple complex in Thailand, which now has a hundred or so monasteries across the US and world. While this place does not host anywhere close to the tens of thousands of monks that the main temple in Thailand does every month, it is a decent-sized Buddhist temple for the South.
One of the strengths of this temple is that in addition to Thai-language activities, there are also English based sessions, something which the many smaller Laotian, Burmese, and Cambodian Buddhist temples around Atlanta do not offer regularly. There is an English-language meditation session (introduction, sit, and discussion) led by a senior ordained monk on every Wednesday from 7 - 8:30 pm, and the crowd is diverse. Sitting for an hour may seem difficult at first, but there are definitely mental benefits from meditation!
Additionally, Sunday services begin at 9:30 am and last all morning or all day, but if you have to leave early, no one will notice. The Sunday services are mainly in Thai with English translation, and begin with 1 hr of silent meditation at 9:30am, followed by chanting, blessings, and offerings. As this is a Theravada temple, the chants are in Pali (one of the languages of the Buddha), with printouts available on the bookshelf for English and Thai translations. Lunch is usually provided for free in the dining area for those who attend the service. Note that shoes are not worn inside, in accordance with Thai tradition.
The website is at:
https://sites.google.com/site/georgiameditation/
or MeditationCircle . org
www.MeditationCircle.org
Definitely come check this place out to learn more about meditation and Theravada Buddhism. If you're new to Buddhism, be sure to visit representative temples of the other branches of Buddhism as well to get a holistic view of the religion. Some well-established local places with regular services/classes in English include Drepung Loseling Monastery (Vajrayana / Tibetan), Dharma Jewel Monastery (Mahayana / Chinese), and Atlanta Zen Center (Mahayana / Japanese), while other large places only have English-services occasionally, including Chua Quang Minh (Vietnamese), Jun Dung Sa Buddhist Temple (Korean), Georgia Buddhist Vihara (Sri Lankan / Sinhalese), etc etc etc. Atlanta is fairly diverse! In fact, there's even other Thai temples around town, such as Wat Buddhabucha, http://www.buddhabuchatemple.org/ . Whatever place you settle on, the important thing is revealing the inner peace within, and sharing that happiness with the world.