Georgia Meditation Center

4522 Tilly Mill Road

Atlanta GA 30360

March 13, 2017

To whom it may concern

I would like to introduce myself as a Buddhist monk, a scholar and researcher of

Buddhism and a qualified teacher of meditation who has had occasion, shortly after New
Year 2017, to hold a meditation retreat for three days at the Meditation Center of
Alabama at its present location at 3821 Airport Blvd, Mobile AL 36608. I traveled at
some expense from Atlanta to teach at the Center.
Twenty years of experience teaching meditation has taught me, that when it
comes to learning meditation, it is very hard for students to practice effectively in noisy
surroundings – particularly for those who are new to meditation. Furthermore, if the
surroundings of a meditation center are noisier than in the meditation students’ own
homes, there would be very little incentive to visit the meditation center at all. On the
contrary, meditation is facilitated by quiet and natural surroundings.
I would like say for the record, that from my experiences in January 2017, I was
surprised to find the Meditation Center of Alabama in such a noisy location. Excessive
traffic noise was disruptive to my efforts to lead a meditation retreat at that site between
9.00am and 9.00pm on Friday and at the weekend, particularly due to the noise of
emergency vehicles, motorcycles and honking horns.
If there were the possibility an alternative location for the Meditation Center,
closer to nature, with the possibility of on-site accommodation for a visiting meditation
teacher and without disruptive noise, I would definitely welcome such a relocation.

Yours sincerely,

Revd. Phra Nicholas Thanissaro Ph.D.

Meditation instructor