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The smooth running of the regular day to day practice of meditation at the Center is to a large extent assured by the work of a team of monitors. They are present during the regular evenings of zazen, the half-day Sunday zazen, the intensive one-day sittings and during all the sesshins. Their first responsibility is to oversee the activities that go on. They attend to the physical set-up of the zendo (the meditation hall) carefully correct the postures of the participants, give out instructions, and look after things generally to ensure that nothing disturbs the participants, all the while creating an atmosphere conducive to a lively and sincere meditation practice.
The team of monitors consists of nine people: seven men and two women. As members of the Center they have practiced for many years under the direction of Albert Low who also supervised this training as monitors.
During a round of sitting the monitors use the "kyosaku" (the encouragement stick) in order to urge the participants to practice in an ardent fashion. This aspect of our practice is often misunderstood so it would be as well to dwell on it for a moment.
The kyosaku is a long wooden stick, which is flat at one end. The monitor strikes the participant on the shoulder muscles. The shock of the kyosaku acts as a massage and helps to dissipate the tensions in the shoulders, which arise during Zen practice. The stick also helps to overcome sleepiness as well as loosening up thoughts and ideas which tend to become fixed in the mind. Finally and most importantly the kyosaku can stimulate a deep and latent energy, which is then available for practice and contributes to deepening the practice. This help is particularly valuable during evening sittings and during the long retreats or sesshins.
The stick is always used with the spirit of compassion. Monitors perform a short ritual before and after each time the kyosaku is used. This helps to maintain their attention and vigilance. It is never used in a spirit of anger, irritation, punishment or violence. Rather it is used to encourage people to give themselves entirely and sincerely to their practice.
The monitors also look after the regular evening meditation periods during the absence of the teacher, Albert Low.
For members who want to communicate with a monitor please email monitors@zenmontreal.ca and put the name of the monitor you wish to address in the subject.
Please note that one of the monitors will be receiving this email and that he will pass it on to the monitor in question. Therefore if you would like to keep the matter private between you and the monitor could you please simply initiate the communication in the first email. For example: in the subject matter please put the name of the monitor you would like to speak to and in the body of the email simply state your name and that you would like to ask a question and then when the monitor writes back you could then explain the situation fully. This will ensure your privacy.
However, if it is a general question you can go ahead and ask it and the email will be forwarded to the monitor.
Please remember to include your full name so confusion will be avoided.
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