The Moon
The Lunation Cycle: East and West
The lunar cycle and its gaps are available to everyone,
all the time. If we don't observe these special times, it is
because we have not set aside the time to observe and
to check it out for ourselves. In the East, most people
are introduced to basic observation techniques, or mind
practice, from an early age. It is unfortunate that mind
practice is not much known here in the West. I mean,
how many people do you know who practice observing
or using their mind, anyway? Most of us assume that
the mind is perfectly usable just as we find it, and that it
doesn't require any practice, at all, to use it.
In Tibet, mind practice is not only acceptable, it is pretty
much obligatory. And this is true not only in Tibet, but
also in Nepal, much of India, and even in parts of China
and Japan. In these countries, the mind is considered,
by nature, to be unruly and hard to manage. No one
would think of trying to do much with it without