The Moon
Mind Practice
The lunar cycle and its gaps are available to everyone,
all of 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 them 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 very well known here in the West.
What I mean is how many people do you know who
practice observing or using their mind? Most of us
assume that the mind is perfectly usable just as we find
it, and that it doesn't require any practice to use it.
In Tibet, mind practice is not only acceptable, it is pretty
much obligatory. This is true not only in Tibet, but also in
Nepal, much of India, and even in parts of China and
Japan. Over there, 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 considerable practice.