Mahamudra turns the spotlight onto self-cherishing and ego fixation by inviting a direct encounter with the mind’s nature. Rather than piling on more techniques to tame a stubborn ego, it gently asks: “What’s actually happening in this moment?” Encouraging a balance of calm-abiding (shamatha) and clear-seeing (vipashyana), it unravels the habitual “me-first” storyline at its roots.

• Resting in natural awareness
Imagine thoughts and feelings as clouds drifting across a vast sky. Instead of chasing each cloud—“That’s mine! That’s mine!”—attention stays open and spacious. Over time, the urge to cling loosens its grip, like pulling weeds before they take root.

• Pointing-out instructions
Contemporary neuroscience (2025 studies out of the Mind & Life Institute) confirms what ancient teachers already knew: sustained attention on awareness itself quiets the brain’s default mode network, the very hub of self-referential chatter. This isn’t about self-criticism or self-improvement—rather, it’s about disarming the “bossy mind” by showing it there’s nowhere to hang its hat.

• Four yogas that dissolve ego’s fortress
1. One-pointedness: building stability in awareness.
2. Simplicity: letting go of effortful control.
3. One-taste: recognizing everything—pleasant, unpleasant, neutral—as the same flavor of mind.
4. Non-meditation: resting so completely that even the distinction between meditator and meditation fades.

In today’s hustle culture, Mahamudra feels like a breath of fresh air. Instead of adding more to a packed agenda, it invites a letting-go, revealing how self-cherishing is simply a pattern—one that unwinds naturally when given space. At the recent Dalai Lama’s global peace gathering, several young practitioners shared how this approach has softened their inner critic and opened unexpected wells of compassion. Step by step, the “little self” stops calling all the shots, and a bigger, freer sense of awareness starts to guide the show.