stylistic:style_transfer
Shentong and Buddha nature

The 14th century saw increasing interest in the Buddha nature texts and doctrines. This can be seen in the work of the third Kagyu Karmapa Rangjung Dorje (1284-1339), especially his treatise "Profound Inner Meaning". This treatise describes ultimate nature or suchness as Buddha nature which is the basis for nirvana and samsara, radiant in nature and empty in essence, surpassing thought.

One of the most important theoriests of buddha-nature in Tibet was the scholar-yogi Dölpopa Shérap Gyeltsen (c. 1292–1361). A figure of the Jonang school, Dölpopa developed a view called shentong (Wylie: gzhan stong, 'other emptiness'), based on earlier Yogacara and Buddha-nature ideas present in Indian sources (including the buddha-nature literature, the Kālacakratantra and the works of Ratnākaraśānti). The shentong view holds that Buddhahood is already immanent in all living beings as an eternal and all-pervaside non-dual wisdom he termed "all-basis wisdom" or "gnosis of the ground of all" (Tib. kun gzhi ye shes, Skt. ālaya-jñāna). This view holds that all relative phenomena are empty of inherent existence, but that the ultimate reality, the buddha-wisdom (buddha jñana) is not empty of its own inherent existence.

According to Dölpopa, all beings are said to have the Buddha nature, the non-dual wisdom which is real, unchanging, permanent, non-conditioned, eternal, blissful and compassionate. This ultimate buddha wisdom is "uncreated and indestructible, unconditioned and beyond the chain of dependent origination " and is the basis for both samsara and nirvana. Dolpopa's shentong view also taught that ultimate reality was truly a "Great Self" or "Supreme Self" referring to works such as the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, the Aṅgulimālīya Sūtra and the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra.

The shentong view had an influence on philosophers of other schools, such as Nyingma and Kagyu thinkers, and was also widely criticized in some circles as being similar to the Hindu notions of Atman. The Shentong philosophy was also expounded in Tibet and Mongolia by the later Jonang scholar Tāranātha (1575–1634) and numerous later figures of the Jonang tradition. In the late 17th century, the Jonang order and its teachings came under attack by the 5th Dalai Lama, who converted the majority of their monasteries in Tibet to the Gelug order, although several survived in secret.