Brunnholzl Indian and Tibetan Shentong (PDF)

Thrangu Rinpoche has taught about the two different beliefs about emptiness found in the Ttibetan literature. One is Rangtong which is that emptiness is complete nothingness and is mainly hald by the Gelug lineage. The other is Shentong which is that this emptiness not simply a voidness because it also contains buddha nature. Below is a quote from Brunnholzl who is one of the modern main advocates of the Shentong view.

"The materials presented in this book are the combined outcome of several initially distinct strands of my interest and research in works of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism over the years.

 In that vein, it became apparent that both Vasubandhu and Sthiramati were familiar with the threefold division of all phenomena in the "Maitreya Chapter," discussing it in their commen-taries on the Madhyatavibhiiga and equating this threefold division with the three natures.

In my research of prajnaparamita literature, I also studied the eight preserved Indian commentaries on the Prajnaparamita-hrdaya-sutra, finding that some of them exhibit quite unexpected and interesting interpretations of certain key phrases of this sutra that are based on Yogacara and tathagatagarbha teachings."