What is "shentong"

Shentong (, also transliterated zhäntong or zhentong) – literally "other-emptiness" – is an essentialist sub-school found in Tibetan Buddhism, which was systematized and articulated under that name by Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. The term is often explained as meaning that Absolute Truth is empty of anything other than its nature. Adherents contend that it is the most non-dual of all schools of Buddhist philosophy and most in conformation with actual meditative experience.

It interprets śūnyatā (emptiness) in a specific way, stating that there is a substratum or essence underlying phenomenal reality, which does not inherently exist but is the necessary ground or support of existence, and is "empty" of "other" , i.e., empty of all qualities other than its own inherent nature.

Shentong is closely related to the Yogacara school and the concept of Buddha-nature. It was suppressed by the dominant Gelug school for several hundred years, equally for political reasons as doctrinal reasons.