Within the Gelug tradition, emptiness is approached through the lens of Prāsaṅgika-Madhyamaka, as articulated by Tsongkhapa. Emptiness is understood as the complete absence of inherent existence in all phenomena: nothing exists from its own side, with an independent, self-established nature. Yet this absence does not negate conventional existence; rather, phenomena are said to exist dependently—on causes and conditions, on their parts, and on conceptual designation. This view safeguards the functioning of the conventional world while revealing its lack of any solid core. By holding these two aspects together, Gelug thought presents emptiness as the very mode in which things exist, not as a separate absolute or a sheer nothingness.

The doctrine of the two truths is central to this understanding. Conventional truth concerns how things appear and operate in everyday experience—karma, ethics, and causal processes remain fully meaningful on this level. Ultimate truth is the emptiness of inherent existence, the way things actually are when analyzed with reasoning. The Gelug reading insists that these two truths are not mutually exclusive: the same phenomena that function conventionally are, at the ultimate level, empty. This balance is described as a middle way that avoids both eternalism, which would reify things as truly existent, and nihilism, which would deny their conventional efficacy.

Practice in this school reflects the same precision and care. Monastic education emphasizes rigorous study of Indian and Tibetan Madhyamaka treatises, combined with formal debate to refine understanding and expose subtle misconceptions. On the meditation cushion, practitioners engage in analytical meditation, using logical inquiry to search for any inherently existent self or object and failing to find it. When this analysis yields a clear, “space-like” sense of the absence of inherent existence, the practitioner then cultivates stabilizing meditation, resting single-pointedly in that insight. Over time, calm abiding and special insight are united, allowing emptiness to be realized not merely as an intellectual position but as a direct, transformative experience.

This realization is not pursued in isolation from the bodhisattva ideal. Because beings and their suffering are conventionally real yet empty of inherent existence, compassion and responsibility are strengthened rather than undermined. Ethical conduct, the gradual stages of the path, and the cultivation of bodhicitta are woven together with the view of emptiness, so that wisdom and compassion mature side by side. In this way, the Gelug understanding of emptiness serves as both a precise philosophical view and a practical method for undermining self-grasping and moving toward full awakening for the benefit of all beings.