Within this tradition, meditation is framed as a carefully graduated path in which calm and insight are cultivated in tandem. Foundational to this are the practices of calm-abiding (śamatha), where the mind is trained in single-pointed concentration, and analytical insight (vipaśyanā), where reasoning is used to penetrate the nature of reality. Calm-abiding is developed through focusing attention on a chosen object—such as the breath or a visualized Buddha form—until the mind becomes stable and pliant. On that basis, analytical meditation is applied to themes such as impermanence, suffering, karma, and especially the emptiness (śūnyatā) of self and phenomena. The union of these two—stable concentration joined with sharp analytical insight—is regarded as a central method for realizing the true nature of things.

This contemplative training is often organized through lamrim, the “stages of the path,” which presents a structured sequence of meditations from initial motivation up to full awakening. Practitioners repeatedly contemplate topics such as precious human rebirth, death and impermanence, ethical conduct, renunciation, compassion, and bodhicitta, using analysis and then resting in the conclusions reached. Mind-training (lojong) methods further refine this orientation by transforming ordinary attitudes into altruistic ones. Practices like equalizing and exchanging self and others, and tonglen—mentally taking on the suffering of others and giving happiness—serve to deepen compassion and stabilize the resolve to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings.

Alongside these sutra-based practices, the tradition places great emphasis on tantric methods, especially deity yoga. For those who have received the appropriate initiations, meditation proceeds through a generation stage, in which one visualizes oneself as a chosen deity, recites mantras, and constructs a mandala, and a completion stage, in which subtler aspects of mind and energy are engaged to realize a clear light awareness inseparable from emptiness. Throughout, the relationship with the spiritual guide is cultivated through guru yoga, a devotional meditation that unites the disciple’s mind with the teacher’s enlightened qualities. In this way, study, analysis, ethical discipline, compassion, and tantric visualization are woven into a single, integrated meditative path.