The great Sakya scholar Gorampa Sonam Senge says the selflessness of phenomena was taught in the Shravakayana, but it was not taught clearly, extensively or completely.

1. It was not taught clearly, meaning that there are only statements such as, ‘Form is like bubbles of water, sensations are like foam.’ This is not as clear as the Mahayana teachings such as, ‘Form is empty of form.’
2. It was not taught extensively, meaning that only the phenomena included within the continuum of one’s own aggregates were taught to be empty. By contrast, the Mahayana taught the twenty kinds of emptiness.
3. It was not taught completely, meaning that whilst there were teachings on the insubstantiality of one’s own aggregates, this only serves as an antidote to the extreme of existence. Unlike those of the Mahayana, such teachings do not address the absence of all four extremes.

• Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo | The Light of Wisdom, Volume 1. Root text by Padmasambhava and commentary by Jamgön Kongtrül the Great. Published by Shambhala Publications ISBN 0-87773-566-2, pages 135-141.
• Khenpo Ngawang Pelzang, A Guide to the Words of My Perfect Teacher, translated by Padmakara Translation Group, published by Shambhala Publications, ISBN 1-59030-073-4, pages 210-213.
• Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa, Lamrim Chenmo | The Great Treatise On The Stages Of The Path To Enlightenment, Vol. 3, Chapter 24. Snow Lion, ISBN 1-55939-166-9

Category of Buddhist Key Terms Category of Philosophical Tenets