Toh 1122 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

Praise of the Ultimate

Translated from the Tibetan by buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate · machine-assisted

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 1122
Genre: Eulogy
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 001_བསྟོད་ཚོགས།_ཀ.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,485 Tibetan characters · 360 English words
Translation: buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate (English, machine-assisted)
Status: Edition 1.0 · 2026 · machine draft
Rights: Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)

The Praise of the Ultimate (Paramārthastava) is a short liturgical composition addressed to Mañjuśrī, functioning as a via negativa to describe the nature of ultimate reality. The text argues that the ultimate is fundamentally ineffable, as it transcends the conceptual categories of birth, death, spatial location, and linguistic expression. By employing a series of negations—denying the existence of center, extremes, subject, and object—the author asserts that the ultimate is beyond the reach of conventional praise. The work is structured as a devotional address that transitions from the acknowledgment of the deity's transcendence to a concluding aspiration. It commits the reader to a meditative recognition of the Sugata's nature as being free from the dualities of coming and going, ultimately dedicating the merit of this recognition to the liberation of all sentient beings across all worlds.

Provenance

About this text

A praise to the ultimate, the Paramārthastava is a work of the classical Tibetan tradition. It is attributed to the Indian author Nāgārjuna. The text was translated into Tibetan by Kṛṣṇa Paṇḍita and lo tsa ba tshul khrims rgyal ba, and it is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཀ, where it comprises two pages within the Eulogy collection. Under its Tibetan title, don dam par bstod pa, the work functions as a devotional address to Mañjuśrī. It enacts a via negativa, arguing that the ultimate is fundamentally ineffable and transcends worldly examples, verbal expression, and conceptual categories such as birth, death, and spatial location. By denying the existence of center, extremes, subject, and object, the composition asserts that the ultimate is beyond the reach of conventional praise. The work concludes with an aspiration that the merit of this praise may lead all worlds to the state of the Sugata, who is free from the dualities of coming and going. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine how the nature of reality is described through negation and how this recognition is dedicated to the liberation of all sentient beings.

Sanskrit title: Paramārthastava
Indian author: Nāgārjuna
Tibetan translators: Kṛṣṇa Paṇḍita, lo tsa ba tshul khrims rgyal ba
Canonical collection: Eulogy
Genre: Eulogy
Source edition: Tengyur, vol. ཀ
Period: classical Tibetan

Read further

Catalogue

84000 catalogue entry

Bibliography

BDRC library search

Libraries

WorldCat

Sanskrit sources

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon

Reference

Cite thisAnuvāda, “Praise of the Ultimate” (Toh 1122), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1122

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant for its distillation of Madhyamaka-style negation into a concise poetic form, illustrating how Buddhist philosophy employs apophatic language to describe the absolute. For the modern reader, it demonstrates the intersection of philosophical inquiry and devotional practice within the Indo-Tibetan tradition.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Invocation and Negation	Homage to Mañjuśrī and an assertion of the ultimate's transcendence over verbal expression and worldly examples.
2	Attributes of the Sugata and Aspiration	A description of the ultimate as devoid of duality and spatiality, concluding with a wish for the universal attainment of the state of the Sugata.

Themes

Ineffability (1-2)
Non-duality (2)
Universal Liberation (2)

Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.

AnuvādaPraise of the Ultimate·

#༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། པ་ར་མ་ཨརྠ་སྟ་བཾ#། བོད་སྐད་དུ། དོན་དམ་པར་བསྟོད་པ། འཇམ་ དཔལ་གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། སྐྱེ་བ་མེད་ཅིང་གནས་མེད་ལ། ། འཇིག་རྟེན་དཔེ་ལས་ཤིན་ཏུ་འདས། ། ངག་གིས་བརྗོད་པའི་སྤྱོད་ཡུལ་མིན། ། མགོན་ཁྱོད་ཇི་ལྟར་བསྟོད་#པར་བགྱི། ། དེ་ལྟ་ན་ཡང་གང་འདྲ་བས། ། དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་དོན་སྤྱོད་ཡུལ་གྱི། ། འཇིག་རྟེན་བཏགས་ པ་ལ་གནས་ནས། ། གུས་པ་ཆེན་པོས་བདག་གིས་བསྟོད། ། སྐྱེ་བ་མེད་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཡིས། ། ཁྱོད་ལ་སྐྱེ་བ་ཡོང་#མི་མངའ། ། མགོན་ཁྱོད་གཤེགས་དང་བྱོན་མི་མངའ། ། དངོས་མི་མངའ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་འདུད། ། དངོས་མེད་མ་ལགས་དངོས་མ་ལགས། ། ཆད་པ་མ་ལགས་རྟག་མ་ ལགས། ། མི་རྟག་མ་ལགས་རྟག་མ་ལགས། ། གཉིས་མི་མངའ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་འདུད། ། དམར་དང་ལྗང་དང་བཙོད་མདོག་མིན། ། སེར་དང་གནག་#དང་དཀར་མ་ལགས། ། ཁྱོད་ལ་ཁ་དོག་ཡོང་#མི་དམིགས། ། མདོག་མི་མངའ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་འདུད། ། ཆེན་པོ་མ་ལགས་ཆུང་མ་ ལགས། ། རིང་དང་ཟླུམ་པ་#མ་ལགས་ལ། ། ཚད་མེད་པ་ཡི་དངོས་བརྙེས་པ། ། ཚད་མི་མངའ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་འདུད། ། རིང་མིན་ཉེ་བ་མ་ལགས་ཤིང་། ། ནམ་མཁའ་མ་ལགས་ས་མ་ལགས། ། འཁོར་མིན་མྱ་ངན་འདས་མ་ལགས། ། གནས་མི་མངའ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་འདུད། ། ཆོས་རྣམས་ཀུན་ལ་མི་གནས་པས། ། ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་ཀྱི་དངོས་གྱུར་ཅིང་། ། མཆོག་ཏུ་ཟབ་པ་གཉིས་#བརྙེས་པ། ། ཟབ་མོ་ཁྱོད་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད#། ། དེ་ལྟའི་བསྟོད་པས་བསྟོད་བགྱིའམ། ། ཡང་ན་འདིར་#ནི་ཅི་ཞིག་བསྟོད། ། ཆོས་རྣམས་ཐམས་ཅད་སྟོང་པ་ལ། ། གང་ལ་ བསྟོད་ཅིང་གང་གིས་བསྟོད། །

In the language of India: Paramārthastava. In the language of Tibet: Don dam par bstod pa (Praise to the Ultimate). Homage to Mañjuśrī, the Youthful. You are unborn and without abode, Utterly transcending worldly examples. You are not an object of verbal expression; O Protector, how can I praise you? Nevertheless, in whatever way possible, Abiding by the worldly conventions That take suchness as their object, I praise you with great devotion. By your nature of being unborn, You have no birth whatsoever. O Protector, you neither go nor come; I prostrate and bow to you who are without entity. You are not non-existent, nor are you existent; You are not annihilated, nor are you eternal. You are not impermanent, nor are you permanent; I prostrate and bow to you who are without duality. You are not red, green, or madder-colored; You are not yellow, black, or white. No color is perceived in you; I prostrate and bow to you who are without color. You are not large, nor are you small; You are not long, nor are you round. You have attained the entity of the immeasurable; I prostrate and bow to you who are without measure. You are neither far nor near, Neither space nor earth. You are neither saṃsāra nor nirvāṇa; I prostrate and bow to you who are without abode. Because you do not abide in any phenomena, You have become the very entity of the dharmadhātu. Having attained the supreme, profound non-duality, I praise you, the Profound One. Should I praise you with such a praise, Or what is there to praise here? Since all phenomena are empty, What is praised, and by whom is it praised?

structureTitle block: the Sanskrit title is given as it is transmitted in Tibetan transliteration, not reconstructed from Sanskrit sources; the Tibetan title is translated after it.

definitionབསྟོད་པ “praise” — An encomium or hymn of praise.

definitionསྐྱེ་བ “birth” — The eleventh of the twelve links of dependent origination . See “ dependent origination .”

terminologyལས → “action”. 84000 uses 'action' where the mechanics matter, 'karma' where it is a fixed term.

homonymལས is rendered “action” here; the glossary also records act, Action, activity for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionལས “action” — Matters that govern the saṅgha community’s daily life, regular observances (such as the rains retreat and the restoration ) and special events (like ordination) are ratified by a formal act of the saṅgha. There are one h

definitionདེ་བཞིན་ཉིད “suchness” — The ultimate nature of things, or the way things are in reality, as opposed to the way they appear to unawakened beings.

definitionབདག “self” — A substantial, self-subsistent entity within beings or things, or the intrinsic reality of things, or the intrinsic identity of things, that is permanent and nonrelative. The Buddha’s teaching, in contrast to that of oth

periodཆོས → “dharma”. In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two referents; the list decides.

homonymཆོས is rendered “dharma” here; the glossary also records special qualities, phenomena, qualities for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཆོས “dharma” — The term “ dharma ” ( chos ) conveys ten different meanings, according to Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti . It may mean the Buddhist teachings, the awakened qualities which buddhas and bodhisattvas acquire, phenomena or thing

definitionཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས “dharmadhātu” — Interpreted variously‍—given the many connotations of both dharma and dhātu‍ ‍—as the realm, element, or nature of phenomena, reality, or truth. Generally taken to denote the entirety of phenomena and particularly their

adherencePinned rendering paraphrased here: action; self

termདོན་དམ → ultimate

termབསྟོད་པ → praise

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termསྐྱེ་བ → birth

termལས → action

termདེ་བཞིན་ཉིད → suchness

སྐྱེ་དང་འཇིག་པ་རྣམ་#སྤངས་ཤིང་། ། གང་ལ་མཐའ་དང་དབུས་མེད་པ#། ། གཟུང་དང་འཛིན་པ་མི་མངའ་བ#། ། འདིར་ནི་ཁྱོད་བསྟོད་ནུས་པ་གང་། ། གཤེགས་དང་བྱོན་པ་མི་མངའ་ཞིང་། ། འགྲོ་སྤངས་བདེ་བར་གཤེགས་བསྟོད་པའི#། ། བསོད་ནམས་དེས་ ནི་འཇིག་རྟེན་རྣམས། ། བདེ་གཤེགས་གནས་སུ་འགྲོ་བར་ཤོག། དོན་དམ་པར་བསྟོད་པ། སློབ་དཔོན་འཕགས་པ་#ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། ། ། ། རྒྱ་གར་གྱི་མཁན་པོ་ཀྲྀཥྞ་པཎྜི་ཏ་དང་། ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་དགེ་སློང་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་རྒྱལ་བས་བསྒྱུར་ཅིང་ཞུས་ཏེ་གཏན་ལ་ཕབ་པའོ། ། ། །

Free from arising and ceasing, Devoid of center and extremes, Without subject and object— Who is able to praise you here? Without coming or going, Having abandoned wandering, you are the Sugata. By this merit of praising you, May all worlds go to the state of the Sugata. The Praise of the Ultimate (Paramārthastuti), composed by the master Ārya Nāgārjuna, is complete. It was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian abbot Kṛṣṇapaṇḍita and the translator-monk Tsultrim Gyalwa.

structureColophon: closes the text and names the translators or author.

definitionབསོད་ནམས “merit” — In this text, merit is established as the most prized possession of human beings, more than good looks, diligence , artistry , and insight . In Buddhism more generally, merit refers to the wholesome tendencies imprinted

definitionསློབ་དཔོན “ācārya” — A spiritual teacher, meaning one who knows the conduct or practice ( ācāra ) to be performed. It can also be a title for a scholar, though that is not the context in this sūtra .

definitionའཕགས་པ “ārya” — The Sanskrit ārya has the general meaning of a noble person, one of a higher class or caste. In Buddhist literature, depending on the context, it often means specifically one who has gained the realization of the path an

terminologyཀླུ → “nāga”. Serpent-deities, not 'dragons'. The Old Tibetan spelling ཀླུ is stable.

definitionཀླུ “nāga” — A supernatural being usually depicted as having the top half of a human and the bottom half of a snake. However, the nāga has a myriad of associations within Buddhism and Indian traditions in general; the term may be ass

terminologyམཁན་པོ → “abbot”. In colophons it is the Indian preceptor who authorised the translation; 'abbot' is wrong there. Use 'preceptor' in colophons.

homonymམཁན་པོ is rendered “abbot” here; the glossary also records upādhyāya, Preceptor for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionམཁན་པོ “abbot” — A person’s particular preceptor within the monastic tradition. They must have at least ten years of standing in the saṅgha, and their role is to confer ordination, to tend to the student, and to provide all the necessary

definitionཚུལ་ཁྲིམས “discipline” — In general, the first of the three trainings ( triśikṣā ), and in this text and others the first of five qualities of the Saṅgha that are also described in other texts as the five undefiled (or beyond-worldly) aggregates

termབསོད་ནམས → merit

termདོན་དམ → ultimate

termབསྟོད་པ → praise

termསློབ་དཔོན → ācārya

termའཕགས་པ → ārya

termཀླུ → nāga

Terminology used in this text (16)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
དོན་དམ	ultimate	2
བསྟོད་པ	praise	2
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
སྐྱེ་བ	birth	1
ལས	action	1	84000 uses 'action' where the mechanics matter, 'karma' where it is a fixed term.
དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད	suchness	1
བདག	self	1
ཆོས	dharma	1	In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two
ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས	dharmadhātu	1
བསོད་ནམས	merit	1
སློབ་དཔོན	ācārya	1
འཕགས་པ	ārya	1
ཀླུ	nāga	1	Serpent-deities, not 'dragons'. The Old Tibetan spelling ཀླུ is stable.
མཁན་པོ	abbot	1	In colophons it is the Indian preceptor who authorised the translation; 'abbot' is wrong there. Use 'preceptor' in colop
དགེ་སློང	monk	1
ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས	discipline	1

Colophon

Source: tengyur vol. 001_བསྟོད་ཚོགས།_ཀ.txt. Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction).

Translation status: 84000 catalogue + registry; grade no-translation-known; checked 2026-11-10.

Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.

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