Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
Attributed to Nāgārjuna, this short text is a devotional offering addressed to Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta. The work functions as a paradox, attempting to praise a Tathāgata who is fundamentally beyond the reach of linguistic praise. The central argument posits that the enlightened state is characterized by the transcendence of all conceptual polarities. Specifically, the text asserts that the Protector does not adhere to assertions of existence, emptiness, or non-emptiness, nor does the Protector engage in the disputes arising from these views. By avoiding these dualistic categories, the subject practices the great speech of non-duality. The text commits the reader to a perspective where ultimate reality is neither a distinct entity nor something other than non-duality. It concludes with a wish for the world to attain supreme perfect knowledge, framing the philosophical negation of views as the necessary precursor to enlightenment.
Provenance
About this text
A devotional offering addressed to Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta, the Stutyatītastava (Tibetan: bstod pa las 'das par bstod pa) is a work of the classical Tibetan tradition. It is attributed to the Indian author Nāgārjuna. The text was translated into Tibetan by Tilakakalaśa of Kaśmīr and pa tshab lo tsa ba nyi ma grags pa, and it is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཀ, where it comprises two pages within the Eulogy collection. The work enacts a paradox, attempting to offer praise to a Tathāgata who is fundamentally beyond the reach of linguistic praise. It argues that the enlightened state transcends conceptual polarities, asserting that the Protector does not adhere to views of existence, emptiness, or non-emptiness. By abandoning the dualities of oneness and otherness, the subject practices the great speech of non-duality, maintaining that there is no entity other than non-duality. A scholar or serious reader consults this text to examine how the philosophical negation of views is framed as a means for the world to attain supreme perfect knowledge.
Sanskrit title
Stutyatītastava
Indian author
Nāgārjuna
Tibetan translators
Tilakakalaśa (Kaśmīr), pa tshab lo tsa ba nyi ma grags pa
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Praise of the One who Surpasses All Praise” (Toh 1129), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1129
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for its application of Madhyamaka dialectics to the genre of praise, demonstrating how the negation of all views is used to describe the nature of a Buddha. For the modern reader, it illustrates the tension between the use of language and the experience of a non-conceptual reality.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction
Homage to Mañjuśrī and the statement of intent to offer praise to the beyond-praise Tathāgata.
2
Philosophical Core
An analysis of the Protector's transcendence of existence, emptiness, and non-duality.
3
Conclusion
A final aspiration for universal knowledge and the attribution of the work to Nāgārjuna.
Themes
Non-duality (2)
Transcendence of conceptual views (2)
The limits of language and praise (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaPraise of the One who Surpasses All Praise·
In the language of India: Rutastavaṃ. In the language of Tibet: Bstod pa las 'das par bstod pa (Praise Beyond Praise). Homage to Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta.
Although the Tathāgata, who has traversed the unsurpassed path, is beyond praise, I shall offer this "Praise Beyond Praise" with a mind of devotion and joy.
Although You perceive reality as utterly secluded from self, other, or both, that Your compassion for sentient beings does not turn away is truly wondrous.
That You have taught phenomena which are unarisen by their very nature and beyond the domain of words is Your wondrous marvel.
Although You proclaimed the aggregates, elements, and sense bases, You later also taught the reversal of grasping at them.
"How can things arise from conditions if they do not exist in those conditions?" By speaking thus, O Wise One, You have cut through all conceptual elaborations.
Those who see that what is established from a collection arises from the cause of that collection—You have seen that they rely upon the two extremes.
You firmly maintain that things are established in dependence upon conditions; thus, You have seen the faults in [the opposite] and taught in this way.
Things do not come from anywhere, nor do they go anywhere. You maintain that all things are like reflections.
To abandon all views, O Protector, You taught emptiness. Yet even that is a mere designation.
In reality, O Protector, you do not assert [existence];
You do not assert emptiness or non-emptiness.
You do not delight in both;
Since there is no dispute in that regard,
You practice the great speech.
It is said: "There is no other entity,
Nor is there anything other than non-duality."
Because oneness and otherness are abandoned,
There is no entity whatsoever.
If the three, such as arising, existed,
The characteristics of the conditioned would exist.
Furthermore, the arising and so forth of those
Would become three distinct things.
The three, such as arising, individually
Have no power over the conditioned.
Those that are gathered as one in one
Do not even exist as a meeting.
Thus, the basis of characteristics and the characteristics do not exist;
Since they are not established in that way,
If the conditioned is not established,
How could the unconditioned be established?
When the Lion of Speech spoke thus,
You yourself, like a lion,
Dispelled the pride of the elephants of the Vindhya mountains—the proponents of [extreme] views.
Just as one on the path does not rely on various harms
Or the wrong paths of views,
By relying on you, one does not rely
On either existence or non-existence.
Those who understand in that way
What you have spoken with intentional meaning—
They need not seek to understand again
What you have spoken with intentional meaning.
When one realizes that all entities
Are equal to nirvāṇa,
At that time, how could the grasping at "I"
Ever arise in them?
Thus, by whatever merit I have gained
Through this praise of you, the Knower of Reality,
The supreme of those with authentic knowledge—