Toh 1136 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

Praise in Adoration

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

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 1136
Genre: Eulogy
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 001_བསྟོད་ཚོགས།_ཀ.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,265 Tibetan characters · 344 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)

Attributed to Nāgārjuna, the Praise of Homage is a brief liturgical composition that functions as a devotional invocation and a dedication of merit. The text begins with an act of prostration directed toward the Tathāgatas and the Buddha, specifically characterizing the Buddha as the Supreme Victor who has transcended the cycle of existence and the net of delusion. The work concludes by shifting from individual adoration to a universalist aspiration, wherein the author dedicates any accumulated merit toward the awakening of all sentient beings. By structuring the text as a movement from homage to altruistic dedication, the work commits the reader to a practice of humility and the Bodhisattva ideal, framing the realization of enlightenment not as a personal achievement but as a collective goal.

Provenance

About this text

A praise of homage to the Tathāgatas, the Vandanāstotra is a work of the Indo-Tibetan tradition. It is attributed to the Indian author Nāgārjuna. The text was translated into the Tibetan language 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. In the classical Tibetan tradition, the work is known as the phyag 'tshal ba'i bstod pa. The composition enacts a movement from devotional prostration to the dedication of merit; it begins by addressing the Buddha as the Supreme Victor who has abandoned the net of great delusion and the afflictions of desire and hatred, and it concludes with the aspiration that all sentient beings may realize awakening through the author's accumulated merit. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the specific phrasing of these devotional invocations and the structure of the altruistic dedication that frames the work.

Sanskrit title: Vandanāstotra
Indian author: Nāgārjuna
Tibetan translators: Tilakakalaśa (Kaśmīr), pa tshab lo tsa ba nyi ma grags pa
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 in Adoration” (Toh 1136), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1136

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant for its attribution to Nāgārjuna, a foundational figure in Madhyamaka philosophy, suggesting a synthesis of high philosophy and devotional practice. It illustrates the standard Buddhist liturgical trajectory of combining praise for the enlightened state with the dedication of merit for the benefit of others.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Homage	Prostrations to the Tathāgatas and the Buddha as the conqueror of delusion.
2	Dedication	The dedication of accumulated merit for the awakening of all sentient beings.

Themes

Veneration of the Buddha (1)
Dedication of Merit (2)
Universal Awakening (2)

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

AnuvādaPraise in Adoration·

#༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། བན་ད་ན་#སྟོ་ཏྲ་ནཱ་མ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། ཕྱག་འཚལ་བའི་བསྟོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། གནོད་བྱེད་འདོད་ཆགས་ཞེ་སྡང་དང་། ། སྲིད་འཁོར་རྨོངས་ཆེན་དྲ་#བ་སྤངས། ། མཆོག་སྦྱིན་མཛད་པ་རྒྱལ་བ་མཆོག། མཆོག་བྱུང་སངས་རྒྱས་བདག་ཕྱག་འཚལ། ། ཡང་དག་ཐུགས་ཆུད་རྫོགས་སངས་རྒྱས། ། ལྷ་དང་ལྷ་མིན་མཆོད་བྱས་པ། ། འཇིག་རྟེན་གསུམ་གྱི་བླ་མ་ལ། ། མི་ ཕམ་མཉམ་པ་མེད་གྱུར་ཅིང་། ། བདུད་སྟོབས་ཕམ་མཛད་བདག་ཕྱག་འཚལ། ། ཤཱཀྱའི་རྒྱལ་པོའི་སྲས་སུ་འཁྲུངས། ། གདུང་ནི་ཉི་མའི་རིགས་སུ་གྲགས། ། དཔའ་བོ་རྨད་བྱུང་སངས་རྒྱས་ནི། ། ཡོན་ཏན་ཚོགས་ནི་བསྡུས་པ་ལ། ། ལྷ་མི་རླུང་ལྷས་མཆོད་ཕྱག་འཚལ། ། གསེར་གྱི་ རི་བོའི་རྩེ་འདྲའི་སྐུ། ། པདྨའི་འདབ་མའི་སྤྱན་མངའ་བ། ། གསེར་གྱི་མདོག་དང་ལྡན་གྱུར་ཅིང་། ། སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་གཉིས་མཚན་དང་ལྡན། ། ཤིས་ལྡན་མཚན་བཟང་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། མེ་དང་གློག་དང་མེ་སྟག་དང་། ། ཉི་ཟེར་སྟོང་ལྡན་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་ཅན། ། གང་གིས་སྟོབས་ནི་བརྒྱན་ གྱུར་པ། ། མཉམ་མེད་སྟོབས་ལྡན་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། དཔལ་ལྡན་མཆོག་ནི་འབར་བ་ཡི། ། བསོད་དང་དུལ་བར་ཡང་དག་ལྡན། ། ཐུབ་པའི་དབང་པོ་མཆོག་གྱུར་པ། ། ཡང་དག་བྱང་ཆུབ་བརྙེས་པ་ལ། ། ཆེས་དྲེགས་ཕྱག་བྱས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། གང་ཞིག་སེམས་ཅན་ཕན་ མཛད་ཅིང་། ། བདེ་བའི་དོན་ཕྱིར་སྙིང་རྗེས་འཇུག། ཡང་དག་དོན་ལ་ཞུགས་གྱུར་པས། ། མྱ་ངན་འདས་གྲོང་གཤེགས་ཕྱག་འཚལ། ། འདིས་ནི་ལྟོ་འཕྱེ་མི་འམ་ཅི། ། ལྷ་དང་ལྷ་མིན་ཕྱག་བྱས་པ། ། བདག་གིས་རྒྱལ་བ་བསྟོད་པ་ལས།

In the language of India: Vandana-stotra-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Phyag 'tshal ba'i bstod pa zhes bya ba (The Praise of Homage). Homage to all the Tathāgatas! I prostrate to the Supreme Victor, the Buddha, the source of excellence, who has abandoned the net of great delusion—the cycle of existence and the afflictions of desire and hatred—and who acts as the supreme bestower of gifts. I prostrate to the Perfect Buddha who has realized the ultimate truth, who is honored by gods and asuras, and who is the peerless Guru of the three worlds. I prostrate to the one who is invincible and without equal, who has defeated the forces of Māra, and who was born as the son of the King of the Śākyas, renowned as belonging to the Solar lineage. I prostrate to the wondrous Hero, the Buddha, who has gathered a multitude of qualities and is worshipped by gods, humans, and the wind-gods. I prostrate to the one whose body is like the peak of a golden mountain, whose eyes are like lotus petals, who possesses a golden complexion, and who is endowed with the thirty-two major marks. I prostrate to the one with auspicious and excellent marks. I prostrate to the one of incomparable strength, whose power is adorned like fire, lightning, sparks, and the thousand-rayed solar maṇḍala. I prostrate to the glorious and supreme one, who blazes with merit and is perfectly disciplined; to the Sovereign of Sages, the supreme one who has attained perfect awakening, to whom the most arrogant pay homage. I prostrate to the one who acts for the benefit of sentient beings, who engages in compassion for the sake of their happiness, and who, having entered the ultimate truth, has departed for the city of Nirvāṇa. Through this praise of the Victor, which has been offered by me, may the nāgas, kinnaras, gods, and asuras also pay homage.

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.

terminologyདེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ → “tathāgata”. Kept as the Sanskrit loan in translation (84000 practice), not 'Thus-Gone One'.

homonymདེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ is rendered “tathāgata” here; the glossary also records thus-gone, Thus-Gone One, thus-gone one for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionདེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ “tathāgata” — A frequently used synonym for buddha . According to different explanations, it can be read as tathā-gata , literally meaning “one who has thus gone,” or as tathā-āgata , “one who has thus come.” Gata , though literally m

definitionའདོད་ཆགས “desire” — One of the three basic mental afflictions (together with aversion and confusion) within which all other mental afflictions can be subsumed. The term rāga comes from the root rañj , which can also have the sense of “to co

definitionརྒྱལ་བ “Victorious One” — A particularly auspicious time that is marked by the moon passing through the constellation puṣya .

terminologyསངས་རྒྱས → “buddha”. The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carried by context, not by a suffix.

homonymསངས་རྒྱས is rendered “buddha” here; the glossary also records Awakened, awakened, Buddha for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionསངས་རྒྱས “buddha” — The Indic term buddha means "The Awakened One" and is used in Buddhism as an epithet for the historical Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama as well as other spiritually enlightened beings in general. “ Buddha ” is the past partici

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

periodལྷ → “god”. Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.

homonymལྷ is rendered “god” here; the glossary also records deva, divine being, God for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionལྷ “god” — In the most general sense the devas‍—the term is cognate with the English divine ‍—are a class of celestial beings who frequently appear in Buddhist texts, often at the head of the assemblies of nonhuman beings who atten

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termབསྟོད་པ → praise

termདེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ → tathāgata

termའདོད་ཆགས → desire

termརྒྱལ་བ → Victorious One

termསངས་རྒྱས → buddha

། བསོད་ནམས་བདག་གིས་གང་བསགས་པ། ། དེས་ནི་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱང་། ། བྱང་ཆུབ་ཁོང་དུ་ཆུད་པར་ཤོག། ཕྱག་འཚལ་བའི་བསྟོད་པ་སློབ་དཔོན་འཕགས་པ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། །

By whatever merit I have accumulated, may all sentient beings likewise realize awakening. This concludes the Praise of Homage composed by the master, the noble Nāgārjuna.

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

adherencePinned rendering paraphrased here: self

termབསོད་ནམས → merit

termབདག → self

termབྱང་ཆུབ → awakening

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termབསྟོད་པ → praise

termསློབ་དཔོན → ācārya

Terminology used in this text (24)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	2
བསྟོད་པ	praise	2
བདག	self	2
བྱང་ཆུབ	awakening	2
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ	tathāgata	1	Kept as the Sanskrit loan in translation (84000 practice), not 'Thus-Gone One'.
འདོད་ཆགས	desire	1
རྒྱལ་བ	Victorious One	1
སངས་རྒྱས	buddha	1	The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carr
ལྷ	god	1	Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.
ལྷ་མིན	asura	1
བླ་མ	guru	1
བདུད	Māra	1
རིགས	family	1	The tantric 'family' (buddha-family); not 'lineage' (which is རྒྱུད་པ or བརྒྱུད་པ).
རྩ	channel	1
མཚན	name	1	མཚན་བརྗོད is recitation of names; in མཚན་ཉིད it is a 'definition' (lakṣaṇa) — same spelling, different word.
མེ	fire	1	In ritual and cosmological prose མེ is the element 'fire'; Agni is the deity only where he is named or invoked. Do not c
དཀྱིལ་འཁོར	maṇḍala	1
དབང་པོ	Indra	1
མི་འམ་ཅི	kinnara	1
ལས	action	1	84000 uses 'action' where the mechanics matter, 'karma' where it is a fixed term.
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.

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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