Toh 1143 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

Praise in Eight Verses

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

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 1143
Genre: Eulogy
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 001_བསྟོད་ཚོགས།_ཀ.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,384 Tibetan characters · 371 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 in Eight Verses (Padaṣṭaka-stotra) is a devotional hymn dedicated to Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta. The text employs a series of traditional Indian poetic similes to characterize the physical and mental attributes of the deity, equating his appearance and presence with symbols of power and purity. By comparing the deity's face to the full moon, his voice to a lion's roar, and his strength to an elephant, the work establishes the figure as an embodiment of supreme stability and spiritual authority. The text transitions from describing the deity's general form to a specific act of prostration directed toward the feet, which are marked with auspicious signs. Through this structure, the text commits the reader to a practice of visualization and veneration, positioning the deity as a liberated being who transcends cyclic existence and commands the reverence of celestial beings.

Provenance

About this text

A hymn of praise dedicated to Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta, the Padāṣṭakastotra belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. The work is attributed to the Indian author Anantadeva. It is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཀ, where it comprises two pages and is situated within the Eulogy collection. In the Tibetan tradition, it is known as the tshig brgyad pa'i bstod pa. The work enacts a ritual of veneration through a series of prostrations, employing traditional Indian poetic similes to characterize the deity's physical and mental attributes. By equating the figure's face with the full moon, his voice with a lion's roar, and his strength with an elephant, the text establishes the deity as an embodiment of spiritual authority and stability. The focus shifts from the general form to the specific auspicious signs upon the feet, positioning the deity as a liberated being who transcends cyclic existence. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the specific imagery used to describe the deity's stainless body and the traditional markers of divinity, such as the wheels upon the soles and the eternal swastika, which command the reverence of celestial beings.

Sanskrit title: Padāṣṭakastotra
Indian author: Anantadeva
Tibetan translators: not recorded
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 Eight Verses” (Toh 1143), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1143

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant as an example of the stotra genre, utilizing standardized iconography to communicate the qualities of an enlightened being. For the modern reader, it illustrates the intersection of Indian poetic conventions and Tibetan Buddhist translation practices.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Physical and Mental Attributes	A description of the deity's face, eyes, voice, strength, and mental stability using animal and celestial similes.
2	Prostration and Auspicious Signs	An expression of reverence directed toward the deity's purified body and the specific marks on the soles of the feet.

Themes

Iconography of Enlightenment (1-2)
Devotional Prostration (2)
Liberation from Cyclic Existence (2)

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

AnuvādaPraise in Eight Verses·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། པ་ད་སྱ་ཨཥྚ་ཀ་སྟོ་ཏྲཾ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། ཚིག་བརྒྱད་པའི་བསྟོད་པ། འཇམ་དཔལ་གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། ཟླ་རྒྱས་ཞལ་འདྲ་ཁྱུ་མཆོག་འདྲ་བའི་སྤྱན། ། སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ་འདྲ་གླང་པོའི་སྟོབས་འདྲ་ཞིང་། ། རི་དབང་རྒྱལ་བརྟན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་འདྲ་བའི་ཐུགས། ། ལྷ་དབང་བླ་མའི་ ཐུགས་དབང་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། སྤྱན་གསུམ་སྤྱན་ལེགས་པདྨ་ལྟར་ཡངས་སྤྱན། ། གནོད་སྦྱིན་ཀླུ་ཡི་མི་འདྲས་གཟིགས་མཛད་ཅིང་། ། ཐར་པ་ཐོབ་མཛད་སྤྱན་ནི་དཀྱུས་རིང་བ། ། སྤྱན་སྟོང་གཟིགས་པ་ཁྱོད་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། ལྷ་མཆོག་དུ་མའི་ཡན་ལག་མཆོག་གིས་བཏུད། ། བཙོ་མའི་གསེར་ལྟར་འབར་སྐུ་མཆོད་འོས་སྐུ། ། མཚན་བཟང་མཛེས་པས་རྣམ་པར་བརྒྱན་པའི་སྐུ། ། བདེ་གཤེགས་དེ་ལ་སྤྱི་བོས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། བློ་གྲོས་རྒྱས་ཤིང་གསེར་ལྟར་དྲི་མ་མེད། ། བློ་གྲོས་གྲགས་ཤིང་མཁས་པའི་བློ་དང་ལྡན། ། སངས་རྒྱས་མཁའ་ལྟར་དྲི་མེད་སྤྱན་ མངའ་བ། ། དཔའ་བོ་མི་གཡོ་བློ་མངའ་དེ་ལ་འདུད། ། སྨྲ་བའི་མཆོག་གྱུར་སྙན་པའི་དོན་གསུང་བ། ། ཡང་དག་དོན་གསུང་འདུལ་བའི་དོན་གསུང་ཞིང་། ། སྨྲ་བའི་དབང་ཕྱུག་རྒོལ་བས་མི་བསྐྱོད་གསུང་། ། བདེན་བཞི་གསུང་བའི་རྒྱལ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། གཞན་དུ་མི་འདུལ་ འདུལ་བའི་དོན་དུ་འདུལ། ། ཉོན་མོངས་སྤོང་སོགས་རྣམས་པར་དག་པས་འདུལ། ། ཐུབ་པ་ཚུལ་སྤྱོད་ཆེན་པོས་ལེགས་པར་མཛད། ། སྙོམས་ཤིང་མཛེས་པའི་ཚེམས་ལྡན་མགོན་ལ་འདུད། ། བསོད་ནམས་དཔག་མེད་བསགས་པས་སྐུ་མཛེས་ལ། ། འདོམ་གང་འོད་ཀྱི་དཀྱིལ་ འཁོར་འབར་བའི་སྐུ། །

In the language of India: Padaṣṭaka-stotra. In the language of Tibet: Tshig brgyad pa’i bstod pa (The Praise in Eight Verses). Homage to Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta! With a face like the full moon and eyes like a bull, With a voice like a lion’s roar and strength like an elephant, With a mind as stable as the King of Mountains and like the ocean, To the heart of the Guru, the Lord of Gods, I prostrate. With three eyes, beautiful eyes, and eyes as wide as lotuses, You gaze with the eyes of yakṣas and nāgas; With long, elongated eyes that grant the attainment of liberation, To you who see with a thousand eyes, I prostrate. Bowed down by the supreme limbs of many sublime deities, With a body blazing like refined gold, a body worthy of offerings, With a body beautifully adorned by the excellent marks, To that Sugata, I prostrate with my crown. With expansive wisdom, stainless like gold, With renowned wisdom and the intellect of the learned, Possessing the Buddha’s stainless eyes like the sky, To that hero of unwavering intellect, I bow. Supreme among speakers, you speak of meaningful and pleasant words; You speak of the authentic meaning and speak for the sake of discipline; Lord of speech, your speech is unshakable by opponents, To the Victor who speaks the Four Truths, I prostrate. You discipline those not otherwise disciplined for the sake of discipline; You discipline through the purity of abandoning afflictions and so forth; The Sage, through great conduct, acts excellently; To the Protector with even and beautiful teeth, I bow. With a beautiful body from having accumulated immeasurable merit, With a body blazing with a halo of light one fathom wide,

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.

definitionའཇམ་དཔལ་གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པ “Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta” — Evolved from the gandharva Pañcaśikha in early Buddhism, which remains one of Mañjuśrī ’s alternate names. Pañcaśikha was a gandharva who lived on a five-peaked mountain, and who brought the Buddha information on what wa

terminologyདབང → “empowerment”. In compounds དབང་ཆེན is 'great power' (a deity epithet), not 'great empowerment'.

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

definitionགནོད་སྦྱིན “yakṣa” — A class of nonhuman beings who inhabit forests, mountainous areas, and other natural spaces, or serve as guardians of villages and towns, and may be propitiated for health, wealth, protection, and other boons, or control

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

terminologyམཚན → “name”. མཚན་བརྗོད is recitation of names; in མཚན་ཉིད it is a 'definition' (lakṣaṇa) — same spelling, different word.

homonymམཚན is rendered “name” here; the glossary also records major signs, buddha marks, auspicious marks for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionམཚན “name” — The thirty-two primary physical characteristics of a “great being,” mahāpuruṣa , which every buddha and cakravartin possesses. They are considered “major” in terms of being primary to the eighty minor marks or signs of a

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.

termབསྟོད་པ → praise

termའཇམ་དཔལ་གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པ → Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termདབང → empowerment

termལྷ → god

termགནོད་སྦྱིན → yakṣa

གསེར་སྦྱངས་བཙོ་མ་ལྟ་བུར་དྲི་མེད་སྐུ། ། སྲིད་ལས་གྲོལ་སྐུ་རྒྱལ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། འཁོར་ལོས་ཞབས་གནས་མཆོག་གི་མཚན་ལྡན་ཞབས། ། ལྷ་དབང་སྤྱི་བོས་ལེགས་པར་བཏུད་པའི་ཞབས། ། ཞབས་སོར་དྲ་བས་ལེགས་བརྒྱན་མཛེས་པའི་ཞབས། ། དཔལ་བེའུ་གཡུང་དྲུང་གིས་མཚན་ཞབས་ལ་འདུད། ། ཚིག་བརྒྱད་པའི་བསྟོད་པ་དགེ་བསྙེན་མཐའ་ཡས་ལྷས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། །

To the stainless body, like refined and purified gold, To the Victorious One, the body liberated from cyclic existence, I prostrate. To the feet marked with the supreme signs, the wheels upon the soles, To the feet to which the crown of the Lord of Gods bows in reverence, To the beautiful feet, well-adorned with webs between the toes, To the feet marked with the glorious knot and the eternal swastika, I bow. The Eight-Line Praise, composed by the layman Ananta-deva, is hereby complete.

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

definitionདགེ་བསྙེན “layman” — The upāsaka precepts for lay practitioners include the five fundamental vows ( pañcaśīla ) not to (1) kill, (2) steal, (3) commit sexual misconduct, (4) lie, or (5) use intoxicants. Additionally, three other precepts are

definitionམཐའ་ཡས “Ananta” — One of the principal nāga kings. Also known as Śeṣa or Anataśeṣa. Considered the source of Patañjali grammar in Buddhism. In Vaiśnavism he is the serpent that Viṣṇu rests upon in between the creations of worlds.

adherencePinned rendering paraphrased here: action; homage; name; empowerment

termལས → action

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termམཚན → name

termལྷ → god

termདབང → empowerment

termབསྟོད་པ → praise

Terminology used in this text (15)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
བསྟོད་པ	praise	2
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	2
དབང	empowerment	2	In compounds དབང་ཆེན is 'great power' (a deity epithet), not 'great empowerment'.
ལྷ	god	2	Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.
མཚན	name	2	མཚན་བརྗོད is recitation of names; in མཚན་ཉིད it is a 'definition' (lakṣaṇa) — same spelling, different word.
འཇམ་དཔལ་གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པ	Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta	1
གནོད་སྦྱིན	yakṣa	1
ཀླུ	nāga	1	Serpent-deities, not 'dragons'. The Old Tibetan spelling ཀླུ is stable.
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
དབང་ཕྱུག	Īśvara	1
ཉོན་མོངས	affliction	1
བསོད་ནམས	merit	1
ལས	action	1	84000 uses 'action' where the mechanics matter, 'karma' where it is a fixed term.
དགེ་བསྙེན	layman	1
མཐའ་ཡས	Ananta	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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