Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The Guṇāparyanta-stotra is a devotional hymn that articulates the infinite qualities of a Buddha, specifically focusing on the intersection of omniscient wisdom and universal compassion. The text argues that the Buddha's enlightenment is not a private achievement for personal peace, but a tool deployed for the benefit of all sentient beings. It emphasizes the Buddha's role as a guide who navigates the dangers of the lower realms and the turbulence of afflictions to lead beings toward higher realms. The work is structured as a series of praises that contrast the darkness of ignorance and the fragility of ordinary existence with the stability and radiance of the Buddha's qualities. By presenting the Buddha as a father-like figure who absorbs the ripening of negative karma and provides the methods for pacification, the text commits the reader to a recognition of the Buddha's indispensable role in the process of liberation, framing the Buddha's merit as a resource dedicated entirely to the prosperity of others.
Provenance
About this text
A praise of infinite qualities, the Guṇāparyantastotra is a work of the classical Tibetan tradition attributed to the Indian author Triratnadāsa. The text was translated into Tibetan by Sarvajñādeva and the lo tsa ba Ban+de Rin chen mchog. It is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཀ, where it comprises ten pages and is situated within the Eulogy collection. The work articulates the infinite qualities of a Buddha, specifically focusing on the intersection of omniscient wisdom and universal compassion. It argues that the Buddha's enlightenment is not a private achievement for personal peace, but a tool deployed for the benefit of all sentient beings, emphasizing his role as a guide who navigates the dangers of the lower realms and the turbulence of afflictions. By contrasting the darkness of ignorance and the fragility of ordinary existence with the stability and radiance of the Buddha's qualities, the text presents the Buddha as a figure who absorbs the ripening of negative karma and provides methods for pacification. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today to recognize the Buddha's indispensable role in leading beings toward higher realms and to examine the devotional framework that links the Victor's excellence to the perpetual arising of compassion.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Praise of Limitless Good Qualities” (Toh 1155), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1155
Summary & commentary
Significance
This work is significant within the Indo-Tibetan tradition as it exemplifies the stotra genre's function in cultivating devotion through the detailed enumeration of a Buddha's virtues. For the modern reader, it provides insight into the Buddhist conceptualization of the Bodhisattva path, where personal merit is systematically redirected toward the collective liberation of all beings.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-6
Praise of Compassion and Merit
The text establishes the immeasurable nature of the Buddha's qualities and his commitment to sharing the fruits of his merit with all sentient beings.
7-11
The Activity of the Sage
The text describes the Buddha's interaction with beings of different capacities and his role in pacifying suffering and ignorance.
Themes
Universal Compassion (2, 4, 8)
The Nature of Merit (5, 6)
Overcoming Ignorance and Affliction (3, 9, 11)
The Role of the Teacher (7, 10)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Guṇāparyanta-stotra. In the language of Tibet: Yon tan mtha' yas par bstod pa (Praise of Infinite Qualities). Homage to the Omniscient One!
If one were not to speak your praises because the qualities of the Victor are beyond measure, then no one at all would offer you praise, for the world does not perceive your excellence. Since it is not a fault for these beings to offer you praise, I therefore exert myself in this matter, though my intellect is very small.
Possessing a mind intent on benefiting the three realms of existence, you are worthy of praise even while dwelling in the lower realms. Those with minds that aspire only to their own self-interest are not even in nirvāṇa; therefore, you do not turn back from the terrors of saṃsāra, but are steadfast and immovable. You strive to fully protect the world, which is tormented by birth and death.
Toward those sentient beings in the realms of existence whose minds are wounded by various sufferings, you think: "By my own harsh intellect, I have brought about those various sufferings; therefore, I shall endure them in order to produce happiness for them." Thus, you strive to produce the bliss of peace for wandering beings.
Those sentient beings who, blinded by ignorance, possess minds of degenerate intent—those who have been my fathers and sons and who benefited me with the love of kin—thinking it improper for me to abandon them and seek liberation alone, you made the aspiration to surely liberate these protectorless beings. In the past, when you were experiencing all the sufferings of saṃsāra, to me...
Those who, out of long-standing affection and a loving heart, have assisted you a hundred times, how could you employ them and then make full use of them only when you have attained happiness? Therefore, you strive to partake of even the nectar in common with all sentient beings. Having considered that you would enjoy the supreme gift together with sentient beings in the world, you never abandon them; thus, your teaching is such that just as when you were born as a parrot and used a young tree, you strove not to abandon it even when the tree grew old. Because you did not think to pass into nirvana while beings had not yet passed beyond sorrow, and because you did not act until you were able to attain the state of a Sugata, you strove to attain the treasury of omniscient qualities. Aside from taking the qualities of the ten powers as your own, you have no other subtle faults. Even those who have attained the state of a Sugata have, at times, fallen into circumstances far more wretched than this; therefore, even when you fell into a perilous state, you did not disparage yourself. It is improper to disparage oneself, for a noble person does not allow themselves to be discouraged. Because you thought, "If I could attain awakening through my own effort and dependence on myself, the state of a Buddha would not be difficult to find," your resolve arose. Therefore, even in times of peril, you did not turn back from your firm aspiration for omniscience, and you held in contempt the words of those who delight in the base.
The turbulent river of afflictions, the ever-open mouths of the lower realms, the deceptions of ordinary beings, and the constant presence of negative companions—thinking, "The Sages are difficult to find," such is the cause for the discouragement of beings. Yet, that very thing has become the cause for your compassion to arise perpetually.
Just as your mind develops an exceedingly loving attitude toward all beings, even the worldly do not develop such a mind of love even toward themselves. When the world falls into a state of destitution, they would even abandon themselves; yet you, even in times of extreme peril, have no desire to abandon beings.
When one sees a person who is lowly, destitute, and full of hope, yet—out of a desire for the fruit of cruelty—seeks out the qualities of others while disparaging them, that person of ruined mind is said to be the same as the beggars even while practicing generosity. Therefore, out of compassion, you have engaged in the desire to give to those who beg.
Some, though not themselves disciplined, may speak words endowed with reason; yet, because their conduct contradicts their own words, they are unable to discipline others. Realizing this, you have taken all beings to heart and, for the time being, strive to discipline yourself first, as you are not yet disciplined.
Although the non-virtuous actions of the wise may indeed turn into the bliss of peace, the Noble Ones should never resort to non-virtue. Therefore, you have always turned away from sinful actions through your naturally pure nature.
It was not out of fear of the lower realms, nor was it for the sake of enjoying the pleasures of the gods. If those who practice for the sake of their own peace, without regard for wandering beings, do not achieve their intentions unless they apply diligence, what need is there to mention those who have undertaken diligence in order to liberate every single being? Therefore, you did not look to your own happiness, but strove for the sake of awakening. Even when your wealth was meager, you did not abandon the desire to give; though your possessions were few, you bestowed them upon beggars with a heart free from discouragement. Though you possessed great power, you never engaged in conduct that contradicted proper ethics; though you were in the prime of youth, your mind was never attached to sensual desires. Even when you possessed great learning and wisdom, you did not praise yourself, yet you held others in high esteem, even those of little virtue. While abiding in a collection of qualities, you scrutinized even your own smallest faults; yet toward unruly beings, you remained effortless and dwelt in peace. Although your mind delighted in peace through weariness with existence and afflictions, through your very compassion, your deeds remained in harmony with the needs of ordinary people. Though you knew that no one experiences a result except for the one who performs the action, you nevertheless cultivated the treasures of merit in order to increase the prosperity of sentient beings. Whatever qualities you always possessed, such as insight and the rest, you employed them solely for the benefit of wandering beings.
From that:
Your merit does not bear fruit elsewhere; though you have dedicated it all for the prosperity of wandering beings, it is not without purpose. There has never been a time when you were separated from the means to benefit others. Your methods have not been meager, nor has your fruit been absent or small. You do not take pleasure in the undertaking of minor merit, yet you are not satiated by the rivers of merit, like the ocean of water.
The splendor of the full autumn moon at night, the majestic lotus ponds that delight the eyes of the sleepless, and the mountain peaks crowned with hundreds of trees in full bloom—these cannot steal away the mind of you who delight solely in benefiting others. When the world is reviled by sufferings, you, out of love for it yourself, recognized through your compassionate mind that the enjoyment of sensory objects is not to be indulged in. Thus, though you possess the sovereignty of the four continents, your mind is not captivated by sensory realms. Because you have devoted yourself to the welfare of others, time has passed by very quickly.
When the wealthy and prosperous do not properly employ their riches for those who beg, they are like the trees in a cemetery, weighed down by the burden of their own blooming flowers. Therefore, because beggars do not frequent the wealth of those with inferior merit, the fact that there are no beggars for your treasures has become a source of concern to your heart. Those who are merciless, like merchants in this world, seek results for the sake of profit.
You have no desire to give even the fruits to those who beg, for your acts of giving are intended to benefit others in the future. Therefore, the fruits themselves are held in the hands of the beggars. Like birds to the ripened fruit on a tree on a mountainside, or like the weary to a pond in the wilderness surrounded by fine groves, the beggars—delighting in you who are free from hesitation—approach you with confidence and remain waiting. When you give away your wealth, subjects, queens, and even your own flesh and life, you are so diligent in giving even your own young son—so lovely, like the crescent of the autumn moon, and possessed of a stainless form—to the beggars, that such familiarity with giving has become firm within your mind. Even those actions which, if heard of, would cause harm to arise in this world, or those which you yourself would not practice for a long time, have become your natural state through habituation. Therefore, it is difficult to increase virtues without having fully cultivated them. Just as a physician, in order to clear away a spirit that has seized a patient, may strike and speak harsh words, yet does not strike the one who is possessed; so too, you act with a lack of affection toward the afflictions themselves, yet you exercise compassion toward the beings who are afflicted.
You have always respectfully accumulated superior qualities; toward those who are your equals, you have practiced with a loving heart in order to cultivate qualities; and toward the lowly, you have produced qualities through supreme diligence and compassion. You have engaged in acting for the benefit of beings in whatever way was appropriate.
Just as a nurse, though she employs many various methods, does so to eliminate the child’s illness and not for her own pleasure or for the sake of her body, so too you have, with great diligence, cultivated your own nature of qualities for the sake of the world’s enjoyment, and not for the sake of fame or to overwhelm others. Your intellect has engaged in knowing the methods to benefit others; thus, through your compassion, you have engaged in those very ways.
Though you possess noble diligence and great exertion, you have never become weary. Through these three, you have not failed to accomplish the benefit of others in the slightest. You do not desire the activities of one who exerts great effort, yet this singular, most marvelous, and inconceivable conduct has arisen. Because you have realized that sentient beings do not exist, yet for the sake of sentient beings, you remain in existence for incalculable eons.
Because you teach ultimate wisdom and demonstrate conventional compassion, you who contemplate according to the truth do not perceive sentient beings to exist; yet, when you are endowed with the compassion that generates the ten powers, [you act for their sake].
At that time, you were as loving toward the wretched beings as a father is to his son. Since beings are exhausted and afflicted, they have not attained supreme awakening; and because they are inclined toward afflictions, they do not even obtain the healing of their own actions. Therefore, when you exerted firm diligence to attain awakening, you did not utterly incinerate the afflictions, but abandoned them like pieces of wood. Because your afflictions were held by mindfulness and wisdom, various qualities were accomplished. The abandonment of afflictions also became a proximate cause for awakening. In this way, they did not cause your mind to falter or wander, and your successive births among beings were made into a field for qualities. When beings were afflicted and overcome by hundreds of sufferings, they were without effort and without a protector, wandering here and there. When you, who have conquered the enemy of afflictions, acted with compassion toward those beings, you gained mastery over taking birth, emptiness, and abiding. Having destroyed the latent tendencies that take the sphere of the base of nothingness as their object, you explained for a long time to the assembly of noble ones the methods for abandoning them. You, who possess the skillful means to heal the three worlds, drew them back out once more and even made aspirations to take hundreds of births among animals. Since you possess mastery over those whose previous non-virtuous karmic ripenings were not fixed, you directed yourself toward the animal realm.
You have accomplished the purpose intended in your heart by drawing forth the ripening of karma. Just as the secret mantras (mantra) taught by the sages pacify the power of poison, you have always abandoned unwholesome phenomena and the battlefields of conflict. O Wise One who causes beings to flourish, just as you have come to possess discipline and ascetic observances (vrata) without effort, you have practiced the conduct of the sublime ones that accomplishes awakening (bodhi).
Like a mother, never separated from compassion, you act without fear among suffering beings in order to dispel their various miseries. Your skill in means (upāya-kauśalya) has never encountered anything difficult to accomplish or difficult to attain. Because you tame beings submerged in sin through various means, even those in the animal realm have become of great benefit, just like those in the higher realms. Even though you were born in the lower realms, your excellent conduct never declined; therefore, even your "sins" became virtues, equal to goodness itself.
By relying well upon you, some have entered the three types of awakening (bodhi) according to their respective intellects. Likewise, you have established others in the states of meditative concentration (dhyāna) and the formless realms. Some have engaged in generosity and have come to understand the definitive way. There is no one in the world whom you have not benefited. Among the beings in the world, those who seek definitive liberation—
You drew them near to the higher realms
And brought their virtues to full maturity.
When you moved among beings to bring them peace,
It was like the great sages of the past who brought peace by appearing in their proper times.
Because you thought, "No one else can pacify the births of beings except for one who cuts them off and acts as a perfect Buddha,"
Your mind was thus resolved upon awakening.
Therefore, you spent your time correctly teaching the paths from the peak of existence downward.
The world is blinded by ignorance, failing to realize
That beings wander through many sufferings and do not transcend the boundary of the Lord of Death.
The fearless Noble Path followed by the great sages of old—
That you yourself realized in order to bring an end to the suffering of beings.
Just as at the end of an eon, many suns dry up the waters,
And a spreading, raging great fire consumes even the ashes of this world,
So too, you who are free from pride, have surely burned away even the habitual tendencies of the thinned afflictions
With the blazing great fire of primordial wisdom.
Those who wish to dwell in the presence of the Gurus of the three worlds
Must be incompatible with even the slightest darkness.
When you attained perfect awakening, those infinite qualities
Were acquired all at once, like birds settling in a tree.
The sun, possessing a thousand clear rays, and the moon, freed from clouds, bring exceeding joy as they abide fixed in the center of the sky. Yet, for those beings covered by the dense darkness of ignorance who wander in the thick wilderness of existence, you have taught the methods to utterly pacify that gloom. "This is the pervasive suffering; this is its origin, which causes it to arise; this is its cessation; and this is the method for realizing and applying it"—in this way, Brahmā, you have taught the pure, stainless moonlight. By realizing these, even those of inferior birth will attain the state of Brahmā. As long as the light of the sun has not been made to set by the King of Mountains in the west, it continues to pacify the dimness of the world. So too, the methods you taught to bring an end to birth and death continue to pacify the darkness of the heart even after you have passed into peace. Thus, O Chief of Brahmās, Teacher of the Gods, through this praise offered to the Sugata who is worthy of praise and who dwells in person, may the treasure of merit I have accumulated lead all beings to that excellence intended by the Great Sages.
The Praise of Infinite Qualities composed by the master Ratnabandhu is complete. Translated by the Indian preceptor Sarvajñadeva and the translator-monk Rinchen Chok; edited and finalized by the chief editor and translator-monk Paltsek.