Toh 1164 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

Praise of the Five Tathāgatas

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

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 1164
Genre: Eulogy
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 001_བསྟོད་ཚོགས།_ཀ.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,414 Tibetan characters · 333 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 Pañcatathāgatastava is a devotional hymn dedicated to the Five Tathāgatas, specifically focusing on the figure of Vairocana. The text employs a structure of formal prostration and praise, attributing to the deity the role of Protector of the Three Worlds and the embodiment of the five wisdoms. By detailing the physical attributes of the deity—such as the jeweled crown and the mudrā of bestowing supreme awakening—the text seeks to evoke the infinite perfection of qualities associated with the bhūmis and the attainment of enlightenment. The reader is committed to a practice of veneration that recognizes the Tathāgatas as the ontological sources of wisdom and fearlessness. The fragmented nature of the provided passages suggests a larger liturgical work intended to facilitate the practitioner's connection to the five-fold wisdom system through the visualization of the deities' forms and symbolic gestures.

Provenance

About this text

A praise to the five Tathāgatas, the Pañcatathāgatastava belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. The record does not name an author. It was translated into Tibetan by Padmākaravarman and the monk rin chen bzang po, appearing in the Eulogy collection of the Tengyur, volume ཀ, where it occupies two pages. The work enacts a ritual of veneration and prostration, specifically honoring the Supreme Sage Vairocana as the Protector of the Three Worlds. Through the description of Vairocana's white body, his lion throne, and the mudrā of bestowing supreme awakening, the text manifests the five wisdoms and the infinite perfection of qualities associated with the bhūmis. A scholar or serious reader consults this work to examine the visualization of the deities' forms and the liturgical structure used to facilitate a connection to the five-fold wisdom system.

Sanskrit title: Pañcatathāgatastava
Indian author: not recorded
Tibetan translators: Padmākaravarman, zhu chen gyi lo tsA ba dge slong rin chen bzang po
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 Five Tathāgatas” (Toh 1164), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1164

Summary & commentary

Significance

This work is significant as it reflects the integration of Indian Buddhist iconography and the five-fold wisdom system into the Tibetan tradition. It demonstrates the use of praise as a meditative tool to internalize the qualities of the enlightened mind. The emphasis on Vairocana suggests a framework aligned with the Five Buddha Family system common in Vajrayāna Buddhism.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1-2	Praise to Vairocana	A series of prostrations and descriptions of the physical and spiritual attributes of Vairocana, including his mudrā and the five wisdoms.

Themes

The Five Wisdoms (2)
Iconography and Mudrā (2)
Divine Perfection (1)

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

AnuvādaPraise of the Five Tathāgatas·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། པཉྩ་ཏ་ཐཱ་ག་ཏ་སྟ་བཿ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ལྔ་ལ་བསྟོད་པ། གསུང་གི་མངའ་བདག་ ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། འཇིག་རྟེན་གསུམ་མགོན་ཡོན་ཏན་མཐའ་མེད་ཕ་རོལ་ཕྱིན། ། འོ་མའི་མཚོ་ལྟར་དཀར་ཡངས་མཛེས་པའི་སྐུ་དང་ལྡན། ། མཉམ་མེད་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་དངོས་སེང་གེའི་ཁྲི་ལ་བཞུགས། ། ཐུབ་མཆོག་རྣམ་པར་སྣང་བ་དེ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། མདངས་ལྡན་ནོར་བུ་ མཐོན་ཀ་ཆེན་པོ་ལྟར་འཕྲོ་བའི། ། འོད་ཀྱིས་ཕྱོགས་རྣམས་མ་ལུས་སྣང་བར་མཛད་པ་པོ། ། འཇིག་རྟེན་གསུམ་ན་རྨད་བྱུང་གླང་པོའི་ཁྲི་ལ་བཞུགས། ། བསྙེངས་བྲལ་སངས་རྒྱས་མི་བསྐྱོད་དེ་ལ་རྟག་ཕྱག་འཚལ། ། རིན་ཆེན་དབང་བསྐུར་འབྱོར་པས་འགྲོ་དོན་མཛད་ལ་མཁས། ། བསོད་ནམས་ཚོགས་མངའ་རི་རྒྱལ་མངོན་སུམ་རྒྱུ་འདྲ་ཞིང་། ། གསེར་གྱི་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ལྟ་བུས་རྟ་ཡི་གདན་ལ་བཞུགས། ། ཐུབ་པ་རིན་ཆེན་འབྱུང་ལྡན་དེ་ལ་རྟག་ཕྱག་འཚལ། ། རྨ་བྱའི་རིགས་གསལ་བརྒྱ་ཡིས་མཛེས་བྱས་སྣང་བ་ཡི། ། འོད་ཀྱིས་ཕྱོགས་ཀུན་ཁེབས་པས་མངོན་དགའ་ པདྨ་ནི། ། རཱ་གའི་རི་བོ་ལྟར་མཛེས་རྨ་བྱའི་གདན་བཞུགས་པ། ། ཐུབ་པ་དཔག་མེད་འོད་མངའ་དེ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། དམ་ཆོས་འོད་ཟེར་ཚོགས་ཀྱིས་མུན་པ་སེལ་མཛད་པའི། ། འོད་ཀྱི་སྣང་བས་ནམ་མཁའི་ཆ་ཀུན་རྣམ་པར་འགེངས། ། བཻ་ཌཱུཪྻ་ཡི་མཚོ་ལྟར་མཁའ་ལྡིང་གདན་ལ་ བཞུགས། ། སངས་རྒྱས་དོན་ཡོད་གྲུབ་པ་དེ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། སེང་གེ་གླང་པོ་རྟ་དང་རྨ་བྱ་མཁའ་ལྡིང་གདན་ལ་རྡོ་རྗེ་སྐྱིལ་ཀྲུང་བཞུགས། ། སྐུ་མདོག་རིམ་བཞིན་དཀར་དང་སྔོ་དང་སེར་དང་དྲི་མེད་དམར་དང་ལྗང་གྱུར་ཅིང་། །

In the language of India: Pañcatathāgatastava. In the language of Tibet: De bzhin gshegs pa lnga la bstod pa. Homage to the Lord of Speech. I prostrate to the Supreme Sage Vairocana, the Protector of the Three Worlds, who has reached the infinite perfection of qualities. His beautiful body is as white and vast as a lake of milk; he sits upon a lion throne, the very embodiment of peerless suchness. I perpetually prostrate to the Buddha Akṣobhya, who is free from fear. He illuminates all directions without exception with light radiating like a great sapphire; he sits upon an elephant throne, a marvel in the three worlds. I perpetually prostrate to the Sage Ratnasambhava, who is skilled in benefiting beings through the wealth of the precious empowerment. Possessing a vast collection of merit, he is like the visible king of mountains; he sits upon a horse seat, like a golden ocean. I prostrate to the Sage Amitābha, who possesses immeasurable light. His appearance is beautified by a hundred clear peacock feathers; his light covers all directions. He sits upon a peacock throne, as beautiful as a mountain of ruby; I prostrate to that Sage of immeasurable light. I prostrate to the Buddha Amoghasiddhi, who dispels darkness with the mass of light rays of the sublime Dharma. The radiance of his light completely fills every part of space; he sits upon a garuḍa throne, like a lake of lapis lazuli. Seated in the vajra posture upon lion, elephant, horse, peacock, and garuḍa thrones, their body colors are respectively white, blue, yellow, stainless red, and green.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

terminologyརིགས → “family”. The tantric 'family' (buddha-family); not 'lineage' (which is རྒྱུད་པ or བརྒྱུད་པ).

definitionརིགས “family” — Generally a reference to a person’s spiritual disposition.

termདེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ → tathāgata

termབསྟོད་པ → praise

termབདག → self

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termདེ་བཞིན་ཉིད → suchness

termསངས་རྒྱས → buddha

བྱང་ཆུབ་མཆོག་དང་ས་རེག་མཆོག་སྦྱིན་ཏིང་འཛིན་མི་ འཇིགས་སྦྱིན་པའི་ཕྱག་རྒྱས་མཚན། ། རང་རིགས་རིན་ཆེན་ཅོད་པན་ལྡན་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལྔ་ཡི་བདག་ཉིད་དེ་ལ་འདུད། ། དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ལྔའི་བསྟོད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། ། ། ། རྒྱ་གར་གྱི་མཁན་པོ་པདྨ་ཀ་ར་ཝརྨ་དང་། ཞུ་ཆེན་གྱི་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་དགེ་སློང་རིན་ཆེན་བཟང་པོས་བསྒྱུར་ ཅིང་ཞུས་ཏེ་གཏན་ལ་ཕབ་པ། །

I bow to the one who possesses the mudrā of bestowing supreme awakening, the supreme attainment of the bhūmis, and fearlessness, and who is the embodiment of the five wisdoms, adorned with the jeweled crown of his own family. This concludes the praise to the five Tathāgatas. It was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian abbot Padmakaravarma and the chief editor and translator, the monk Rinchen Zangpo.

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

definitionབྱང་ཆུབ “awakening” — I.e., awakening to the reality of phenomena (inner and outer) as they actually are.

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

terminologyཡེ་ཤེས → “wisdom”. Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty on the path.

homonymཡེ་ཤེས is rendered “wisdom” here; the glossary also records awareness, Wisdom, knowledge for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཡེ་ཤེས “wisdom” — The term jñāna is formed by the root jñā , meaning “to know,” “to know of,” “to understand,” “to be aware of,” with the addition of the pratyaya lyuṭ , which can be interpreted as having different values (the instrument

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

adherencePinned rendering paraphrased here: name; self

termབྱང་ཆུབ → awakening

termམཚན → name

termརིགས → family

termཡེ་ཤེས → wisdom

termབདག → self

termདེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ → tathāgata

Terminology used in this text (16)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ	tathāgata	2	Kept as the Sanskrit loan in translation (84000 practice), not 'Thus-Gone One'.
བསྟོད་པ	praise	2
བདག	self	2
རིགས	family	2	The tantric 'family' (buddha-family); not 'lineage' (which is རྒྱུད་པ or བརྒྱུད་པ).
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད	suchness	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
དབང	empowerment	1	In compounds དབང་ཆེན is 'great power' (a deity epithet), not 'great empowerment'.
བསོད་ནམས	merit	1
ཆོས	dharma	1	In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two
རྡོ་རྗེ	vajra	1
བྱང་ཆུབ	awakening	1
མཚན	name	1	མཚན་བརྗོད is recitation of names; in མཚན་ཉིད it is a 'definition' (lakṣaṇa) — same spelling, different word.
ཡེ་ཤེས	wisdom	1	Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty o
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

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.

Anuvāda · NaxiAI