Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This short liturgical text functions as a formal praise and prostration to a spiritual teacher, framing the guru as an embodiment of the Buddha's qualities. The author employs a series of epithets to equate the guru's speech, body, and wisdom with those of a Sugata or Tathagata, positioning the teacher as the primary source of enlightenment for the three realms. The text is structured as a devotional address that moves from general veneration of the guru's enlightened nature to a specific identification of the subject as the Bodhisattva Yaśobhadra. By attributing the accumulation of merit, bhūmis, and pāramitās to the guru, the text commits the reader to a posture of total submission and recognition of the teacher's authority as the holder of the pith instructions. It asserts that the guru is not merely a human instructor but a manifestation of supreme wisdom attained through diligence.
Provenance
About this text
A praise of the supreme guru, the bla ma dam pa la bstod pa is a work of classical Tibetan Buddhism. It is attributed to the Indian author Sūryadharma. The text was translated into Tibetan by zha lu lo tsa ba dge slong d+har+m+ma pa la b+ha dra and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཀ, where it is situated within the Eulogy collection. Spanning a single page, the work enacts a formal devotional address, employing a series of epithets to equate the guru's speech, body, and wisdom with those of a Sugata or Tathāgata. It positions the teacher as the primary source of enlightenment for the three realms and specifically identifies the subject of this veneration as the Bodhisattva Yaśobhadra. By attributing the accumulation of merit, bhūmis, and pāramitās to the guru, the text frames the teacher as a manifestation of supreme wisdom and the holder of the pith instructions. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the liturgical framing of the guru as an embodiment of the Buddha's qualities and the specific devotional posture of submission and recognition of authority it requires of the practitioner.
Sanskrit title
not recorded
Indian author
Sūryadharma
Tibetan translators
zha lu lo tsa ba dge slong d+har+m+ma pa la b+ha dra
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Praise of the Holy Guru” (Toh 1179), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1179
Summary & commentary
Significance
The text is significant for its illustration of the guru-disciple relationship in the Indo-Tibetan tradition, where the teacher is viewed as a living Buddha. The specific mention of Yaśobhadra suggests a connection to the transmission lineages of the late Indian Buddhist period, highlighting the importance of historical continuity in the transmission of Dharma.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Prostration
An opening homage focusing on the guru's speech, body, and wisdom as universal beacons of enlightenment.
2
Attributes and Identification
A detailed listing of the guru's spiritual qualifications and the explicit naming of the Bodhisattva Yaśobhadra.
Themes
Guru-Buddha Equivalence (1-2)
Accumulation of Merit and Paramitas (2)
Lineage and Pith Instructions (2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
Homage to the Guru!
The speech of the glorious and excellent one, renowned for the Dharma; the body of the Sugata, the son of the Perfect Buddha; the sole lamp for the three realms and the three worlds, the eye of the universe—to you who have attained supreme wisdom through diligence, I prostrate.
Source of compassion, possessing the deeds of a Tathāgata; the Guide who abides in the state of blissful mindfulness and knowledge; who emerges solely for the sake of others throughout existence—to you who liberate those difficult to liberate, I prostrate.
Your body is exquisitely beautiful, adorned with a collection of supreme qualities and the recollection of your former lives; endowed with the ornaments and finery of wisdom, vast and compassionate, you recognize the future along with the spiritual families. With the water of wisdom—the single vehicle of the three yānas for the benefit of sentient beings—you consecrate all people like a sovereign tree. To the son of the Śākyas, the Sugata, who possesses the qualities of the body and is a mass of wisdom, I prostrate.
To him who is fully developed by all the ten supreme virtues, the bhūmis, and the pāramitās, having reached the far shore of the accumulation of merit; who has attained the qualities of the ten powers and reached the end of all accumulations; who ferries across the ocean of existence and the transcendence of existence—to him I prostrate.
Thus, this praise of the supreme guru, who is filled with the qualities, the equipment of merit, the bhūmis, and the pāramitās of all the Tathāgatas; who is adorned with the great drum of the sublime Dharma of the pith instructions; who is the sprout of the Buddha, the Bodhisattva named Yaśobhadra; and who has reached the far shore of all the cool nectars of compassion and wisdom—was requested by the Śākya monk Śrīkalyāṇanātha, a resident of the divine realm, and composed in a vivid manner by the Śākya monk Dharmāditya of the land of Haripuñjaya. May it be placed upon the heads of all, and may it bring virtue to myself and all wandering beings. By this merit of mine, may I become a Buddha in the future, and may I establish all sentient beings suffering in saṃsāra in the state of nirvāṇa. May it be auspicious! May it be auspicious! May it be auspicious!