Great Praise of the Twelve Acts of the Buddha

Translation of མཛད་པ་བཅ་གཉས་ཀྱ་ཚལ་ལ་བསྟད་པ (མཛད་པ་བཅུ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་ཚུལ་ལ་བསྟོད་པ)

Language: English
Date: 2008 CE
Translator: rigpa-translations
Extent: 68 passages, 568 words
Text: complete digital text
Source: lotsawahouse · Rigpa Translations (tr.), Great Praise of the Twelve Acts of the Buddha, Lotsawa House (version 2.2-20250416) · CC BY-NC 4.0 (Lotsawa House); shown with attribution on a non-commercial site

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With skilful means and compassion, you were born in the Śākya clan,

p2

Unconquerable by others, you vanquished Māra's hordes,

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Your physical form resplendent, like a mountain of gold.

p4

To you, the King of the Śākyas, I pay homage!

p5

You I shall praise, who first awakened the mind of enlightenment,

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Then completed the accumulations of merit and wisdom,

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And now in this age, through the vast sway of your actions,

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Have become the lord and protector of living beings.

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Homage to you, who, having taught the gods,

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Knew the time had come to tame the human world, and

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Descending from the god realm like a great elephant,

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Foresaw the family of your birth and entered the womb of Māyādevī.

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Homage to you, prince of the Śākyas, born after ten months

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In the auspicious Lumbinī grove, where

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Brahmā and Indra revered you, your supreme marks

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Proving you were destined to be enlightened.

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Homage to you, lion among men, in all your youthful vigour,

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Displaying your prowess in the games at Aṅga-Magadha,

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Where you triumphed over the proud contestants,

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So that not one could stand as your rival.

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Homage to you, who, to comply with worldly convention,

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And avoid all misdeeds, took on a queen and courtiers

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And by acting with such skilful means,

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So you ruled the kingdom.

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Homage to you, who saw that saṃsāra is wholly futile,

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Renounced the life of a householder,

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And, travelling through the sky,

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Ordained yourself before the Viśuddha Stūpa.

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Homage to you, who, intent on persevering till enlightened,

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For six years practised austerities on the banks of the Nairañjanā,

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And taking diligence to its ultimate perfection,

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Attained the supreme samādhi.

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Homage to you, who, seeking to make meaningful

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All your efforts, made throughout beginningless time, sat

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Unmoving in the vajra posture beneath the bodhi-tree in Magadha

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And awakened into true buddhahood, attaining perfect enlightenment.

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Homage to you, who, in your compassion,

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Gazed at once upon living beings, then

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Turned the wheel of Dharma in sacred places like Vārāṇasī,

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And established disciples in the three vehicles.

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Homage to you, who destroyed evil-minded opponents,

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By defeating the six teachers of the tīrthikas, Devadatta and the rest,

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As well as the māras in Vārāṇasī;

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You were the mighty sage, victorious in battle.

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Homage to you, who performed great miracles in Śrāvastī,

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Unmatched in their splendour in all the three realms,

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And through the offerings made by gods, humans and other beings,

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Caused the teachings to prosper and increase.

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Homage to you, who, to spur the lazy on to the Dharma,

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Left your body, though immortal and like a vajra,

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And passed into parinirvāṇa

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In the pure abode of Kuśinagara.

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Homage to you, who, to show that you had not in reality perished,

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And so that beings of the future could gain merit,

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Emanated a wealth of relics, and caused

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Your remains to be divided into eight portions.

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Through the merit of briefly praising in this way,

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The great acts of the lord who is master of the teachings,

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May the actions of all living beings

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Come to equal those of the Sugata himself.

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O Tathāgata, may I and others have a form,

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An entourage, a lifespan, a pure realm

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And sublime marks of perfection

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Exactly like you.

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Through the power of our praising you and this prayer,

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In whatever lands we dwell, may

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Illness, negativity, poverty, and conflict be quelled,

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And Dharma and auspiciousness increase and spread.

Great Praise of the Twelve Acts of the Buddha

Contents

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