Ten Stanzas On True Reality

By Maitripa

I pay homage to and salute suchness,
Bereft of any dealings with existence or nonexistence,
Since its very stainlessness
Is the nature of enlightenment as realization.

Those who wish to realize suchness
Do so neither with aspects nor without aspects.
Not adorned with the guru's words,
Even the middle is just middling.

This entity is indeed enlightenment,
Which is due to having the nature of nonattachment.
Attachment is born from mistakenness,
And mistakenness is held to be held without basis.

What is true reality? It is the actual form of entities,
While form is what lacks form,
Since the lack of form is surely also form
In terms of the nature of result and cause.

Thus, phenomena are of one taste,
Unhindered, and nonabiding.
Through the meditative concentration of reality as it is,
they are all luminosity.

The meditative concentration of reality as it is
Comes about through the engaging mind,
Since true reality dawns ceaselessly
For those who are aware of its ground.

In being free from cognition and what is cognized,
This very world is held to be nondual.
Even the vain presumptuousness of being free from duality,
In like manner, is luminosity.

Through having realized this true reality,
By any means and in whatever manner,
The yogin whose eyes are wide open
Roams everywhere, just like a lion.

Whoever has thus abandoned the worldly dharma
and relies on the lifestyle of a madman
Does everything without a reference point,
while being adorned with self-blessing.

As for true reality, which has been taught as stainless
And is said to be nondual,
Those with great insight are worthy of realizing it,
Once they have eliminated equality and nonequality from it.