…that a bodhisattva attains
…through non-attainmentness…
through having relied on the perfection of wisdom…

This is a very, very significant statement. Buddha says: One should rely on nothing whatsoever. Now this is very against the ordinary Buddhist religion, because the ordinary Buddhist religion has three fundamental refuges: Buddham sharanam gachchhami, sangam sharanam gachchhami, dhammam sharanam gachchhami. When the disciple comes to Buddha, he bows down to him, surrenders to him and says, “I take refuge in the Buddha” – buddham sharanam gachchhami.

“I take refuge in the community of the Buddha” – sangam sharanam gachchhami: “I take refuge in the law taught by the Buddha” – dhammam sharanam gachchhami. And Buddha says here that one should not rely on anything – there is no refuge, nowhere any shelter.

This Heart Sutra has been called the soul of Buddhism, and the church of Buddha has been called the body. Those three refuges are for the very ordinary mind which is in search of some shelter, some prop, some support. These statements are for the highest soul – one who has come to the sixth, and is just hanging between the sixth and the seventh, just a little push….

Therefore, O Sariputra…

It has been said that the first sermon of Buddha, which is called the Sermon of the Turning of the Wheel of Religion, Dhamma Chakrapravatan Sutra – that was his first sermon, near Varanasi – created the so-called ordinary religion, for the ordinary masses. In that sermon he declares, “Come and take refuge in Buddha; come and take refuge in the law taught by the Buddha; come and take refuge in the community, in the commune of the Buddha.”

After twenty years he declares this second dispensation. He took twenty years to bring a few people to the highest possibility. This is known as the second most important sermon. The first was in Saranath, near Varanasi, when he told people, “Come and take refuge in me. I have attained! Come and take refuge in me. I have reached! Come and partake of me. I have arrived! Come and follow me.” That was for the ordinary mind; it is natural. Buddha could not have declared the Heart Sutra; the masses would not have been able to understand.

Then he worked for twenty years with his disciples. Now Sariputra is coming very close. Because of that closeness, he says:

Therefore, O Sariputra…