"To die clinging to attachments, to live clinging to attachments-such are sentient beings."
"You and I, Tulku, both dwell in this mortal world as sentient beings, our bodies formed from the aggregation of the five skandhas. Though I have cultivated for half my life, I remain touched by worldly joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, by greed, anger, delusion, and hatred, bound by suffering and karmic force. These are the limitations of sentient beings such as ourselves."
"As for the method you seek, Tulku, it lies within your own heart. We disciples have only a shallow understanding of the Dharma, and our insight may not surpass yours. To let go of the attachments in your heart, you must begin with the heart. You could recite this Mahāprajñāpāramitā Heart Sutra more often."
"With your cultivation, Tulku, reading this sutra regularly will surely yield more insights than it does for us disciples." Having finished speaking, the old lama stood and bowed. He took an already yellowed scripture from the guest room's bookshelf, placed it on the heated platform, and left the room.
Seeing this, Chen Jue said nothing. Instead, he picked up the Heart Sutra and began reading its contents: "When Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva practiced the profound perfection of wisdom, he perceived that all five skandhas were empty, and transcended all suffering..."
The five skandhas here referred to Buddhism's "form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness." No human being could exist apart from their aggregation. If all five skandhas were empty, one had reached the highest realm of Buddhist cultivation-the realm of the formless and unmanifest.
Chen Jue had first attained the Daoist Golden Elixir, then embraced Tai Chi through boxing and martial arts, and finally obtained the Buddhist śarīra through esoteric Mahamudra. Through Bigu and bodily purification, he had reached a truly "indestructible"