(Bodhi means great awakening or enlightenment; sattva means "being." Bodhisattva therefore means someone who possesses great wisdom or compassion.)

"Where are you going?" the monk inquired. Yang Fu replied that he was going to study under Bodhisattva Wuji.

"Seeking the Bodhisattva cannot compare to seeking the Buddha," asserted the old man. Yang Fu agreed with this, for although Bodhisattva Wuji was a person of great wisdom, the Buddha was the absolute paragon of enlightenment for which there was no equal.

Yang Fu then asked the old monk where he could find Buddha, and the old monk surprised him by telling him that the Buddha was at that moment in the house he left not too long ago - his own home. Yang Fu wondered how he would recognize the Buddha. The old monk seemed to have the answer to that one as well:

"When you get home, you’ll see someone wearing a blanket with shoes on backwards coming to greet you. Remember, that is the Buddha."

Something about the old monk’s certainty convinced Yang Fu, and so he hurried home. By the time he got there, it was already the middle of the night.

His mother had already gone to bed, but when she heard her son knocking on the door, she was beside herself with happiness. Like all parents, she had been worried sick about her child’s safety on such a long journey. She rushed out to greet him immediately. She grabbed her blanket rather than to put on a coat, and in her joyful haste was totally oblivious to the fact that she had put on her slippers the wrong way.

Yang Fu took one look at his elderly mother and saw the look of pure happiness on her face. Recalling to mind the monk’s words, he became suddenly enlightened.