Buddha in disguise... with glasses

This is a classic story that I updated:

The abbot of a once famous Buddhist monastery that had fallen into decline was  troubled. Monks had become lax in their practice, novices were leaving and lay supporters deserting to other centers. The Abbot traveled far to a famous sage and recounted his tale, telling how much he desired to return his monastery to the flourishing centre it had been in bygone days.

The Sage looked at him balefully and said, "The reason your monastery has faltered is that the Buddha is living among you in disguise, and you have not honored Him." The abbot hurried back, his mind in turmoil.

The Golden One was at his monastery! Who could he be?  Hua?...No, he was full of sloth.  Po?...No, he was too dull. But then again, the Tathagata was in disguise. What better disguise than sloth or dull- wittedness? He called his monks to him and revealed the Sage's words. They, too, were taken aback and looked at each other with a certain awe.

Which one of them was the Chosen One?

The disguise was perfect. Not knowing who He was they took to treating everyone with the respect due to a Buddha. Giving and receiving such kindness, their faces started shining with an inner radiance that attracted novices and then lay supporters.

In no time at all the monastery surpassed its previous glory.

One day the Sage returned, and the Abbott brought him into the kitchen for tea.

"I would have liked to publicly honor you, in return for saving the monastery," he confessed. "But it would not have been right to honor you more than the Enlightened One himself."

The Sage smiled, "Enlightened ones need no special honor.  Just the honor that every human being deserves. And the fact is, that every one of you is a Buddha in disguise You just need the right glasses to see him."

"Seriously?"

"Do you want to try on my glasses?"

"Of course."

So the Sage reached into his bundle and brought out some old sunglasses. The Abbott put them on.

"But now I can only see your outline, I can barely see your face."

"A Buddha only sees important distinctions. He's not concerned with trifles. And that's what you are doing better now. Before you lived doing or not doing duties, following or not following rules. Of course people became lax, who wants to live that way? Now people only see the outline - that everyone could be or become the Buddha. That is the essential truth."

Feeling very satisfied with a good days work, the Sage put on the sunglasses, leaving through the main entrance, through a crowd of vendors. At the very end, he saw some one selling American-style hot dogs. Although they were against the rules, he remembered his own advice about rules.

"Please make me one with everything" he said enjoying his pun. Vendor made the hotdog and he paid him with a 100 RMB bill. As he started eating the hotdog he waited for his change.

"Hey, don't I get anything back?" he asked.

The Vendor replied, "don't you know change comes from within?"

"Buddha has sense of humor, right?" The Sage replied, and snarfed his hot dog.