After a visit during which Sid seemed to careen from one personality to another, Marcus goes home and spends a long summer dinner with Leila trying to figure out what Sid's really saying—and if he knows he's saying it. 

This background chapter provides (or undermines) the underlying esoteric/spiritual premise for “The Man Who Woke up the Buddha.”

Sid gets oddly ornery as he explains to Marcus that all that is isn’t all that is. Even the Buddha wonders why Sid is going off script but since there isn’t any script he’s not all that concerned.

Sid makes a connection with Menes, the first pharaoh, and regales his eight-year-old grandson Casper with details about ancient Egypt, including several facts that most people think are science fiction (e.g., that the early pharaohs came from outer space and glowed), but that Sid, Casper, and the Buddha know to be true.

At Casper’s Small Fry baseball game, Di talks with Todd the Anesthesiologist and learns that, when Sid came out from under, his first words were “Greetings humans…please remove bandages…wine gone bad…bread stale…let my spirit go…I want my mummy.” Between that, the bandages around his head, and the fact that Casper is reading a picture book about pharaohs and pyramids, Sid realizes some pharaoh is trying to get his attention.

During a visit from his daughter-in-law Carolyn, Sid sees signs that convince him she is suffering from a mental breakdown similar to his 40 years before. With the Buddha's help, he helps her find some peace and gives her courage to carry on. 

Sid, Marcus, and the Buddha ponder the purpose of winning and losing in the scheme of universal human traits as they watch a Michigan - Notre Dame football game. During the last play, with the game on the line, they come up with a powerful new mantra.

Sid and Willy continue their exploration of the Spanish conquistador Pizarro, focusing now on Atahualpa, the Incan king who lost his kingdom to Pizarro even though he had thousands of men and Pizarro only a couple of hundred. Willy starts reading the story to his grandpa Sid only to find himself suddenly possessed by Atahualpa. Freaked out, he beats a slow retreat from the room and Atahualpa takes over to speak for himself.

Sid enlisted his 13-year-old grandson Willy to help him figure out why he was mumbling "Bizarro" after surgery. In the process, Sid sang excerpts from “Stairway to Heaven” and got Willy to take on the role of the 16th-century Spanish conquistador Pizarro.

Sid loses a bet with his anesthesiologist, learns how to pee at 3 a.m. after surgery, makes a sad faux pas, and is assaulted by armies from all space and time. The Buddha continues to keep his own counsel as he watches his latest incarnation "learn the ropes."