¹During his Taeeulju Mantra meditation, Nae-seong had to meditate without any means of heating the room, merely covering the floor with straw as he owned nothing else with which to cover it.

²One day, a multitude of spirits in the forms of fair and resplendent male and female immortals appeared to him with temptations, “Since your practice is now complete, please rise. Should you not go forth and make yourself known to the world?³We will escort you and serve you. Rise up and go forth into the world!”

⁴Nae-seong uttered no reply and continued to assiduously devote himself to Taeeulju Mantra meditation. Eventually, all of the spirits vanished.

⁵A time later, countless bedbugs appeared from nowhere and crawled over Nae-seong, blackening his body.⁶Not the slightest bit concerned, Nae-seong continued to devote himself solely to his meditation. Eventually the countless bedbugs all disappeared.

⁷Later, a swarm of fleas bit Nae-seong over his entire body, disturbing his meditation and causing him unspeakable suffering.

⁸After the fleas disappeared, lice thronged to Nae-seong’s long, unkempt hair and beard. They crawled deep into his clothes, biting him day and night.⁹His mother could not bear to see such suffering, so she combed the lice from his hair and beard.¹⁰Nae-seong would not allow her to kill the lice, however, so she merely collected the lice and buried them in the ground.