¹In teaching the disciples, Sangjenim rarely wrote anything, instructing them verbally instead.²He would have the disciples sit closely together on a round straw mat in the yard outside of the medicine room.³Rather than teaching each of them individually, he would first teach a few, and they would then teach others, who then taught yet others.⁴If a disciple tried to undermine this organizational discipline by insisting on being taught directly by Sangjenim,⁵Sangjenim would call him a rogue and slap him. The disciple’s face would subsequently appear scratched by thorns, but the marks would vanish instantly.

⁶When the disciples were reciting from a book, Sangjenim would pace back and forth behind them and discern who understood the text and who did not at a single glance.⁷He then had those who were quite literate teach those who lagged in understanding the written text.⁸Sangjenim allowed all disciples who were not as literate three chances to read a text correctly,⁹but if a disciple failed for a fourth time, Sangjenim would set the disciple atop a tree or dangle him from a branch.¹⁰Fearing this fate, all the disciples concentrated on their reading.