¹In the spring of 1910, Sangjenim one day visited Nae-seong and commanded of him, “Remain inside your house, keep your hair unkempt, and devote yourself to meditation.”²Carrying out this command, Nae-seong untied his topknot, seated himself inside his room, and devoted himself solely to Taeeulju Mantra meditation.

³After Nae-seong began his three-year Taeeulju Mantra meditation, strange sounds echoed throughout the village every night.⁴These sounds resembled the rumble of thunder, the clamor of a throng of people, the buzz of swarming bees, the roar of a gusting wind, or the bellow of a bull.⁵In addition to these strange sounds, someone in the landlord’s household fell ill, so Nae-seong and his mother were cast out and forced to relocate.⁶In every household they went, someone in the landlord’s family fell ill, so they were evicted after living in each rented room for only a brief time.⁷After Nae-seong and his mother had moved numerous times, they were able to rent a room in Sutongmok Village in Jeongeup County with much difficulty. As before, after Nae-seong and his mother had been in residence for only a short time, someone in the landlord’s family fell ill and the landlord demanded that Nae-seong depart.⁸Believing that he now had nowhere else to go, Nae-seong ignored the landlord and dedicated himself wholly to meditation.

⁹One day, Nae-seong returned to his room after eating his midday meal, only to discover that the landlord and his wife had moved outside his belongings and those of his mother and had dug up the floor covering.¹⁰However, Nae-seong disregarded everything, seated himself in the room, and simply chanted the Taeeulju Mantra.

¹¹One day, the landlord connived to drive Nae-seong away by hiding his wife’s gold ring and a long silver hairpin and spreading a rumor that Nae-seong’s mother had stolen the jewelry. ¹²But Nae-seong discerned with his spiritual eye that the ring and the hairpin were secreted in the clothing chest of the landlord’s daughter-in-law, ¹³and so he said to the landlord, “Please check the inside of your daughter-in-law’s clothing chest. Everything should be on the bottom of the chest.”

¹⁴Having now experienced Nae-seong’s spiritual power, the landlord became afraid that his deed would be exposed, and he never again dared try to evict Nae-seong.