¹During this time, a rumor spread far and wide: ‘Nae-seong has devoted himself to meditation, leading to miracles.’²Envious of this, Gyeong-seok one day sought to disrupt Nae-seong’s meditation by hiring a young man of Sutongmok Village with the surname Bak, who led a group of ruffians against Nae-seong, tormenting him in various ways while demanding that he leave the village.³Nae-seong, however, remained steadfast, so the ruffians schemed and then dug up the floor of Nae-seong’s room around him and left.

⁴As Nae-seong was meditating that night, two tall commander spirits with big, glaring eyes came before him.⁵One of the commander spirits held a razor-sharp sword in his hand, and the other commander spirit bore a huge axe in one hand and held in the other hand an upside-down spear on which the young man named Bak was impaled from the crown of his head through his body.

⁶After the commander spirits prostrated themselves before Nae-seong, they asked, “Shall we banish him to the East Sea or the West Sea?” and awaited Nae-seong’s order.

⁷But Nae-seong chastised them, “What is the meaning of this? The young man acted as he did because he understood nothing, so how can we consider his actions a sin? Cease this once and for all.”

⁸Meanwhile, at the young man’s house, the young man suddenly lost consciousness, his complexion blackened, and his body convulsed in death throes.⁹His father hence rushed to Nae-seong’s dwelling in the middle of the night and desperately implored Nae-seong, “Teacher, my miscreant of a son is about to die. Kindly forgive him, and please by all means save him.”

¹⁰Nae-seong said, “What has been done suffices, so let him live.” At these words, the commander spirits pulled the spear from the young man’s body, prostrated themselves before Nae-seong, and departed.

¹¹The next morning, the Bak father and son came before Nae-seong, apologized again and again, and then restored the floor.

¹²When rumors of these incidents spread far and wide, many of Sangjenim’s disciples, who had nowhere to turn after Sangjenim’s ascension, came to Nae-seong’s dwelling and began chanting the Taeeulju Mantra. ¹³From that time forth, Taeeulju Mantra meditation spread widely among Sangjenim’s disciples.