¹Nae-seong was so steadfast in his Taeeulju Mantra meditation that he developed open sores on his buttocks numerous times. Eventually, his clothes became so threadbare that only the seams remained intact.

²During the period of Nae-seong’s meditation, his elderly mother took on menial work to provide for her son.³When such work was not available and they ran out of food, she went to the village well, collected bean sprouts and grains of rice that had fallen on the ground, and brought them home to prepare a gruel. To survive, she sometimes had to go begging.⁴Moreover, since they did not own any blanket, she removed her only skirt during the bitter cold of winter and draped it over the shoulders of her son, who continued to meditate in their unheated room.⁵The toil of this elderly mother was harrowing beyond description, and their lives were appallingly miserable.

⁶The last day of Nae-seong’s three-year meditation finally arrived. As Nae-seong rose and went forth from the room, his mother noticed that his facial features had become larger and that he had grown womanly breasts.