(Minghui.org) One day after Fa study in June 2014, a practitioner handed me a well-sealed package and said, “This belongs to you and I'm returning it. I've kept this for over a decade.”

I opened the package, and in it were pieces of white cloth. My thoughts instantly went back to 14 years prior.

I had just returned home on November 18, 1999, after a trip to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. To avoid persecution, my husband confiscated my only copy of Zhuan Falun. Officers from the local 610 Office and police station came to my house every other day, and destroyed any Falun Gong books they found. I could not read Master's teachings and was in anguish.

I obtained a copy of Zhuan Falun from a fellow practitioner in August 2000. I came up with the idea of hand-copying the entire book on pieces of white cloth. That way I would always have the teachings with me.

Thus I began painstakingly copying Zhuan Falun. To keep it from my husband who was keeping a close watch on me, I waited until everyone was asleep at night. With a towel draped over a table light so that no one would be awakened by the light, I copied the writings throughout the night.

By the end of the year, I had copied all nine lectures of the book onto nine pieces of cloth. I put a lot of effort into it, making sure that my writing was neat and there were no mistakes. I hid the cloth in a quilt cover and kept it in a cupboard. At night, I took out the writings and read them, one lecture after another.

The authorities conducted mass arrests of practitioners in early 2001. I was afraid that my cloth copy of Zhuan Falun would be found, so I asked a practitioner to safeguard it for me.

I was repeatedly arrested and detained for long periods of time. I left home for three years to avoid further persecution, and returned to my hometown in July 2007.

This practitioner had kept the cloth copy of Zhuan Falun all these years. I was very moved and deeply grateful. I cannot imagine what she had gone through to safeguard this “book,” amidst such severe persecution.

When I got home, I wondered why the practitioner had not returned the cloth to me when I first came back in 2007. This could not be mere coincidence, I thought.

I began to reflect on my cultivation state. Although I thought I'd been diligent, as I am practicing cultivation in ordinary society, there must have been many times when I did not meet the requirements of the Dafa teachings.

Suddenly, Master's words in “Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference,” “...always cultivating as if you were just starting...” came to mind.

I suddenly understood where I was lacking in cultivation.

For the past year or so, after waking up to send righteous thoughts at 6:00 a.m., I went back to sleep for 20 minutes. I also realized that I had a sense of complacency. I had been through a lot of hardship over the years, and made many sacrifices. I had done many things to expose the Chinese Communist Party's brutal suppression and protect the reputation of Dafa. Therefore I felt that I deserved to give myself a bit of a break.

This attachment to seeking comfort was the cause of my complacency and slacking off in cultivation.

I realized that I must first change my human notion. An ordinary person seeks comfort and happiness, but I am a Dafa disciple progressing towards divinity. I should not be attached to pursuing worldly pleasures.

Once I changed my mentality, I became full of energy and no longer felt the need to take a nap after getting up early to send righteous thoughts. I now wake up at 3:50 a.m every day to do the exercises. After sending righteous thoughts at 6:00, I recite the Fa until 7:30, before going out to tell people about the persecution of Falun Dafa.

Despite sleeping less than before, my mind is sharp and alert throughout the day.