Selected Discourses from the Sutra of the Father and Son Compilation (Lecture 89)

The Buddha said: "O King, it is so, it is so. When an ordinary ignorant being perceives his tongue decaying in a dream, he arouses resentment and vexation in his mind, thereby committing such karmic actions—three bodily, four verbal, and three mental actions. Once these actions are created, they vanish instantaneously. These karmic actions do not abide in the east, west, south, north, the four intermediate directions, above, or below. Yet, when the final moment arrives and the life force ceases, the karmic retribution from his own deeds fully manifests before him—just as upon awakening from a dream, one recalls the events of the dream."