Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (161)

The retributive result of the tongue root being damaged due to anger and vexation in a dream

Original text: 佛言大王。如是如是。愚夫异生。见舌坏已。心生恚恼。造是业行。身三语四。意三种业。造彼业已。刹那灭谢。是业不依。四方四维。上下而住。最后边际命根灭谢。自分业报。皆悉现前。如梦觉已。念梦中事。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, it is indeed so. Foolish ordinary beings (pṛthagjana), after seeing in a dream that their tongue root had been damaged, gave rise to anger and vexation in their minds and committed evil karmic actions—three bodily karmas, four verbal karmas, and three mental karmas. From the moment these actions were first committed, the karmic formations ceased moment by moment as they were being created. After these karmic formations ceased, they did not abide in the four directions, the four intermediate directions, above, or below. However, when the final limit of life approaches and the life faculty ceases, the karmic retribution created by oneself in this life all manifests in full, just as after waking from a dream, one still recollects the events of the dream.