法苑珠林 70.12

70.12

Furthermore, the *Saṃyuktaratnapiṭaka-sūtra* says: In the past there was a ghost who said to Maudgalyāyana: "I cover my head with an object, yet I am constantly afraid that people will come and kill me. My heart is constantly terrified and cannot bear it. What was the cause of this?" [Maudgalyāyana] answered: "In your previous life, you committed lustful transgressions with outside women, constantly fearing being seen by others, or fearing being seized, bound, beaten, and killed by their husbands, or fearing being executed by the state law in the marketplace. You constantly harbored terror, terror without interruption; therefore you receive such punishment. This is the preliminary blossom of evil deeds; later you will receive the bitter retribution of hell." Furthermore, because of sexual misconduct, whatever one says is false. If in the present life one lies and afflicts sentient beings, at death one will fall into the Hell of Weeping, undergoing various pains and afflictions for distant kalpas. Once this suffering has ended, one falls among hungry ghosts, undergoing immeasurable births and deaths in this affliction. By the original cause, if one encounters slight goodness, one may barely regain a human body, but one will suffer from many diseases, emaciated and feeble, suddenly exhausted and tormented, personally bearing bitter toxins, unloved by others. One should know that this suffering is entirely due to false speech.