The 85th volume of the Taisho Tripitaka contains apocryphal and fragmentary sutras. This is one such fragment The Question of Great Dignity 大威儀請問. It is three sentences long, and does not even begin with the phrase that commences all Buddhist sutras, "Thus, I have heard..." The text is stated to come from Dunhuang, and is now kept in the British Library
This fragment describes the horrendous karmic consequences of disrespecting sutras in various manners. The prohibitions on talking or sleeping before sutras are probably in reference to chatting or dozing off in the process of sutra recitation. 'Bath beans' are something like soap used in former times.
They may sound extreme, but these are the natural corollary of sutras being viewed as potent magical objects of themselves. As far as I know, while modern buddhist practise views sutras as objects worthy of careful handling and respect, the idea that even such trivial acts of disrespect will earn you eons in hell is not commonly held.
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Source of scripture: https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh-tw/T2884.
大威儀請問 THE QUESTION POSED BY GREAT DIGNTY
若有善男子、善女人,不將澡豆洗手捉經,及前睡眠、伏地,三百億歲作廁中蟲;
If a Good Man or Woman handles sutras without first washing their hands with bathing beans, or sleeps before [them] or [lets them] lie on the ground, they will be reincarnated as toilet bugs for 30 billion years.
淨手搔癢、對經漫語,八百萬億歲墮黑闇地獄、二億歲生狐兔中; If they scratch themselves, or speak idle words before the sutras, they will fall into the hells for 800 trillion years, and for a further 200 million years will be reborn amongst foxes and rabbits.
經前㖒唾、口銜帶,亦同前罪。 Sleeping or holding [sutra books] in the mouth have the same penalty as the above sin.