悪人正機
aku.nin.shou.ki

Literally: evil – person – correct – loom / machine

Alternately: No matter how evil a person is, the Buddha’s wish is for them to be saved. Or perhaps, the worse a person is, the more important it is for them to be saved. It is better to take evil and turn it toward good instead of simply fighting or condemning it. A Buddhist teaching that salvation is better than destruction. (Maybe Christians should consider adopting it.)

Notes: The term 正機 is a bit of Buddhist jargon that refers to the conditions and qualities necessary to achieve enlightenment, or at least to receive the Buddha’s aid and teachings and become a good person. According to the teachings of Pure Land Buddhism, the people with heavy loads of karmic sin are those for whom the Buddha’s teachings are most appropriate.

This compound comes to us from the third chapter of the Lamentations of Divergences, (歎異抄, Tannishou) a record of conversations between the Pure Land sect’s founder and one of his disciples, somewhat reminiscent of Socrates and Plato.

Reading 正 as sei or writing the ki as 気 are both considered errors.

It’s interesting to think that this is a system where being reborn is the bad option.