悪人正機

Yojijukugo (四字熟語), from 悪人(あくにん) (akunin, “bad person”) + 正機(しょうき) (shōki, “meeting the conditions to attain nirvana”).

A central tenet of Shinran's Pure Land Buddhism is that it is impossible for one to be saved purely through one's own efforts, only through the boundless, unknowable grace of the Amida Buddha.

This term therefore capitulates that only those who recognize themselves as wicked and corrupt, surrendering themselves to his saving grace, meet the conditions for salvation by the Amida Buddha.

This term is derived from chapter 3 of the 13th-century 歎異抄 (Tannishō), a compendium of dialogues likely composed by Yuien, a Pure Land Buddhist and disciple of Shinran. An excerpt from a relatively modern (1923) translation reads:

善人(ぜんにん)でさへ淨土(じやうど)に往生(わうじやう)するのだもの、本願(ほんぐわん)お目當(めあて)の惡人(あくにん)は尙更(なほさら)往生(わうじやう)させて頂(いただ)ける。

Zennin de sahe jiyaudo ni waujiyau suru no da mono, honguwan o meate no akunin wa nahosara waujiyau sasete itadakeru.

Whilst good even good people will repose into the Pure Land, those wicked people, who are the subject of the compassionate Promise, are even more so liable to receive repose in the Pure Land.

悪(あく)人(にん)正(しょう)機(き) • (akuninshōki) 

1. creed avowing that it is the Original Vow of the Amida Buddha to save the wicked; those who acknowledge their wickedness shall be saved

• “悪人正機”, in 漢検四字熟語辞典 (Kanken Yojijukugo Jiten, “Kanji Kentei Four-Character-Idiom Dictionary”) (in Japanese), second edition, Tōkyō: Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2012, →ISBN, pages 62–63