A Discussion on Excerpts from the Scriptures of the Pure Land School
淨土宗精要法語討論
27. The Contemplation Sutra - Becoming a Good Person by Reciting Amitabha Buddha’s Name to Eradicate Offenses
27.2 Q: If a person has committed many evil deeds and feels no shame—why does the Buddha still call such a person a “good man” (善男子) when coming to welcome him? What is the meaning behind this?
A: When one recites Amitabha Buddha’s Name and receives his supreme, unsurpassed merit, one’s evil is instantly transformed into good.
Master Ouyi explains in his Essential Explanation of the Amitabha Sutra: “The term ‘good men and good women’ does not distinguish between monastics and householders, noble or lowly, old or young, or beings from the six realms or four kinds of birth. As long as one hears Amitabha Buddha’s Name, it means that the good roots cultivated over many kalpas have matured. Thus, even those who have committed the Five Gravest Offenses and the Ten Evils are still called ‘good’.”
27. 《觀經》稱名除罪成善男子
27.2 問：「多造惡法，無有慚愧」之人，佛來迎時稱其為「善男子」，是何道理？ 答：稱名而領納「大利無上功德」，當下轉惡成善。
蕅益大師《彌陀要解》：「善男女者，不論出家在家、貴賤老少、六趣四生，但聞 佛名，即多劫善根成熟，五逆十惡皆名善也。」
Namo Amituofo!
