And Ananda, Maudgalyayana, Purna, Vaidehi,
Devadatta, King Ajatasatru, Bimbisara,
Jivaka[3], Candraprabha[4], Varsakara, and others –
By various means, brought the most foolish and lowest
Of evil people to enter the Vow
That does not neglect people of grave offenses and transgressions.
That does not neglect people of grave offenses and transgressions.
Shakyamuni and Vaidehi, manifesting compassionate means,
Led the minister Varsakara to bear witness
And King Ajatasatru to commit grave offenses.
Which vary with each practicer;
Let us aspire to enter into shinjin (faith)
That arises from Amida’s benefiting of others.
Shinjin: the true and real shinjin of the Primal Vow.”[5]
Just to give you another example – the King Anala, who was a Bodhisattva in disguise, admitted in the Gandavyuha Sutra (final part of the Avatamsaka Sutra) that He sometimes manifests illusory evil people who experience the effect of their bad karma to help existing samsaric beings to avoid evil and aspire for Enlightenment,
Noble one, when in that way I have used that method and see that these beings are distressed, terrified, and alarmed, I then turn them away from the path of the ten bad actions, cause them to possess the path of the ten good actions, and establish them in the path to omniscience, which is the ultimate attainment of joy and happiness and the cessation of all suffering.”[7]
Noble one, I do not generate the qualities of a bad action in my dreams, let alone deliberately.”[8]