大般涅槃經集解 22.52

22.52

案僧亮曰：引昔說作惡不悔偈，證闡提不可化也。僧宗曰：更問昔偈，廣彰其惡。先舉可畏，欲顯後偈無畏義也。寶亮曰：此下答第十五問，明三種罪人聞《涅槃經》，改悔脩善，能為人天之福田也。本時有惡，恒畏大眾；今改往脩來，則無懼矣。此答中說三偈，初一行作造惡於眾有畏之偈。

Sengliang notes: He cites a verse spoken in the past about doing evil without repentance to prove that the icchantika cannot be transformed. Sengzong says: He asks again about the past verse to broadly reveal their evil. By first raising what is fearful, he wishes to illuminate the meaning of fearlessness in the subsequent verse. Baoliang says: From here below is the answer to the fifteenth question, explaining that when the three kinds of transgressors hear the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, repent and cultivate goodness, they can become fields of merit for humans and devas. Originally having evil, they constantly feared the great assembly; now, having reformed the past and cultivated the future, they are without fear. In this answer three verses are spoken: the first four-line verse is on doing evil and having fear before the assembly.