icchantika

(Sanskrit). A being who, according to some Mahāyāna texts, is lacking in Buddha-nature or the potential for enlightenment (bodhi). This view was controversial since it implied that some beings would never become free from saṃsāra and was generally reinterpreted in later Mahāyāna traditions when it was thought that even such beings would eventually be redeemed through the intervention of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas. See also Fa-hsiang; Fa-tsang; Hua-yen; Tao-sheng; Nirvāṇa school; Nirvāṇa sūtra.

A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2003, 2004 (which is available in electronic version from answer.com)