Verses from the Southeast
The sixth bodhisattva, Dharma-Wisdom Blazing-Light King, arriving from the southeast, opens with the starkest claim in this entire sequence — that not even the tathāgatas, pratyekabuddhas, and great śrāvakas of the three times can know the Buddha's own act of lifting a single foot — before turning, in its final stanzas, toward anyone willing to raise a great vow.
From Utter Unknowability to an Open Door
This set of verses builds its case for unknowability as high as it will go — beyond śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas to every tathāgata across the three times — only to turn, in its closing stanzas, and declare that same domain not difficult to know at all for anyone who raises a vast vow and practices with valiant courage.
爾時，法慧光焰王菩薩，承佛神力，觀察十方而說頌言：
三世諸如來，
聲聞大弟子，
悉不能知佛，
舉足下足事。
去來現在世，
一切諸緣覺，
亦不知如來，
舉足下足事。
況復諸凡夫，
結使所纏縛，
無明覆心識，
而能知導師！
正覺無礙智，
超過語言道，
其量不可測，
孰有能知見！
譬如明月光，
無能測邊際；
佛神通亦爾，
莫見其終盡。
一一諸方便，
念念所變化，
盡於無量劫，
思惟不能了。
思惟一切智，
不可思議法，
一一方便門，
邊際不可得。
若有於此法，
而興廣大願；
彼於此境界，
知見不為難。
勇猛勤修習，
難思大法海；
其心無障礙，
入此方便門。
心意已調伏，
志願亦寬廣，
當獲大菩提，
最勝之境界。
At that time, Dharma-Wisdom Blazing-Light King Bodhisattva, sustained by the Buddha's own spiritual power, surveyed the ten directions and spoke these verses:
Every tathāgata across the three times, and every great śrāvaka disciple, is entirely unable to know even the Buddha's own act of lifting a foot or setting it down.
Throughout the past, future, and present, every pratyekabuddha likewise does not know the tathāgata's own act of lifting a foot or setting it down.
How much less, then, could any ordinary being, bound up by every fetter and affliction, their own mind and consciousness covered over by ignorance, ever come to know the Guide!
Perfect awakening's own unobstructed wisdom transcends the very path of language; its measure cannot be fathomed — who, then, could ever know or see it!
It is like the light of the bright moon, whose outer limit no one can measure; the Buddha's own spiritual superknowledge is exactly the same, its end never to be seen.
Every single skillful means, and the transformations arising moment after moment, even through measureless kalpas of contemplation, could never be fully understood.
Contemplating all-knowing wisdom, an inconceivable dharma, the outer limit of even a single gateway of skillful means can never be found.
Yet if there is anyone who, with regard to this dharma, raises a vast and great vow, then for that person, knowing and seeing this very domain is not difficult at all.
Through valiant courage and diligent practice within this inconceivable, great ocean of dharma, their mind becomes free of any obstruction, and they enter this very gateway of skillful means.
Once their mind and intention are already tamed, and their own aspiration and vow made vast and broad, they will attain great awakening, the most excellent of all domains.
若有於此法，而興廣大願；彼於此境界，知見不為難 — yet if there is anyone who, with regard to this dharma, raises a vast and great vow, then for that person, knowing and seeing this very domain is not difficult at all. After seven stanzas building the case for utter unknowability — beyond śrāvakas, beyond pratyekabuddhas, beyond even the tathāgatas of past and future — this single line reopens the very door it just spent so much effort closing, on the sole condition of a vow sincerely raised.
Part 862 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-nine, 入法界品, in fascicle sixty. Part 863 turns to the seventh bodhisattva, Wisdom-Banner King Who Crushes Every Army of Māra, arriving from the southwest, who describes a wisdom-body without any body at all.