devanagari

arya-avalokitewvarah bodhisattvah gambhiraj prajba-paramita-caryaj caramanah
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N.m.        N.m.             N.m.           N.f.          N.f.      N.f.       N.f.        N.m.
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vyavalokayati sma: pabca skandhah.
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   V.pres.       part.     num.     N.m.
      3.sg.           |           |      Nom.pl.
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avalokitewvara-, m.: name (ava+lok-, to look, ppp. avalokita; iwvara-, m.: lord),

bodhisattva-, m.: "being of awakenment"; bodhi-, m.: awakenment; sattva-, m.: being),

gambhira-, adj.: deep,

carya-, f.: practice

caramana-, adj.: practising (pa. of car-),

vyavalokayati-, 3.pres.sg., vi+ava+lok-, to see, to percieve,

sma-, part.: denotes past

pabca-, num.: five,

skandha-, m.: part, constituent element of being,

The noble bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara practising a deep practice of the perfection of wisdom percieved: five constituents.

    Avalokitewvara is a very popular figure in Mahayana Buddhism. Today he is venerated mainly in Tibet (Cenrezi) and China (where he underwent a "gender-change" - into female bodhisattva Kuan Yin). He got his Sanskrit name from the fact, that he "looks down" on the world with compassion. By putting this sutra into his mouth, the author gave it the needed credentiality.
    Here, Avalokitewvara is practicing a deep meditation, in which he gains a great insight into a true nature of the world: he perceives that there is no metaphysical reality, no permanent essence. All that exists are just the five skandhas - or five constituents of every living being. They are: rupa, form, vedana, feeling, sajjba, perception, sajskara, mental impulses (of which there are several kinds) and vijbana, consciousness.

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