Five degenerations
The five degenerations of the age of strife are:
- degeneration of life-span (Tib. ཚེའི་སྙིགས་མ་, Wyl. tshe’i snyigs ma), the shortening of the length of life;
- degeneration of time (དུས་ཀྱི་སྙིགས་མ་, Wyl. dus kyi snyigs ma), the decline in the quality of things, grain is less savory and nutritious, fails to ripen and so on;
- degeneration of disturbing emotions (ཉོན་མོངས་ཀྱི་སྙིགས་མ་, Wyl. nyon mongs kyi snyigs ma), the decline in the virtues of householders, negative emotions strive;
- degeneration of views (ལྟ་བའི་སྙིགས་མ་, Wyl. lta ba’i snyigs ma), the decline in the virtues of the ordained sangha, wrong views proliferate;
- degeneration of experience (ཉམས་ཀྱི་སྙིགས་མ་, Wyl. nyams kyi snyigs ma), the decline in physical form, intellect, good health and so on.
Further Reading
- Guru Yoga, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 1999, p. 50