Five degenerations

The five degenerations (Tib. སྙིགས་མ་ལྔ་, Wyl. snyigs ma lnga, nyikma nga) of the age of strife are:

1. degeneration of life-span (Tib. ཚེའི་སྙིགས་མ་, Wyl. tshe’i snyigs ma), the shortening of the length of life;
   
2. 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;
   
3. 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;
   
4. 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;
   
5. 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

Internal Links

• Kaliyuga