skad cig ma

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སྐད་ཅིག་མ
instant, moment (as a unit of time), or momentary (as the characteristic of impermanence)

instantaneous, momentary, fleeting moments, something of an instant, definition of transitory, very useful and important medicine, present, instant [JV]

instant(aneous); isc. event; isc. (adj.) moment-by-moment [RB]

1) instant, moment, second. 2) nowness, momentariness. Syn skad cig pa. 3) an instantaneous / momentary phenomenon. 4) the philosophy students in Dharamsala call it "subtle impermanence" [the grosser. "momentary" form of fmi rtag pa; instant; event. Syn skad cig pa [RY]

(kshanam yud tsam mam, thang cig; 1) instant, moment, 2nd; 2) nowness, momentariness; 3) instantaneous/momentary phenomenon; 4) "subtle impermanence" [IW]

momentary, evanescent [ggd] [RY]

Discussion

momentary. The quality of disintegrating immediately upon arising. This is the characteristic of impermanence. All composite phenomena are momentary: in each moment, they arise and disintegrate, and then arise and disintegrate again in the next, and the next moment. Ordinary beings do not perceive directly perceive this momentariness and instead mistake a continuum of similar moments as being an unchanging thing.

Instantaneous does not seem quite right: in English that generally refers to something that happens suddenly. The English word momentary seems to better capture the fleetingness and instability that skad cig ma refers to. DKC