ཐ་རམས། ཐ་རམ།

Words seem to be make sense only if taken naïvely and non-analytically. Take the Tibetan word tha rams. Some of us may have heard of the gSang sngags bka’i tha rams. But what is tha rams? Is it the same as tha ram (Jäschke 1881: s.v. tha ram “the breadth of a plain” or “a medicinal herb”)? Clearly not. None of the three meanings of tha ram in the Tshig mdzod chen mo seems to suit here. Evidently the Tshig mdzod chen mo considers tha ram and tha rams to be clearly two distinct words, the latter being an archaic word for gtams pa (“filled”). bTsan-lha’s brDa dkrol (p. 284) gives two meanings of tha rams. bTsan-lha’s suggested second meaning, namely, “rope,” “string,” or “chain” (’ching thag) is quite convincing especially if we consider the example lcags kyi tha rams kyis bsdams nas. If we take this meaning of tha rams, gsang sngags bka’i tha rams would mean something like the “cord that secures the Mantric teachings.” But can it mean something else? Can tha rams in the sense of gtams pa (“filled”) mean something like “replenished” or “studded” and thus “treasury” or “treasure trove.” Thus gsang sngags bka’i tha rams would mean something like “treasure trove of Tantric teachings.” Such a meaning would be confirmed by the use tha rams (but here actually: ram) ’byed pa’i lde mig (NKSG, vol. 17, pp. 123.2, 125.6).