chos can
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ཆོས་ཅན
1) the basis of both dharma and reason in syllogism [eg., in establishing by reason of being produced that sound is impermanent, sound is the dharmin &, having both the reason "being produced" and the dharma impermanent la rtags byas pa dang chos mi rtag pa gnyis dang ldan pa lta bu'o]; 2) having the tradition; 3) all things, dharmin, object, conditioned thing, possessing attributes/ the character of, of such and such nature, religious, pious, nature-possessor, [logical] subject, that which has (certain) qualities or attributes, apparitional reality, the phenomenal quality of all things [in ati, Longchenpa, treasury of the supreme vehicle, p 8; 2) ] [IW]
observable quality, determinate manifestation, logical subject, reflective-thematic aspect of being, reflected-on experience, phenomenal qualities, subject, similar to rnam pa, a judgment about chos nyid, the fictional, thing under discussion, thematizations of reality, conditioned phenomenon, conditioned, subject of the thesis, pious, devout, logical subject [JV]
1) dharmin *; 2) having the tradition; 3) religious, pious; 4) object, conditioned thing, nature- possessor, [logical] subject, that which has (certain qualities/ attributes/ character/ nature, apparitional reality, [the phenomenal quality of] all things [IW]
1) dharmin [the basis of both dharma and reason in syllogism] [R]; 2) having the tradition; 3) religious, pious; 4) object, conditioned thing, nature-possessor, [logical] subject, that which has (certain) qualities/ attributes/ character/ nature, apparitional reality, [the phenomenal quality of] all things [R] [IW]
conditioned phenomenon/ a; object(s) of the phenomenal world; subject/ phenomenon in question/ under discussion [in debate] [RB]
1) dharmin, object, a conditioned thing, 'possessing at- tributes', nature-possessor, possessing the character of. 2) apparitional reality. phenomenal quality of all things. 3) its nature is to, of a such and such nature, 4) Usually chos ldan religious, pious, 5) subject, that which has [certain] qualities or attributes, subject [in logic context]; subject/ phenomenon in question (debate); phenomenal entity, phenomena [RY]
phenomenon, subject [thd]
subject, substratum [ggd] [RY]
dharma base DKC
Discussion
A dharma base is a phenomenon or basis that has various dharmas as its aspects. It most commonly refers to the subject of a syllogism, but it also is used in phrases such as "the relative dharma base and ultimate dharma nature."
The Sanskrit word dharmin adds the suffix -in, which indicates possession, to the word dharma. The Tibetan similary adds the particle can which indicates possession to the word chos, which means dharma. Literally, this could be translated as "dharma possessor," but that is unwieldy and awkward-sounding, so the word base is used instead. It is preferable to use this compound neologism rather than an existing English word such as phenomenon or subject because those terms do not highlight the relationship between chos can and chos in the way that the words dharma base and dharma do.
The word subject is often used as a translation for chos can, particularly in logical texts or translations of syllogisms. Subject seems a very good translation of the Tibetan term don when used to indicate the logical subject. However, the word subject does not work so well as a translation of chos can in other contexts, nor does it show the relationship between four interrelated words: chos, chos can, chos nyid, and chos kyi dbyings, which often are used to show the interrelations between phenomena, their properties, and their nature. Therefore I would propose that we use dharma, dharma-base, dharma nature, and dharma expanse to translate these terms. The word subject would then be a translation of don in the context of rtags don gsal gsum. DKC