aṣṭādaśa dhātavaḥ
Sanskrit: अष्टादशधातवः aṣṭādaśadhātavaḥ
Pāli: अट्ठारसधातुयो aṭṭhārasadhātuyo
Tibetan:ཁམས་བཅུ་བརྒྱད་ཀྱི་མིང་ལ་khams bcu brgyad kyi ming la
Thai: ธาตุ 18
English: 18 elements
Grammatical information:
This is a "dvigu" compound(samāsa) with aṣṭādaśa(eighteen) + dhātu as āyatanāni (vocative - masculine - plural)
Further information:
viṣayadhātu(object element) | indriyadhātu(domination element) | vijñanadhātu(consciousness element) |
rūpa (form) |
cakṣu (eye) |
cakṣu (eye) |
śabda (sound) |
śrotra (ear) |
śrotra (ear) |
gandha (smell) |
ghrāṇa (nose) | ghrāṇa (nose) |
rasa (taste) |
jihvā (tongue) |
jihvā (tongue/tasting) |
sparśa (tactile) |
kāya (body) |
kāya (body/tactile) |
dharma (mind) |
mana (mana*) |
mana (mind) |
For the first 5 indriya, there are corresponding dharmas</a> of “form-clarity” (rūpa-prasāda) in our body, a derivative type of form that can function as the basis(āśraya - the support) for the arising of consciousness.
According to Abhidharma, mind object(dharmadhātu) and mind consciousness(mana-vijñāna / manovijñāna) do not involve mana-indriya(mana-dhātu / manodhātu) for the arising of cognition. *The mana-dhātu or manodhātu can manifest as object element(viṣayadhātu)based on the former moment of cognition (of any of the 6 types). Hence, cognition can arise from manodhātu and mindconsciousness(mana-vijñāna / manovijñāna) as well.