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 dhātavaḥ (vocative - masculine - plural)
Further information:
A classification model for cognition phenomena focusing on element. This classification has 6-triplets of object elements (last 3 works slightly differently)base element and consciousness elements for the arising of cognition within the kāmadhātu.
| viṣaya dhātu(object element) | āśraya dhātu(base 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 (touch) |
kāya (body) |
kāya (body/touch) |
| dharma (mind) |
mana (mana*) |
mana (mind) |
The first 5 base elements, are corresponding dharmas of “form-clarity” (rūpa-prasāda) in our body, a derivative type of form in the arising of corresponding consciousness. For cognition of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch, three corresponding elements of object element, base element and consciousness element are essential. For the cognition involving mana-vijñāna-dhātu/manovijñānadhātu, this is essential along with only one of dharmadhātu or mana-dhātu/manodhātu are essential.The mana-dhātu/manodhātu is the former cognition (immediate previous cognition from any of the 6 objects).
See also:
pañca skandhāḥ
dvādaśāyatanāni