One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye and form, ear and sound, nose and smell, tongue and taste, body and physical objects, and mind and mental phenomena, to which the six consciousnesses are added). Also refers here to the four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind.

Also rendered here as “constituent.”

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements: eye, form, and eye consciousness; ear, sound, and ear consciousness; nose, odor, and nose consciousness; tongue, taste, and tongue consciousness; body, touch, and body consciousness; and mind, mental objects, and mind consciousness.

Eighteen collections of similar elements or factors of experience, under which all compounded and uncompounded things may be included: the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, plus their objects: visible forms, sounds, smells, flavors, tangible things, and mental phenomena, plus the six elements of consciousness that arises from the interaction of each of the preceding twelve. They constitute one system of categorizing the constituent parts of sentient experience.

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye and form, ear and sound, nose and odor, tongue and taste, body and physical objects, and mind and mental objects, to which the six consciousnesses are added). It can also refer to the four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, or the six elements when space and consciousness are included with those four.

Commonly designates the eighteen elements of sensory experience (the six sense faculties, their six respective objects, and the six sensory consciousnesses), although the term has a wide range of other meanings. Along with skandha and āyatana, it is one of the three major categories in the taxonomy of phenomena in the sūtra literature.

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye and form, ear and sound, nose and odor, tongue and taste, body and touch, mind and mental objects, to which the six consciousnesses are added).

See “constituent.”

In different contexts four, five, or six elements may be enumerated. The four elements are earth, water, fire, and air. A fifth, space, is often added. The six elements are: earth, water, fire, air, space, and consciousness.

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye and form, ear and sound, nose and odor, tongue and taste, body and touch, and mind and mental objects, to which the six consciousnesses are added).

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye, form, and eye consciousness; ear, sound, and ear consciousness; nose, odor, and nose consciousness; tongue, taste, and tongue consciousness; body, touch, and body consciousness; mind, mental objects, and mind consciousness).

It can also refer to the six elements of earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness. Out of these six, the first four elements are also called “great elements.”

Sphere; primary element (such as earth, water, etc.; see “six elements”); sensory “elements” that comprise six types of sense objects, six types of sense faculties, and six sense consciousnesses.

In the context of epistemology, it is one way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye, form, and eye consciousness; ear, sound, and ear consciousness; nose, odor, and nose consciousness; tongue, taste, and tongue consciousness; body, touch, and body consciousness; mind, mental phenomena, and mind consciousness).

These also refer to the elements of the physical world, which can be enumerated as four, five, or six elements. The four elements are earth, water, fire, and air. A fifth, space, is often added. The six elements are earth, water, fire, air, space, and consciousness.

Commonly designates the eighteen elements of sensory experience (the six sense faculties, their six respective objects, and the six sensory consciousnesses), although the term has a wide range of other meanings. Along with the aggregates and sense sources, it is one of the three major categories in the taxonomy of phenomena in the sūtra literature.

See “eighteen elements.”

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye and form, ear and sound, nose and smell, tongue and taste, body and physical objects, and mind and mental phenomena, to which the six consciousnesses are added). Also refers here to the four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind.

Depending on the context, may translate either: (a) Skt. mahābhūta, Tib. ’byung ba chen po, the four “main” or “great” outer elements of earth, water, fire, air, and (when there is a fifth) space; or: (b) Skt. dhātu, Tib. khams, the “eighteen elements” introduce, in the context of the aggregates, elements, and sense-media, the same six pairs as the twelve sense-media, as elements of experience, adding a third member to each set: the element of consciousness (vijñāna), or sense. Hence the first pair gives the triad eye-element (caksur­dhātu), form-element (rūpadhātu), and eye-consciousness-element, or eye-sense-element (caksur­vijñāna­dhātu)‍—and so on with the other five, noting the last, mind-element (manodhātu), phenomena-element (dharma­dhātu), and mental-sense-element (mano­vijñāna­dhātu).

In the context of Buddhist philosophy, one way to describe experience and the world is in terms of eighteen elements (eye, form, and eye consciousness; ear, sound, and ear consciousness; nose, smell, and nose consciousness; tongue, taste, and tongue consciousness; body, touch, and body consciousness; mind, mental phenomena, and mind consciousness).

The eighteen elements of sensory experience, comprising the six sense-organs, their six objects, and the six consciousnesses associated with them.

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye and form, ear and sound, nose and smell, tongue and taste, body and physical objects, and mind and mental phenomena, to which the six consciousnesses are added). Also refers here to the “four great elements.”

A word that can refer, in different formulations, to the fundamental constituents of material and/or mental phenomena, or to the realms of existence, it also has the general meaning of the nature of something.

In the context of Buddhist philosophy, one way to describe experience and the world is in terms of eighteen elements (eye, form, and eye consciousness; ear, sound, and ear consciousness; nose, smell, and nose consciousness; tongue, taste, and tongue consciousness; body, touch, and body consciousness; mind, mental phenomena, and mind consciousness).

The elements also refer to the elements of the physical world, which are the four main elements: earth, water, fire, and wind. Sometimes two extra elements are added to this list: space and consciousness.

The list of dhātus in the sense of “elements” comprises the four great elements (see “great elements”) of earth, water, heat, and wind, plus space and consciousness, and is a list specifically designed to describe the assemblage of conditions that makes it possible for a new moment of consciousness to arise after the last moment of consciousness at death, i.e., it is meant to explain the process of rebirth.

Also rendered here as “temperament” and “constituent element.”

There are eighteen such psycho-physical elements‍—the twelve sense fields plus the six types of sensory perception.

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye and form, ear and sound, nose and odor, tongue and taste, body and touch, mind and mental objects, to which the six consciousnesses are added).

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements: eye, form, and eye consciousness; ear, sound, and ear consciousness; nose, odor, and nose consciousness; tongue, taste, and tongue consciousness; body, touch, and body consciousness; mind, mental objects, and mind consciousness. These eighteen cognitive elements are listed in The Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Lines, 1.16.

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye and form, ear and sound, nose and odor, tongue and taste, body and tactile sensation, mind and mental objects, to which the six consciousnesses are added).

Also refers to the “four elements.”

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye and form, ear and sound, nose and odor, tongue and taste, body and touch, mind and mental objects, to which the six consciousnesses are added).

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye, form, and eye consciousness; ear, sound, and ear consciousness; nose, odor, and nose consciousness; tongue, taste, and tongue consciousness; body, touch, and body consciousness; mind, mental objects, and mind consciousness).

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye, form, and eye consciousness; ear, sound, and ear consciousness; nose, odor, and nose consciousness; tongue, taste, and tongue consciousness; body, touch, and body consciousness; mind, mental objects, and mind consciousness).

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye, form, and eye consciousness; ear, sound, and ear consciousness; nose, odor, and nose consciousness; tongue, taste, and tongue consciousness; body, touch, and body consciousness; mind, mental objects, and mind consciousness). It can also refer to the six elements of earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness.

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements: eye, form, and eye consciousness; ear, sound, and ear consciousness; nose, odor, and nose consciousness; tongue, taste, and tongue consciousness; body, touch, and body consciousness; mind, mental objects, and mind consciousness.

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye and form, ear and sound, nose and odor, tongue and taste, body and touch, mind and mental objects, to which the six consciousnesses are added).

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements: eye and form, ear and sound, nose and smell, tongue and taste, body and physical objects, and mind and mental phenomena, to which the six consciousnesses are added. Also refers here to the four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind.

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye, form, and eye consciousness; ear, sound, and ear consciousness; nose, odor, and nose consciousness; tongue, taste, and tongue consciousness; body, touch, and body consciousness; mind, mental objects, and mind consciousness).

In different contexts four, five, or six elements may be enumerated. The four elements are earth, water, fire, and air. A fifth, space, is often added. The six elements are earth, water, fire, air, space, and consciousness. According to traditional Indian medicine, many diseases arise when the elements of the body become unbalanced.

The constituents of experience. One way of describing experience and the world is in terms of eighteen elements: eye, form, and eye consciousness; ear, sound, and ear consciousness; nose, odor, and nose consciousness; tongue, taste, and tongue consciousness; body, touch, and body consciousness; and mind, mental objects, and mind consciousness.

Also rendered here as “element.”

In a manner similar to the term dharma (Tib. chos), the Sanskrit term dhātu has a wide semantic range. In Buddhist usage it refers to all the parts, elements, and aspects of experience that together constitute the experience of saṃsāra. These include all the elements and realms. In most uses dhātu was translated into Tibetan with the word khams, but in the compound dharmadhātu, which denotes the ultimate nature of all phenomena, it was uniquely translated into Tibetan with dbyings, which means “space.”

The eighteen constituents are: eye, visual object, visual consciousness; ear, sound, auditive consciousness; nose, smell, olfactory consciousness; tongue, taste, gustative consciousness; body, touch, tactile consciousness; mind, mental objects, mental consciousness. When it refers to six elements, they are: earth, water, fire, air, space, and consciousness.

The eighteen constituents of experience are the six senses, the six objects of the senses, and the six consciousnesses that arise from the interaction of the six senses with their objects.

Often translated as “element,” dhātu (Tib. khams) is a term with a wide semantic range. Here, in a manner similar to the term dharma (Tib. chos), it refers to all the constituents or elements of experience.

Also rendered here as “element.”

The six sensory objects, six sensory faculties, and six consciousnesses.

One way of describing experience and the world in terms of eighteen elements (eye and form, ear and sound, nose and odor, tongue and taste, body and touch, and mind and mental objects, to which the six consciousnesses are added).

Often translated “element,” commonly in the context of the eighteen elements of sensory experience (the six sense faculties, their six respective objects, and the six sensory consciousnesses), although the term has a wide range of other meanings. Along with the aggregates (Skt. skandha) and the sense bases (Skt. āyatana), one of the three major categories in the taxonomy of phenomena in the sūtra literature.

The six sensory objects, six sensory faculties, and six consciousnesses.

Often translated “element,” commonly in the context of the eighteen elements of sensory experience (the six sense faculties, their six respective objects, and the six sensory consciousnesses), although the term has a wide range of other meanings. Along with skandha and āyatana, one of the three major categories in the taxonomy of phenomena in the sūtra literature.

Also rendered here as “temperament” and “element.”

A word that can refer, in different formulations, to the fundamental constituents of material and/or mental phenomena, or to the realms of existence. It also has the general meaning of the nature of something.

The six sensory objects, six sensory faculties, and six consciousnesses.

Eighteen collections of similar dharmas, under which all compounded and uncompounded dharmas may be included: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, plus their objects: visible forms, sounds, smells, flavors, touchables, and dharmas, plus the consciousnesses corresponding to each of the first six.

See “constituent.”

See “eighteen sensory elements.”

Also rendered here as “element” and “constituent element.”