Dharmadhātu

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Dharmadhātu (Skt., element of phenomenaʾ; Tib., chos.kyi.dbyings, ‘expanse of phenomena’). A term in Buddhist philosophy which began as a Hīnayāna concept, indicating the true nature of phenomena as ultimately specific entities subject to dependent origination (Skt., pratītyasamutpāda; Pālī paticcasammupāda), but which grew in importance in the Mahāyāna to describe the true nature of all phenomena collectively as indivisible and empty (śūnyatā) of own-being (svabhāvaśūnya). In modern Western usage it generally, and perhaps inadequately, simply indicates ‘the absolute’.