Dhātu

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Dhātu (Skt., Pāli, ‘region, element’). A word occurring frequently as a component in longer Buddhist terms, e.g. as one of the three worlds or domains, kāmadhātu, rūpadhātu, arūpadhātu—see LOKA. In its own right, it refers to elements of many different kinds, e.g. the physical elements (earth, water, wind, fire), the eighteen elements of sentience and consciousness (eye, ear, nose, tongue, mental awareness, etc.), the six states of appearance (solid, liquid, temperature, moving, spatial, conscious or not), the remains of a body after cremation.

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