dhātu

The dhātus — the elements or constituents.

These answer the question: what exactly is experience made of, moment by moment?

There are eighteen dhātus:

6 sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind)

6 sense objects (forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables, mental objects)

6 consciousnesses (visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, mental consciousness)

So dhātus = organ + object + corresponding consciousness.

This is a very fine-grained dismantling of the idea that “I see” or “I think.”

Instead: visual consciousness arises dependent on eye and form.

No extra owner required. No controller found.

In Abhidharma and tantra, this is often used to show that what we take to be a solid perceiver is actually a temporary coordination of elements