Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c18.s2.3

v1.c18.s2.3

Though the term *dhātu* has a very wide significance, it is applied at the present instance to the six sense-organs, their objects and the six perceptions derived through them, i.e., *cakkhu, rūpa* and *cakkhuviññāṇa*; *sota, sadda* and *sotaviññāṇa* and so forth counting in all the eighteen dhātus. Etymologically *dhātu* means those elements which uphold a being. In this sense *cakkhu* is a *dhātu* and so are the other sense-organs. The sense-organs are also *indriyas*² inasmuch these act as predominating factors in perceiving objects; again these are also *āyatanas* inasmuch as these exert (*ā-yatanti, uṭṭhahanti, ghaṭanti, vāya-manti*)³ to perceive an object.