The seven Dhatus are the tissues from which the body is built, layer by layer, from the first, fluid substance to the finest essence of life. This series follows them, one text for each layer. You can read them in order, from the introduction to Ojas, or begin with the text that speaks to you right now. Each one stands on its own. Read together, they show how everything connects.
The Beginning
Introduction
How the body builds ever finer substance from food in seven stages, the entry into the teaching of the Dhatus.
Dhatuparinama
A different view of health and illness, what opens when the body is read as one connected system of substance.
The Seven Layers
Rasa
The first stream, plasma and lymph, and why our modern lives barely carry it anymore.
Rakta
The blood, when the still water awakens and substance begins to be actively carried.
Mamsa
Muscle and form, when the stream begins to build something that holds and carries.
Medas
The fat tissue, when the body begins to provide for later.
Asthi
The bones, when substance becomes deep enough to become architecture, and to outlast time.
Majja
Marrow and nerves, when substance becomes so fine that it feels and perceives.
Shukra
The seventh Dhatu in its masculine form, substance so refined that it can pass life on.
Artava
The seventh Dhatu in its feminine form, substance that becomes cyclical and can carry life within.
The Essence
Ojas
The finest substance the body knows, when all seven refinements flow together.
This is the teaching of substance. Where it touches daily life, translated into everyday care, you will find it in → Lived Knowledge.