Hello friends. Back again with a post with a personal interpretation of the teachings, based on suttas and the Abhidharma. I'd love to have critique or comments, but this is from my personal investigation into my own mind, so perhaps it may be interpreted differently in yours. Just a bit of sharing!

Ignorance (Avijja) -> Actions (Sankhara)

Wisdom is understanding that all sense-objects are worthless, not giving any satisfaction whatsoever, due to not seeing that dissatisfaction and satisfaction originates from mind alone, not from the five sense-objects. All unconditioned objects are impermanent and tasteless, including feelings, so it is not wise to seek externally to cure one's dissatisfaction. Not understanding this is having no wisdom (avijja).

Having no understanding of this becomes a support for mental actions to arise automatically. This usually happens unnoticed. As it builds up in interest, it produces verbal actions as mental commentary. As it is further unnoticed, it builds up into actual words and speech, and at its most intense, as actions and behaviour.

Bad Actions (Sankhara) -> Defiled Cognition (Vinnana)

Having bad Actions, we generate Defiled-Cognition. The more we do an action, the more of that Defiled-cognition we are reinforcing. For example, the more a person smokes or drinks alcohol, the more this Defiled-Cognition will be likely to arise in future. On the other hand, cognition in an Arahant will still be able to recognize what cigarettes or alcohol is, but his Cognition is pure.

Many Defiled-Cognitions we attach to originate from our previous lives. For example, some people are more inclined to gambling, entertainment, sports, drinking, sex, and so on. These are Actions that arise after having fed that Defiled-Cognition in a previous life. Therefore, we need to stop reinforcing Defiled-Cognition. In simpler terms, we need to stop bad habits in order to stop such a type of Defiled-Cognition from arising.

When taking rebirth, the baseline of our Defiled-Cognition changes. For example, if our Actions reinforced a Defiled-Cognition that is more of a pig, we will then have a baseline at that of a pig's. Whatever Actions you choose to feed, your mind will become. Normally, the baseline does not change immediately, a human can be reborn a few times as a human until the baseline changes.

Defiled Cognition (Vinnana) -> Subtle-Body (Namarupa)

The baseline of your Defiled-Cognition is what determines what Subtle-Body you get. The Subtle-body is formed from the karma that produces this new human life, therefore it includes all the characteristics such as the body's appearance, DNA, and so on. The Buddha had the 32 Signs Of A Great Man, and this was a product of having had a baseline of wholesome Actions in the past, producing a wholesome Cognition. This is why when the seer predicted the fortune of the Buddha, he could see two possibilities - that he would turn into a Great King or an Awakened Sage.

Sexual intercourse with fertilization produces a condition to allow attachment of the Subtle-Body into the zygote. Therefore, a Subtle-Body of a particular baseline Cognition will be attracted to a suitable womb. Gautama's Subtle-Body entered the womb of Queen Maya.

This can happen in this very lifetime too, without the process of rebirth. For example, when a thief is thinking of stealing something, firstly, he has Ignorance (avijja). This leads to mental actions, then speech actions and lastly physical actions related to stealing. This builds up the Cognition (vinnana) for stealing. This then influences the Subtle-Body (namarupa), and the thief is having an internal experience (with visuals, hearing, and so on) of carrying out the process of stealing.

This Subtle-Body is not a new concept, it is similar to that of the Mind-made Body (Manomayakaya), which is one of the attainments of intense meditation and contemplation. The Buddha described another body that is similar to the flesh-body, being able to exist the body at will, visiting other realms.

Subtle-Body (namarupa) -> Six sense faculties (Salayatana)

Most of the time, we treat sensory experience by ignoring, letting the senses act as neutral faculties (indriya). But when we experience something that we have a craving for, then we start to pay attention to it, making them act as absorbed-faculties (ayatana). These sense-faculties vary for every individual being. A cat's senses are different from a human's. And our senses are different from a Brahma who does not have tasting, smelling or touching faculties.

Using the same example as the thief earlier, having an internal experience with the Subtle-Body (namarupa), the neutral-faculties (indriya) transform to absorbed-faculties (ayatana), becoming highly alerted of whatever it senses. For example, when a cat wants to hunt, its Subtle-Body has the internal experience of hunting, and then it develops absorbed-faculties, perking up its ears, lowering its body, reading to prance, and heightening its six senses.

Six sense faculties (Salayatana) -> Mental Representation (Phassa)

Phassa is often translated as Sense-Contact, implying contact between Objects and Sense-Organs, but it is not the light hitting the retina or entering the eyeball that is the point of Contact. Instead, it is when the signals travel to the brain through the optic nerve. Only after sensory-processing in the Sensory Cortex of the brain can there be a Mental-representation of the seen-image (Phassa). This whole process is entirely unseen and is subconscious.

As previously, having developed the appropriate absorbed-faculties (ayatana) on a basis of a particular experience of the Subtle-Body (namarupa), the Mental Representation is made (phassa) after receiving sensory impressions.

But receiving just neutral types of mental representations have no meaning whatsoever. They are just experiences with no discrimination, no feelings, and no attachments. This is how an enlightened person like an Arahant would see things - with pure Mental Representation.

The deluded being however, having been conditioned by unwholesome Actions, then a Defiled-Cognition, then a defiled Subtle-Body, then defiled absorbed-sense-faculties, will now also have a mental representation that is impure. Instead of seeing just a boy, he sees "his son". Instead of seeing just paper, he sees "his money". This is impure Mental Representation, where it is conditioned with greediness, hatred and ignorance.

Mental Representation (Phassa) -> Feelings (Vedana)

Due to how pure Mental Representation was discerned in an impure manner, feelings are developed in accordance to them. For example, the cat may feel "pleasure" in killing mice and birds. A thief may feel "pleasure" and thrill in shop-lifting or the sensory-experience of succeeding at stealing an expensive luxury item. On the other hand, a cat may feel "pain" when losing the bird it wanted to eat. A thief may feel "pain" when his plan of stealing is ruined.

Feelings (Vedana) -> Craving for Impurity (Tanha)

The more "pain" and "pleasure" derived from impure Mental Representations (as conditioned by prior conditions), the more the craving for them. It becomes addictive and harder to dissociate from. The thief starts to dream about stealing more things, dream about running away from the police in fear, and so on. The alcoholic is unable to stay away from more alcohol, deriving pleasure from numbing away the world and that little "high". This craving builds up slowly and gradually - it does not come in a single moment. Slowly, the craving arises.

Craving for Impurity (Tanha) -> Gravitation (Upadana)

Just like how we jump and fall back to the Earth due to Gravity, we become Gravitated to similar things. For example, the thief would associate himself with like-minded people, fellow shop-lifters who do it for the thrill. Criminals would associate themselves with their gang and other criminals. Even on a milder level, friends associate themselves with like-minded friends. Similarly, the Sangha was encouraged by the Buddha to associate themselves with other sangha members.

Not just people, but to similar objects, situations and objects! A person indulging in pleasure from rap-music will surround himself with other types of rap-music, posters of his favorite rappers, familiarising his mind with the lyrics of the rap, and so on. Just like a magnet that attracts magnetizable things.

Gravitation (Upadana) -> Becoming (Bhava)

By Gravitating to such a thing, there is a development of a particular personality due to habits. For example, if an immoral husband has always taken pleasure in beating up his wife, his personality has become aggressive and violent, with a sadistic nature - It would be similar to that of a "hell being". The more of that personality is reinforced, the more similar a being becomes according to that archetype of personality.

Therefore, the more wrong Actions that are done, the more wrong Cognitions are made, the more an impure Subtle-body is sustained, the more impure the Mental Representations, the more impure the Feelings, the more the Craving, the more impure the Gravitation, and now, the more impure the Becoming.

Therefore, ALL actions have consequences. What you reap, you must sow. Whether you choose to do a good action or a bad action determines exactly your destiny. This is the law of kamma. Some kamma is not potent, whereas other kamma is more potent. Any kamma involving greediness, hatred and ignorance are extremely potent, bringing about dark kamma/retribution. Extremely bad kamma result from the Five Heinous Crimes - such as killing one's own parents, harming a Tathagata or creating a Schism in the Buddhist community.

A Becoming (bhava) is likened to a seed of kamma. For example, because a person is always acting violently, his animal-like behaviour makes his animal-like habits grow. If he were to drop all his violent behaviour and practice the Dharma, then there will be no animal-like Becoming to interact with animal-like Kamma - thus, he will have a different result.

So everyone must know that any act that is not beneficial must be stopped right now. It cannot be postponed to another day, because this is a gradual process, not a sudden change. We can degrade how powerful a kamma-seed is by repenting immediately and making an effort to practice the correct Dharma. As mentioned earlier, this starts right at the very beginning, at the point where Ignorance produces unwholesome Actions.

Becoming (Bhava) -> Birth (Jati) & Suffering

As Becoming becomes strong enough to power a different existence, we start to look at the process of taking Birth. The human-body, having aged and diseased, is no longer able to sustain a Subtle-Body. Therefore, it is purged from the shell. As mentioned, this Subtle-Body is not some kind of permanent soul. It changes according to how one's conditions affect it.

At the moment of death, the person's mind has been filled with the volition of an animal. Therefore, an animal-like personality has a Subtle-Body that is similar to that of an animal existence - drawing it towards a Birth of an animal.

When born as an animal, there is a sustaining karmic momentum. The person is likely to be born as that animal for many lifetimes - aging and dying - aging and dying - aging and dying. This repeats until the kamma-seed, aka Becoming, is used up or transformed.

It is needless to say how much suffering there is already as a human-being - Imagine that of an animal, hungry-ghost or hell-being! Even demigods (devas) suffer due to their fear of death.

Likewise, as a human being, we often have a human Becoming (bhava). This lasts for a few lifetimes, so it is not abnormal to hear of children who rebirth from previous human lives. The Buddha however, described the Becoming of a human as being extremely rare. It is even rarer to be born in a planet with exposure to the Dharma teachings.

The Importance of Knowing This

As the Buddha mentioned in MN28,

One who sees Dependent Origination sees the Dhamma. One who sees the Dhamma sees Dependent Origination.

In DN15, Ananda was reprimanded by the Buddha:

"It's incredible, sir, it's amazing, in that this dependent origination is deep and appears deep, yet to me it seems as plan as can be."

Buddha replied, "Don't say that Ananda, don't say that! This dependent origination is deep and appears deep. It is because of not understanding and not comprehending this teaching that this population has become tangled like string, knotted like a ball of thread, and matted like rushes and reeds, and it doesn't escape the places of loss, the bad places, the underworld, transmigration."

Buddha then continued later on after expounding the Dependent Origination, “When a mendicant, having truly understood the origin, ending, gratification, drawback, and escape regarding these seven planes of consciousness and these two dimensions, is freed by not grasping, they’re called a mendicant who is freed by wisdom."