Ajahn Chah

When aversion arises, it becomes conditioned.

The desire to move here and there arises from conditioning.

If our awareness doesn't keep pace with these mental proliferations as they occur, the mind will chase after them and be conditioned by them.

So the Buddha taught us to contemplate these wavering conditions of the mind.

Whenever the mind moves, it becomes unstable and impermanent, unsatisfactory.

and cannot be taken as a self.

These are the three universal characteristics of all conditioned phenomena.

Anicca, dukkha, anatta.

The Buddha taught us to observe and contemplate these movements of the mind.

Deluded understanding is the cause and condition for the arising of volitional karmic formations.

Which is the cause and condition for the arising of consciousness?

Which is the cause and condition for the arising of mentality and materiality?

The Buddha separated each link of the chain to make it easier to study.

This is an accurate description of reality.

But when this process actually occurs in real life, the scholars aren't able to keep up with what's happening.

It's like falling from the top of a tree to come crashing down to the ground below.

We have no idea how many branches we've passed on the way down.

Likewise, when the mind is suddenly hit by a mental impression, if it delights in it, then it flies off into a good mood.

It considers it good without being aware of the chain of conditions that led it there.

The process takes place in accordance with what is outlined in the theory, but simultaneously it goes beyond the limits of that theory.