The Tree of Enlightenment

preserves continuity and sustains life even in the absence of conscious
thought-processes, as in dreamless sleep and moments of
unconsciousness like coma. In between the various conscious
thought-processes, bhavanga reasserts itself and preserves the
continuity of life.
To summarize, our life begins with the uniting or connecting
conscious factor (patisandhi) that joins the previous life to
this life. It is sustained throughout the course of this life by the
subconscious factor of life continuum (bhavanga), and it ends
with the falling away (chuti) that again precedes union (in the
form of patisandhi) with the subsequent life.
Consciousness, as opposed to subconsciousness (bhavanga),
arises as a phenomenon of resistance and vibration. In other
words, bhavanga remains subconscious until it is interrupted or
obstructed by an object, as when we place a dam across a river
and find that the course of the river is interrupted, or subject an
electrical current to resistance and find that the phenomenon of
light arises. is contact between bhavanga and an object results
in resistance, and this resistance results in vibration, which in
turn results in a conscious thought-process.
e thought-processes that arise as a result of this interruption
are either (1) physical thought-processes that operate through the
five sense doors (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body), or (2) mental
thought-processes that operate through the mind, the sixth
sense organ. Physical thought-processes are determined by the
intensity, or impact, of the object that brings about the interruption
of the stream of life continuum. In this sense, the largest
obstruction will cause the longest thought-process, and the
smallest obstruction will cause the shortest thought-process.
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