Regarding the first two questions by Lang (cubibobi):
(1) A nimitta can come through any of the six senses. But the cuti-patisandhi transition ALWAYS happens at the manodvara. All citta vithi starting with pancadvara are followed by 3 manodvara citta vithi. I may not have explained that in a post yet.
– Sometimes, a nimitta comes through one of the pancadvara, and by the time cuti-patisandhi happens all physical senses may have died.
(2) Dreams come through only manodvara.
Lang asked:
“If what you are saying is correct, then for a puthujjana, his rebirth is random. For a puthujjana, at the dying moment, any kamma bija from an infinite past can come at random, and he does not have the ability to reject it.
A sotapanna can reject apayagami kamma bijā, and beings with higher magga phala can reject more and more kamma bijā, and the arahant can reject all..”
Whether it is an average human (puthujjana) or a Sotapanna or even an Arahant, it is not a conscious rejection of a nimitta.
– Whether to accept a nimitta or not happens AUTOMATICALLY at the votthapana citta in a citta vithi. The mind automatically accepts or rejects a nimitta according to the panna (or wisdom) it has cultivated.
– As we know, a citta vithi takes only a billionth of a second. There is no time to make a conscious decision.
– See, “Citta Vīthi – Processing of Sense Inputs”
It is exactly according to hetu-phala, and nothing else.