Aggregate of Volitional Formations and the Aggregate of Volitional Formations

Question: Is the transmission of the object-aspect (nimitta) from the manas to the mind consciousness itself the aggregate of volitional formations? Are a person's physical actions and mental activities also volitional-formation consciousness?

Answer: Anything that is in motion and never at rest belongs to the aggregate of volitional formations, or the aggregate of formations (saṃskāra-skandha). This includes both body and mind, but in fact bodily movement is also movement of the conscious mind; if the conscious mind does not move, the body cannot move. The transmission of the object-aspect is also movement, caused by the movement of consciousness. If these movements cannot obstruct one's own rational and Dharma-conformant cognition of discerning the true nature, and one only recognizes the moving marks of the formations, then these movements are the aggregate of volitional formations; otherwise, they are merely the aggregate of formations.