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What is the physics of the 'phenomena' of Nirvana?
Although a lot has been said and written on the internet about Nirvana, the physics behind it seems to be an obscure and elusive area.
Human experience seems to be summed up in five-skandhas, dependent origination and six-sense bases.Existence of all of them seems to be physically provable. I want an answer based on such arguments for an e.g. interaction of skandhas etc.
Nibbana is also said to be 'unconditioned' phenomena, all that is made of Matter or contains Matter is 'conditioned'. If it is nothingness or emptiness, what is the underlying Physics?
Physics has not yet arrived at the definition and exact phenomena of Consciousness. It is called the hard problem of Consciousness. As of now, it has not been explained in terms of physical interaction or as an emergent phenomenon. Consciousness is the only thing that seems to transmute in Nirvana. I have long held the belief that 'Consciousness conscious of itself is Nirvana.
A blind, deaf, mute, senseless, touchless, everyone can get Nirvana but someone without consciousness cannot get Nirvana, that person is essentially dead. After Nirvana the person remains conscious, so what is it that essentially transmutes?
I am asking, what's the physics?
I am aware this is kind of a question that the Buddha discouraged to ask for e.g. in the Parable of Poisoned Arrow, but still, I have to ask.

May be these 2 answers help you in understanding basic physics(might be a little physics) behind Mind & its conversion at Nirvana as well its cessation at Full-Enlightenment (parinibbana). :: 1.) https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/a/35741/17220  and 2.) https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/a/35803/17220

this helped me: https://zennist.typepad.com/zenfiles/2008/01/hinayana-nirvan.html

In the case of the human mind (or any kind of mind), we're not talking as much about physics as about cognitive functions and the capacity for interpretation.
Chemistry emerges from Physics and physical phenomena; Biology emerges from chemistry; cognitive functions emerge from biology; language emerge from cognitive function; society emerge from language, and so on. Can we explain society just from laws of physics? The more complex are the new emergent processes, the less useful is to use "basic" laws to explain such new complex phenomena.
"Mind" is a term we use to describe and group all the processes that allow us to build interpretations about the world from sense-data, in orden to make some sense from it and to adapt to the ever changing world.
Emotions and mind-states in general are habitual responses that arise from how the mind has learnt to react under determined circumstances. And those reactions come from the nature of the interpretation built previously in the mind.
We have learnt to control and arrange in specific ways the conditions of the world in order to receive and specific kind of sense-data; namely, that which we perceive as desirable. Also, the opposite is true: we want to put away any part of the sense-data that might be perceived as undesirable.
The Buddhist Path is a gradual training for elininating cognitive ignorance and wrong interpretations about the world and reality, in order to eradicate the habitual emotional and mind-states reactions that lead to insatisfaction and suffering.
Nibbana is the state where, to be at peace, there's no need for an specific set of sense-data information. No matter what enters through the sense-doors, emotions and mind-states will no give rise to insatisfaction, because there's no need to arrange and control the world and the input of sense-data that comes from it. In other words, craving for sense-data and craving for specific states of the idea of the self are uprooted. Nibbana is peace without conditions.
Kind regards!

Thank you for the answer, but I really don't understand how it explains happening of 'nirvana' in a body composed of five skandhas. I know nirvana is ultimate peace but is it an emergent phenomenon or absolute plane of existence. The way you have applied systems theory, >>Chemistry emerges from Physics and physical phenomena<< can you not apply it to five Skandhas and/or six sence spears to understand the emergence of Nirvana.

A recurrent example used to speak about Nibbana is to think about a headache; the "mechanics" of the Noble Eightfold Path allow the "headache" of craving, aversion and delusion to disappear permanently. In that sense, what is experienced is analogue to the relief after the headache is gone. The phenomenom of Nibbana is not a thing in a physical sense, but is what remains after eliminating the three pollutants before mentioned. Try defining a "hole": Is a "hole" a thing? Or is the absence of other things? Even when it's not a thing, you can be aware when there's a hole in front of you. Regards!

when a person attains to cessation of perception & feeling by development of discernment, that which is made by mind ceases to exist.. bhavananirodha - extinction of existence.
One who attains such a state remains thus percepient of the extinguishment of the conditioned element. That which can be grasped with wrong view as mind of this or that being and that which is mind-made all there extinguished and there is a discernment of an alternative state to the conditioned. In the texts this is called "Seeing with Discernment" and 'discernment' is that which discerns the quality of happiness to be discerned among discernable.
If the system is of two elements; one conditioned; one unconditioned.
The conditioned is self created, it is all encompassing and is all that exists. It is associated with language; is mind and is mind made. It is self-created, self-sustained, no space to it is external; all worlds are included; nature is included herein and that which is of nature, is personal or impersonal for this or that person, internal or external. The conditioned essentially arises as one thing as ceases as another, it is self-directing and self-created, it is that which is of past, present and future.
The unconditioned is not included in the allness of the all. If the conditioned was to be an obstructor, it would be the obstructed; it would be an alternative to the transient of past, present and future.
If there was no unconditioned then no escape could have been discerned; if a person is in a labyrinth with no escape, then no escape can be discerned but if there is an escape  then that which is not labyrinth can be discerned.
The person who attains the ceassation of the conditioned, his bodily functions cease, mental function (imagination, intellect) also cease but his faculty of discernment remains discerning the cessation which is the cessation of time, space, mind, universe and matter. Remaining thus percepient of the extinguishment one would be seeing with wisdom the end of the world and what is the beyond the six senses which is discerned as it actually is with the eye of wisdom.
Nibbana lit. Extinguishment is also explained as "removal of delusion" and the state of the Arahant who is without delusion is also called nibbana for that absence of delusion and it's removal is fulfilled and established. The experience of cessation of the aggregates is the highest experience for it opens for the discernment of the unmade alternative to mind, cessation of perception & feeling is called Nibbana in definitive sense and attainment of it is by what delusion is removed.
That release from the made is called unprovoked and immeasurable release. One who abides in such as state, percipient of the cessation of perception, discerning highest pleasure; he can be said to be dwelling in destruction or removal as well because having emerged from that attainment his mind will incline to it due to discernment of it as the better.
One who is percepient of extinguishment does not think or is percepient of anything dimension or a world, he sees the system as one element there is only unconditioned, the uncaused, ungrounded, the unaffected by extinguishment.
The thought does not occur; 'i shall come out of it' or 'i entered it'; the mind discerned as having ceased itself was inclined to the perception of it's extinguishment and it was the previous development which pre-determined arising of volitional mind-made experience which is of 6 doors of senses but are all mind made, arising as one thing ceasing as another, that is referable reality.
To speak of something beyond referable reality is doing what i did above; to take the context of a "two element system" and talk about one of the two as elements independently of context.
If a system is "A+B" and B is the conditioned reality which is extinguished by means of self-destruction [development] then one is only left with "A". However A does not equal A+B so it is not a system per se nor is it associated with B if it is such that is unaffected and is without information and by information i mean that which is tied up with measurable properties.
So when an Arahant dies he is not not percepient of anything, nor does he discern anything, dead people don't meditate but the previous development of mind has been such that there is no basis for a pre-determined arising of volitional formations, final perception is final extinguishment but one who is dead has no faculties and dead people don't meditate nor do they own or go out of the world.

Nibbana is the peace and bliss that is cognized and felt by one who has become liberated from suffering. This according to MN 49 as translated by Bonn here. Please see this answer for details.
Nibbana is something knowable or something that one could become aware of, but it is not within the normal scope of physical and mental experience. It is not even within the normal scope of the experience of gods or brahmas.
Nibbana is not a type of consciousness and is certainly not a self or spirit or God. Nibbana is also not a substratum or foundation for the cosmos, or for anything. Nibbana is not an Ultimate Reality of any kind.
Rather, Nibbana is the highest bliss that is experienced when ignorance is uprooted and suffering is ended.
Nibbana is a thing or phenomena (dhamma) and it's not conditioned by anything else. But Nibbana is not a physical phenomena. So, the laws of physics do not apply to it.
Everything that can be cognized must be accessible by one or more of the six sense bases. This is according to the Sabba Sutta. This question is related. So, then Nibbana must be a mental phenomena that's cognized by mind-consciousness, since it can't be the other five types.
Bhikkhu Bodhi wrote in the book The Connected Discourses of the Buddha Vol II:

On first consideration, it would seem that the six internal and
  external sense bases should be understood simply as the six sense
  faculties and their objects, with the term āyatana, base, having the
  sense of origin or source. Though many suttas lend support to this
  supposition, the Theravada exegetical tradition, beginning already
  from the Abhidhamma period, understands the six pairs of bases as a
  complete scheme of classification capable of accommodating all the
  factors of existence mentioned in the Nikayas. This conception of the
  six bases probably originated from the Sabba Sutta (35:23), in which
  the Buddha says that the six pairs of bases are "the all" apart from
  which nothing at all exists. To make the six bases capable of
  literally incorporating everything, the Vibhanga of the Abhidhamma
  Pitaka defines the mind base (manāyatana) as including all classes of
  consciousness, and the mental phenomena base (dhammāyatana) as
  including the other three mental aggregates, subtle nonsensuous types
  of form, and even the unconditioned element, Nibbāna (see Vibh 70-73).

And then in the comments:

OP: so is it possible that something of a phenomenon happens to the mind-consciousness itself. As consciousness is apart from mind,
  its consciousness that cognizes mind, can it not cognize itself and
  enter into the realm of peace.

Nibbana, is not born and not dying. It's the only unconditioned (mental) phenomena. Mind-consciousness on the other hand, is a conditioned phenomena that arises, ceases and changes. So, Nibbana is not the mind-consciousness cognizing itself. After physical death, the mind-consciousness (and all the five aggregates) of an arahant ceases permanently (Iti 44).

You make it sound like the unconditioned element is just a useless part of reality which has no role or function, a sort of a myth or legend that world can do without. You are saying the unconditioned is not a foundation for the cosmos. I think that expression is problematic because an10.58 "all dhamma gain footing in the Deathless" also sn48.44 talks about phenomena having footing in the Deathless.

I am not saying it is part of a universe but i think it is dangerous to talk about it as if it is completely unrelated to the system of reality as a whole. In the mn115 Buddha says "there are two elements" and they are both part of the system.It is an integral part in as far as there are two elements and it is one of the two.

Nibbana is not useless. It's freedom from suffering. Nibbana is not the same as Advaita's Nirguna Brahman or Atman. It does not play any active role or active function.

Care to explain what is an inactive role or function? An example perhaps because i've never heard of "inactive function" or "inactive role"

i do think i understand what you mean, just wanted to point out that the expression "the unmade is a foundation for phenomena" is probably an agreeable thing to say given than it occurs in the pali discourses "amatogadha" meaning deathless as foundation or deathless as ground. There is also a reasonable way to defend it, which makes it not a real point of controversy imo but a rather reasonable assumption in that the pali wording is to be taken at facevalue and read literally.

You said >>So, then Nibbana must be a mental phenomenon that's cognized by mind-consciousness since it can't be the other five types.<< so is it possible that something of a phenomenon happens to the mind-consciousness itself. As consciousness is apart from mind, its consciousness that cognizes mind, can it not cognize itself and enter into the realm of peace.

Also, there seems to be a chronological error here, >> Nibbana is the highest bliss that is experienced when ignorance is uprooted and suffering is ended.<< It is first the ignorance is uprooted, the ignorance of annata or ego-based self, and then the highest bliss is experienced, but this highest bliss does not seem to be 'something' out there cognized by mind-consciousness, it more of looks like mind-consciousness attains qualitative change itself and it rests in Nirvana.

Nibbana, is not born and not dying. It's the only unconditioned (mental) phenomena. Mind-consciousness on the other hand, is a conditioned phenomena that arises, ceases and changes. So, Nibbana is not the mind-consciousness cognizing itself.

After physical death, the mind-consciousness (and all the five aggregates) of an arahant ceases permanently (Iti 44).

I respectfully disagree, though I don't have proof yet.

I also feel it is incorrect to state 'Nibbana is also not a substratum or foundation for the cosmos', If it is not, then what is? ,

"If Nibbana is not the foundation of the cosmos, then what is?" This sounds like a rhetorical question similar to "If God did not create the universe, then who or what did?"

Great question!
In his Abhidhamma Studies - Buddhist Explorations of Consciousness and Time, Nyanaponika Thera writes,

‘Though Nibbana …, does in fact appear quite often in the
  Dhammasangani, it should be noted that: (1) In all cases it is merely
  mentioned without any further explanation beyond the classificatory
  heading under which it appears, and so it differs in that respect from
  the other “things,” to all of which a definition is added; (2) the
  classifications of Nibbana are all negative in character. On the other
  hand, it is noteworthy that Nibbana is definitely termed a dhamma,…'

The problem for physics is that this dhamma would have (or not have) the same qualities and attributes as Kant's 'thing-in-itself'. In other words it would be unobservable, unextended, unsayable, unthinkable and inconceivable. It would transcend all distinctions and even that between existence and non-existence.
Thus while it is exactly what is required by physics for a fundamental theory, appearing in physics as a Void, it is not part of physics but prior to it. The only evidence of its reality would be our inability to explain the rest of existence without it.
The Void of Democritus is not Void. The Void of physicist Victor Stenger's 'Atoms and Void' model is not a Void. In physics Nibbana is real Void and thus it works where these other ideas do not. The crucial concept is the Unity of All, and this was banished from Western thought by the Churches long before physics properly got underway.
You might like to check out the work of Ulrich Mohrhoff who has a book and some videos that discuss physics in relation to the philosophy of the Upanishads and Sri Aurobindo.
Here is another description by Ramesh Balsekar showing the difficulty for physics.
“The implied Unicity, the totality of undivided mind, is itself a concept of its own division or duality, for relatively – relativity being relative to what itself is – it cannot be conceived or known at all.
All that could ever be known about it is simply that, being Absolute, it must necessarily be devoid of any kind of objective existence whatsoever, other than that of the totality of all possible phenomena which constitute its relative appearance.”
Although this doesn't sound like anything physics could study it is exactly what is required to ground a fundamental theory. Physics cannot delve so deep, hence the need for metaphysics, but this idea works in metaphysics where no other does.
The early QM pioneers saw this, most notably Schrodinger, but then the shutters went up and a naive view of religion took hold and this straw-man is now all that most physicists seems to know. Maybe this situation is changing but it's a painfully slow process.

Thank you for a very nice answer, but you have summed up many things about Consciousness but the answer tells nothing about the happening of the phenomena of Nirvana.

You said >>Nibbana is real Void and thus it works where these other ideas do not<< I think that its the mind-consciousness that becomes conscious of itself and phenomena of Nirvana happens. Saying Nirvana is a real Void, gives the real Void the flavor of Advaita's Brahman. When you attain Nirvana, then your mind-consciousness rests in Nirvana, which is unconditioned. This occurrence or 'resting' is the phenomena. Sorry if I have confused you.

@Bodhisagar It's okay you haven't confused me. I see what you're saying,. I would say is is correct to relate Nibbana and Brahman, although not necessarily to equate them. .

@codeNewbie - PS I should have said it is a Void for physics in the sense that there is nothing for physics to observe, and it is a conceptual Void for everyone, But this is an appearance. If it were truly a Void we would not be here.

In physics there is this notion of "organizational layers" logically "stacked" upon each other. We all know the biological layer, then underneath that there is a layer of organic chemistry, then going further down there is a layer of inorganic chemistry, then molecular layer, then atomic layer, then quantum layer. If you think about it, these layers are not distinct from each other, they are different descriptions of the same ontological "stuff", just at different levels, one building on top, or made from, each other.
Nirvana is the ground layer ("dhatu") underneath them all.
In modern physics there's a school called "Digital physics". According to this school, at the most fundamental level, the universe can be described as non-discrete informational system:

Naturalist computationalism ... is a view that the universe [can be seen as] a network of computational processes which, following fundamental physical laws, computes (dynamically develops) its own next state from the current one. (Wikipedia)

The universe develops according to fundamental physical laws. These laws are the layer underlying biological, chemical, atomic, and even quantum layers. Beneath this layer of laws, there is an even deeper layer - it is The Law that governs how physical laws themselves develop and operate.
Nirvana is this most fundamental law (the formula, the rule, the program) according to which the Universe develops.
To be truly happy, without conflict between reality and expectations, to be in sync with suchness, to be mentally "in Nirvana" - requires awakening to reality of The Law, known as Nirvana.

Thank you for your answer. Your Nirvana >> Nirvana is the ground layer ("dhatu") underneath them all.<< seems to be like Brahman, the underlying truth beneath everything and all-pervading reality. Now instead of thinking in layers of physical reality, can we not think about it as an emergent phenomenon, emerged out of interacting the Skandhas or something that is qualitatively changing in mind-consciousness.

It's not emergent phenomenon. That would make it conditional and impermanent.

It may be a crucial point that this is a phenomenon without a noumenon, thus not a phenomenon in the Kantian sense. .

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy [science].
- Hamlet (1.5.167-8)
@Bodhisagar, as you acknowledged in your question, the Buddha discouraged wasting time speculating on issues (like the 10 Unanswered Questions; Pali: Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta and the 16 Questions of Unwise Speculations; Pali: Sabbasava-Sutta) which do not assist a person in moving along their path to enlightenment.
As he said: “And why are they undeclared by me? Because they are not connected with the goal, are not fundamental to the holy life. They do not lead to disenchantment, dispassion, cessation, calming, direct knowledge, self-awakening, Unbinding. That's why they are undeclared by me.” (Pali: Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta)
The others here have made efforts to work out an answer for you, but I would simply say that it is my belief that if you were able to ask the Buddha your question, there would then be 11 Unanswered Questions because it, too, is not connected to the real goal.
I was trained in Physics and Math myself, and I understand your innate need to ask, but you also need to understand that it’s not clear at all that getting an answer based on the physics of this world will help you in achieving Nibbana. All it does is enhance your ties to this world – and strengthen your attachment to it (opposing the Second Noble Truth).
What might help you would be to do your best to release from these speculations and try to accept why it would be good to do so, then follow, the 8-fold path.
Best, Jim

I am asking, what's the physics?

Unfortunately the crudeness of our human sensory perceptions and our still-quite-primitive scientific instruments at the current moment aren't sufficient to capture/describe the physics of Nibbana. Remember out of all the "stuff" out there in the universe, we only know about 4% (.4% luminous matter, 3.6% nonluminous matter, 23% dark matter, 73% dark energy). Maybe Nibbana is just like Dark Matter. It's right there in front of your eyes, and yet it simply goes right straight through you because your senses and your scientific instruments are still way too primitive to capture it. And that's probably why the Buddha and His noble arahant disciples had to cultivate their mind and elevate it to such an advanced state of awareness to be able to make the breakthrough and experience this Nibbanic state.

OP: As of now, it has not been explained in terms of physical interaction or as an emergent phenomenon.
Consciousness is what knows what is felt. If you see, hear, feel, smell, or think something you know consciousness is present. If there is no consciousness nothing is felt or known. Consciousness arises due to the interaction of the 6 sense bases with the outside world.
If you do not have consciousness either one is dead or it is an inanimate object.
OP: Nibbana is also said to be 'unconditioned' phenomena, all that is made of Matter or contains Matter is 'conditioned'. If it is nothingness or emptiness, what is the underlying Physics?
Nibbana is where the rules that govern both material and mental phenomena breakdown. Conventional physics does not work with Nibbana.
The woking of Nibbana cannot be expressed in conventional language. E.g. say there was someone living in a 2D world. They will not know what up and down is. For a person who has experienced, the 3rd dimension will not be able to explain what he experienced to others in the 2D world. There will be no vocabulary or means to explain it.
OP: A blind, deaf, mute, senseless, touchless, everyone can get Nirvana but someone without consciousness cannot get Nirvana
If you have a defect or disability then one cannot get Nirvana. For this reason, they are not allowed to enter the order. There are cases some have gone blind during meditation Cakkhupala Thera, but blindness happed while true insight arose.
OP: After death the person remains conscious, so what is it that essentially transmutes?
A person does not remain conscious after death. What happens is that consciousness passes away in the dead body and arise in another being. In the case of animals, it will be eggs, embryo, etc.
OP: EDITED: After Nirvana the person remains conscious, so what is it that essentially transmutes?
What changes is how one perceives the 5 Aggregates and reacts to sensory stimuli.

Here, houselord, an untutored ordinary person who sees not the noble ones, unskilled in the
  way of the noble ones, untrained in the way of the noble ones, who sees not the true individuals and is
  unskilled in the way of the true individual,
   untrained in the way of the true individual
—regards form as self, or self as possessing form, or form as in self, or self as in form;
—he lives obsessed by the notions, "I am form. Form is mine."
As he lives obsessed by these notions, that form changes and alters. With the change and alteration of
  form, there arise in him, sorrow, lamentation, (physical) pain, (mental) displeasure and despair
...
(1) Here, houselord, the learned noble disciple, who sees the noble ones, skilled in the way of the
  noble ones, trained in the way of the noble ones, who sees the true individuals and is skilled in the way of
  the true individual, trained in the way of the true individual,
—does not regard form as self, nor self as possessing form, nor form as in self, nor self as in form;
—he does not live obsessed by the notions, "I am form. Form is mine."
As he lives not obsessed by these notions, that form changes and alters. With the change and alteration of form, there do not arise in him, sorrow, lamentation, (physical) pain, (mental) displeasure or
  despair.

Nakula,pita Sutta

When the uninstructed ordinary person is touched by a painful bodily feeling, he sorrows, grieves,
  laments, beats his breast and falls into confusion.
This is called an uninstructed ordinary person who has not risen up from the bottomless abyss, one who
  has not gained solid ground.
But, bhikshus, when the instructed noble disciple is touched by a painful bodily feeling, he does not
  sorrow, nor grieve, nor lament, nor weep, nor beat his breast, nor fall into confusion.
This is called an instructed ordinary person who has risen up from the bottomless abyss, one who has
  gained solid ground

Patala Sutta

You said, ''What changes is how one perceives the 5 Aggregates and reacts to sensory stimuli.' So do you mean that nothing changes other than preception Skandhas and reaction?

An untrained person perceives the 5 aggregates as me and mine. Similarly the 6 sense faculties. A trained person does not perceive them as me or mine.

What physics are you looking for, a gravitational constant or the speed of causality perhaps?
Science hardly explains what can be measured and that explanation is usually expressed with mathematics and in cases of theories like the relativity it is comprehensible only to a few people lest there is a popularization. Yet here you want that which is unconditioned to be explained in terms of physical properties of the conditioned phenomena and that done in a spoken language comprehensible by lay people.
There is simply nothing there to talk about, there is no scientific field nor a system of language developed to deal with the "physics of the unmade". There are no experiments, no observational data, no words, no terminology, no values to be worked out and no people working on developing a science of the physics of the unmade. That which is "the physics of the unconditioned" is therefore not a real thing. All that is called "physics" applies only to the measurable & observable and is therefore absolutely antagonistic to the unmade element. Even if something unmade was conceived of by physicist, he would have no use for his training in physics when attempting to explain it.
It is much better to approach the matter epistemologically, thus using philosophical principles and rules of inference to arrive at right views.

Sorry, I had to use the word 'physics' for lack of a better word for 'known physical reality'.  I understand that the unmade lies beyond the realm of physics, I was asking about the event of the happening of the phenomena of Nirvana. I am of opinion that Nirvana can be explained in terms of some transmutation of 5 Skandhas.  One question, by unmade do you mean Consciousness or Nirvana.

Generally (e.g. when I'm not trying to answer this question) I tend to imagine it's the asymptote of the noble eightfold path.
It's what there is when there's ...

No craving (therefore no suffering)
No tendency towards carving, nothing from which craving might arise, e.g. because anusaya and asava are up-rooted
None of the fetters

It's portrayed using negatives (e.g. "unbinding") so it's unclear whether to classify it as a presence or an absence (or neither)
A Verb for Nirvana talks a bit about "consciousness" as it related to nibbana. It says ...

In the same way, if passion for form, etc., could be removed, consciousness would have no "where" to land, and so would become unestablished. This doesn't mean that consciousness would be annihilated, simply that — like the sunlight — it would now have no locality. With no locality, it would no longer be defined.

... which I think is a paraphrase of SN 12.64.
Anyway I think Nibbana is occasionally described as a Dhatu, which is translated "element" -- but I think that means "element" like "an element of a mathematical set" -- and not an "element" like, one of the physical elements or types of atom on the periodic table of elements -- it's just "one of a set" or "a list item", and "able to be distinguished from other elements in the set".

Eighteen Dhātus and Four Paramatthas
The eighteen dhātus – Six External Bases, Six Internal Bases, and Six Consciousnesses – function through the five aggregates. These dhātus can be arranged into six triads, each triad composed of a sense object, a sense organ, and sense consciousness.
The Abhidhamma and post-canonical Pali texts create a meta-scheme for the Sutta Pitaka's conceptions of aggregates, sense bases and dhattus (elements). This meta-scheme is known as the four paramatthas or ultimate realities, three conditioned, one unconditioned:

Material phenomena (rūpa, form)
Mind or Consciousness (Citta)
Mental factors (Cetasikas: the nama-factors sensation, perception and formation)
Nibbāna

I think that's suggests it's not "physics": because classical physics, Newtonian stuff, is "material phenomena".
Then there's mind and mental factors, both of which are conditioned.
And then Nibanna is something else again, I don't mean a "thing" I mean a different category, a separate list item -- the unconditioned.

Thank you for the answer, you explained a lot about what Nirvana is, but I was more of hoping to understand how it happens, I mean the phenomena, in terms of five Skandhas and Ayatanas. It is definitely something that happens to mind-consciousness leaving out the previous five.

Canonically, "how it happens" involves following the eight-fold path (the three-fold training) through e.g. four stages of enlightenment. On the way, various fetters, hindrances, outflows, tendencies and so on are uprooted.

As I said I think it's a mistake to see it as an emergent property of physics. Physics is what happens when you look at the world a certain way. If you shift your view then you look at Chemistry, or Biology, instead, and struggle to see how they're connected. Shift your view again and you see objects of consciousness -- names and so on -- and it's even harder to reduce that to physics, the link (between realms) becomes more obviously artificial or fabricated IMO. But Nibbana is a different type of thing altogether -- there's a suggestion that it's when consciousness is unbound or doesn't ...

... "land", freedom from the inclination to attach to specific views -- whence Pali notions like "the Tathagata", and Mahayana notions like Tathata ("suchness").

Well original teaching of Buddha is Lost. There were two eightfold paths, mundane and supermundane. Lokiya and lokuttara. Lokiya path paved the way with faith and wisdom to Uncreated. Lokiya path ends with Vision of Uncreated.
Whoever have vision, there exist no " I". Aggregates are non-perceptable. Many after 500 years of Buddha's passing away this state termed as Nirvana or Sunyata of Mahayana or Zen. But, sadly it's not Nirvana.
In Buddha's time for his journey to enlightenment Udraka Ramaputta stumbled onto it and called as "not named nor unnamed". Even Veda stumbled onto it as they describe it as Brahman. Buddha's ask if Brahman is free from attachment then what is it that binds to birth? Udraka and arada has no answers. Buddha went beyond and said if until attributeless doesn't attain there is no real release.
Because that notion of Nirvana of Brahman those days and buddhist monks after 500 years of Buddha's passes away is same.
Lokiya path leads to Ditthi or Vision of Attributeless. Remember eightfold path starts with Samma Ditthi (Vision of Uncreated). Sadly, these days it means Nirvana as you find in Dhammapada also. When it's starting point they thought as end.
Lokiya path ends with Ditthi and lokuttara path starts. That's the real path of Buddha.
Lokuttara doesn't hold the view of Brahman because it is delusion that it is liberated since you attain attributelessness.
That's supramundane path to real Nirvana. Samma doesn't mean right but unitary moment of living with truth.
The end of lokuttara path is Nirvana. It is a state of perfect attributlessness.

In Quantum Physics, the famous 'Double Slit' experiment stands out to demonstrate the role of human consciousness in 'constructing' matter from energy. Nibbana would be reversing this process i.e. de-constructing matter into energy (sunnata/nothingness). You may reach a eureka moment by watching a cartoon of this experiment on utube >Holographic Universe Part 1 < by Stephen Davis. It is not necessary to have a background knowledge in Quantum Physics to follow this cartoon. This experiment is presented in cartoon form for the benefit of many of us who are not familiar with science. In essence, the experiment shows that electrons can exhibit the characteristic of both particles or waves. Waves as we know them, such as radio waves, are waves of energy and not solid particles. On the other hand a piece of wood, for example, exhibits only the characteristics of particles (matter) and not of waves (energy). In the cartoon, electrons appear to display both.                                                                The question then arises as to who or what is responsible for effecting a change from waves to particles? The answer to this question is provided in the cartoon and appears to be very profound. In fact 'The physics of the phenomena of Nirvana' (the above question) can be derived from this cartoon by a discerning observer. But first the need to watch the cartoon.


text:
Going to a Catholic School
Namo tassa bagavato arahanto samma sambuddhasa (Sorry, I am not fluent)
I go to a Catholic High School & I have a theology class that preaches only their truths & say it is the supreme truth above all & that if one does not believe so they will perish in the extreme notion of the eternal hell.
I try my best to have no aversion toward other followings & I also take a genuine interest in them, but when it comes down to being metaphorically hit in the face with them every day, it can be hard to focus on my emotions toward other paths, as well as it can be hard for me to not get distorted by them & follow the Buddha's teachings.

What would one offer as advice to not sway from the Dhamma by distorted teaching while at
  the same time not have hatred in general (due to their delusions & spreading of
  so) towards other paths?

Metta to all! :)

I had the same doctrine when I was young (though at Sunday School, not at High School).
Eventually it seemed to me that "theirs is the only truth" was the most incredible part of the doctrine.
but when it comes down to being metaphorically hit in the face with them every day
Well, I hope that school teachers are not violent -- that "hit in the face" is only a metaphor now.
What would one offer as advice to not sway from the Dhamma by distorted teaching
There's some Buddhist advice about how to study Buddhist doctrine in DN 16, called Four Great References, which describes how to listen to someone who is trying to teach or to re-tell the doctrine:

Then the Blessed One said: "In this fashion, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu might speak: 'Face to face with the Blessed One, brethren, I have heard and learned thus: This is the Dhamma and the Discipline, the Master's Dispensation'...
"In such a case, bhikkhus, the declaration of such a bhikkhu is neither to be received with approval nor with scorn. Without approval and without scorn, but carefully studying the sentences word by word, one should trace them in the Discourses and verify them by the Discipline. If they are neither traceable in the Discourses nor verifiable by the Discipline, one must conclude thus: 'Certainly, this is not the Blessed One's utterance; this has been misunderstood by that bhikkhu — or by that community, or by those elders, or by that elder.' In that way, bhikkhus, you should reject it. But if the sentences concerned are traceable in the Discourses and verifiable by the Discipline, then one must conclude thus: 'Certainly, this is the Blessed One's utterance; this has been well understood by that bhikkhu — or by that community, or by those elders, or by that elder.' And in that way, bhikkhus, you may accept it on the first, second, third, or fourth reference. These, bhikkhus, are the four great references for you to preserve."

So -- "without approval and without scorn, but carefully studying ...". You did say you're doing something like that, "I try my best to have no aversion toward other followings & I also take a genuine interest in them".
Learning more than one language can help you to better understand each language, the same may be true, that understanding Catholic doctrine (including how it's taught and practised) adds to learning Buddhist doctrine too -- including what they might have in common (both good and not so good), and how they're different.
How do their lists of virtues and sins compare, for example?
And this isn't the place to discuss Catholicism, but since you mentioned "if one does not believe so they will perish", there's a slightly different statement now in Lumen Gentium published in 1964 -- see e.g. "Possibility of salvation outside the Church" -- though you wouldn't know that from the way they teach Catechism.
while at the same time not have hatred in general (due to their delusions & spreading of so) towards other paths
There's any amount of standard advice, I don't know what to say.
Just "turn the other cheek", and "love thy neighbour".
Or tell yourself (SN 35.88) that,

'These ... people are civilized, very civilized, in that they don't hit me with their hands

Or try to find a better teacher, or to communicate better with the ones you have.
Or more practice and less theory, if that makes sense.
And "hatred in general" sounds like a mistake to me, I think there are forms of Christianity, and individual Christians, who can be good friends -- even if they're possibly not the ones teaching that theology class -- which it would be off-topic to talk about here, but maybe just try not to generalise.

Why don’t you instead use this as an opportunity to explore what they do get right?  Catholicism specifically can have tremendous similarities to Buddhism.  The writings of St. John of the Cross especially come to mind.  Rather than meeting them with aversion, why not curiosity and openness instead?

Christianity probably comes from Buddhism rather than from the traditional old tribal Judaism. There are some later books in the Old Testament similar to Christianity, such as Proverbs, but Proverbs was composed after Buddhism. The Old Testament Judaic religion has at least two periods: (i) before the Babylonian Exile; and (ii) after the Babylonian Exile. It seems obvious the later (post-Exile) Judaism (such as Proverbs) and particularly Christianity is heavily influenced by Buddhism.
You should try to learn the true meaning of Christianity; which comes from Buddhism, such as the Tevijja Sutta. In the Tevijja Sutta, the Buddha taught the Indian Brahmins who believed in God (Brahma) that the Way/Path to God/Brahma is by radiating love & compassion in all directions. For example, Jesus said: "I am the Way to the Father" and "I am from the only True God". Jesus said: "Be perfect (in love) like your Father in Heaven (is  perfect in love)".
What Jesus said above is true because the "True God" of Jesus is not the old tribal Jewish God called 'Yahweh or 'Jehovah'. The True God of Jesus is "The Father" or what Buddhism calls "Brahma". "Brahma" as written in many suttas is "love". The Christians taught "God is love". Jesus is the way to The Father because the way of Jesus is love. The way Jesus leads to the Father, who is also love.
Please try to understand.

1 John 4:7-21
English Standard Version (ESV)
God Is Love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love
  does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was
  made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so
  that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have
  loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation
  for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love
  one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God
  abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

Therefore, if the Catholics teach their god is the only true god only because it is the "maker of heaven & earth", this is false. Jesus did not teach the Nicene Creed, which the Catholics preach:

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
and of all that is, seen and unseen.

The "One God" of Jesus is "love" or "Brahma Vihara".
If Catholics hate Buddhists or Buddhism, then they are not following the true god of "love".

Note: I went to a Catholic school for 5 years, from 13 to 18 years old but we rarely learned any religion.

Proverbs was composed after Buddhism Google suggests they were finished in about the 4th century BC.

yes. that is what i wrote

Hi DD! Is there any historical, documental or archeological evidence for these statements? There are a lot of scholar which believe that the sayings in John are ones probably farthest (in comparison to the the sinoptics) from what an historical Jesus might've said. Most of the sayings which have Jesus identifying himself as a god come, precisely, from John. Kind regards!

It seems possible that Jesus studied in India and very likely that he spent time a long time in his youth with the solitary monks of the tradtion that produced the Phllokalia, but to say his doctrine comes from Buddhism cannot be correct. It comes from direct knowledge. It would be surprising if he learnt nothing from Buddhism but a good teacher teaches from knowledge, not from previous teachings received as heresay.    ,

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text:
Sankhara conditions vinjana dependent origination
When it is said in dependent origination that "sankhara conditions consciousness", in what way and how does sankhara condition consciousness?
And also, how is consciousness conditioning nama rupa? And then nama rupa conditions salayatana again how?
Also, nama rupa -- I have heard many different descriptions of what it is, so i would be happy if someone could give the right meaning of nama rupa.
Going back to "sankhara conditions consciousness", what consciousness are they refering to -- is it the pure consciousness or limited consciousness?
And how can avidja or ignorance and sankhara come before consciousness in dependent origination (because i must first be conscious before i can have ignorance and do sankharas!)?

This question was asked very well, which made it very easy to answer.

D.O. is a deep topic that is very hard to understand. Even when someone claims that they understand it, you should take their answer with a VERY BIG grain of salt.
In theory my understanding "could" be wrong too. In my defense, I have specifically studied this topic for years, going over much literature, both in Pali Canon and in Mahayana. I also took into account the (written down) verbal teachings of renowned teachers in the Kagyu lineage.
One thing that is absolutely clear to me is the overall high-level meaning of D.O. Overall D.O. is about gradual emergence of differentiated experience, that is, arising of a subjective experience of a world consisting of separate objects and a "self" acting in the world in pursuit of its objectives. This is clear to me as day, and confirmed by many, many texts and teachers.
It is 100% clear to me that the part of DO from Ignorance to Namarupa speaks about arising of the overall sense of the world, and then the rest of D.O. from the Six Sense Doors speaks about arising of the sense of self.
Now let's zoom in on "arising of the overall sense of the world".
This part is "pretty clear" to me. Not "clear as day" but not "I'm guessing" either. The overall mechanism is as follows:
First, there is accumulation of sankharas. Roughly speaking, in modern terms we can say there is accumulation of patterns or tendencies. Meaning, when similar things happen again and again, they add-up and their results tend to accumulate. (You see, this sounds very abstract, almost impossible to follow - and that's the problem with D.O. This why Buddha said it was deep and hard to grasp. You must be in a certain mindstate to be able to focus and understand it.)
Once enough patterns have accumulated, from these patterns arises ability to recognize and anticipate. This is vijnana or basic consciousness - recognizing and anticipating things as they happen.
Once there is recognizing and anticipating develops enough, there emerge the notions of individual "things". These are namarupa, distinct delineated objects.
Overall this seems clear enough. I definitely understand the overall mechanism, what's left to be clarified are the details of the process and the exact definition of terms used in the old texts.

When it is said in dependent origination that "sankhara conditions consciousness", in what way and how does sankhara condition consciousness?

Sankhara condition consciousness in the sense that the accumulation of tendencies or repeated patterns is what grows or develops into consciousness. The consciousness literally emerges from sankharas, so whatever shapes and forms that those patterns and tendencies have, is what's going to become the shape and form of consciousness. In this sense, accumulation of certain sankharas is the force that shapes or conditions the emerging consciousness.

And also, how is consciousness conditioning nama rupa?

Consciousness was defined above as basic ability to recognize and anticipate phenomena as they happen. It is very important (critical!) to understand that phenomena are not inherently separate from each other, not inherently delineated. Instead, delineation emerges gradually, as a result of accumulation of sankharas and development of the ability to recognize. Clear delineation of objects is culmination of development of consciousness. The process is kinda cyclical: the more sankharas accumulate, the better the ability to recognize, the clearer the consciousness -- and as the consciousness gets clearer, it gets better at discernment/delineation, and so the objects become more well-defined, enabling more meaningful activity, which in turn helps new sankharas to accumulate even faster. The process automatically supports and feeds itself forward.

And then namarupa conditions salayatana again how?

As I understand, delineation of objects enables delineation of "outer" vs "inner" (that vs this). Salayatana (literally "Six Doors") is a phase when this separation of outer vs inner begins to emerge. This part is less clear to me.

Also, nama rupa -- I have heard many different descriptions of what it is, so i would be happy if someone could give the right meaning of nama rupa.

As with any explanation of D.O. there is no consensus among on what Namarupa means. The Pali Canon literalists keep on quoting the suttas that define "nama" as "mental" and "rupa" as physical, combining together to form the whole person. As you can see from above, my understanding is completely different. I think namarupas are our ideas of distinct entities or objects, "identified forms" or "names-and-forms". You can search this site for dedicated questions focusing specifically on namarupa.

Going back to "sankhara conditions consciousness", what consciousness are they refering to -- is it the pure consciousness or limited consciousness?

As you can see from my explanation above, it is the discriminating consciousness is what's meant here, the tainted consciousness that naively assumes its experience of the world-of-objects to be the reality of how things are.

And how can avidja or ignorance and sankhara come before consciousness in dependent origination (because i must first be conscious before i can have ignorance and do sankharas!)?

Not at all. Ignorance refers to the lack of differentiation. Imagine some kind of computer-based vision system before it was trained to recognize objects. This is basically what ignorance is. Once it accumulates enough data (sankhara) it can recognize (vijnana) objects and label them (namarupa).

This is great Andrei and makes me want to study D.O. more.

[1] "When it is said in dependent origination that 'sankhara conditions consciousness', in what way and how does sankhara condition consciousness?"
This question is answered by better understanding of the terms themselves:
When it is said in the Paticca Samuppada (rebounding conjuration) that "sankhāra paṭicca viññāṇa" (own-making results in consciousness - (which should be thought of as 'sense-consciousness'), in what way and how does identification with the intent to create personal experience of pleasure through acts of thought, word, and deed, (sankhāra = own-making, for short) and the resulting identified-with experiences result in consciousness?
It cannot be answered in the way requested. You are asking about the mysteries of creation. The Paṭicca Samuppada is not about the details of the creative process or cause and effect as it is so often stated. It is about association and the forces driving such association. It is not that Sankhāra conditions anything, it is that own-making is identification with (the conscious thought that a thing is or belongs to one's self) the object so created.
Do this: Think about standing up. Then stand up. The world you experience standing is now the world you are identifying with and you are conscious thereof. This is not about how it worked, it is about the fact that it happens when you combine various elements. Intent and act.
Make a cup of tea. That requires a cup, tea, water, a pot to boil water, a source of heat, and the effort of a man and virtually the entire universe in back of that. The effort of a man without tea would not cause a cup of tea. Tea itself cannot create a cup of tea. The same thing can be said of any individual ingrediant. A cup requires clay and a wheel and a kiln ... etc. No single element is the cause of a cup of tea appearing in one's world. We cannot know all about how the ingrediants resulted in the cup of tea, but we can know that with the conjunction of the basic ingrediants, they do, and also that there is preventing the process by the elimination of one or another essential: the tea, the water, the effort.
[2] "And also, how is consciousness conditioning nama rupa? And then nama rupa conditions salayatana again how?"
And also, how does consciousness result in named-forms? And then named-forms result in the six-realms-of-sense?
Again, asking how is not helpful. Accepting the fact when the terms are clear is helpful.
Consciousness does not condition nama-rupa. Consciousness (really 'sense-consciousness') results when there is a conjunction of object and its identification, with consciousness thereof. (Think of consciousness as an element - one of the six great elements, not something unique to your brain, but something that arises in association with formation of named objects. To end kamma or pain, we do not need to know 'how'; we need to know that it happens and that to stop it from happening we must in some way stop the conjunction of consciousness with consciousness of named-forms.
The second part of your question is answered in the same way. Consciousness of named forms is consciousness of sense experience or the experience of the six realms of sense. Again, 'how' is not helpful; seeing the fact and realizing that the job is to end the association is the job at hand, not understanding the process.
[3] "Also, nama rupa -- I have heard many different descriptions of what it is, so i would be happy if someone could give the right meaning of nama rupa."
The meaning of nama-rupa is: named-shape or form. Every existing object is the result of consciousness of a named-shape, even thoughts.
There is a sort of riddle found in 'The 10 Questions' question #2:
http://buddhadust.net/dhamma-vinaya/pts/an/10_tens/an10.028.wood.pts.htm
"What is 2?" The answer is: "There is nama and there is rupa". The idea here is to see that by thoroughly understanding just these two things in their broadest and deepest nature, seeing them as they are as transient, painful and not-self, dukkha, or pain can be eliminated. All existing things are nama/rupas or combinations of them.
[4] "Going back to "sankhara conditions consciousness", what consciousness are they refering to -- is it the pure consciousness or limited consciousness?"
Answered above: "Identified-with personal experience of sense-consciousness."
And how can avidja or ignorance and sankhara come before consciousness in dependent origination (because i must first be conscious before i can have ignorance and do sankharas!)?
The PS is not a ladder as Rhys Davids would have it whether a three stage one or a single path. Neither is it a circle. It goes round and round. The Buddha tells us that there is no known beginning to personal experience, so it is natural that in pointing out how to stop the process, a fully developed being is postulated as the beginning of the method for detachment.
Think about it. The Buddha is telling you of a way to escape the pains of existence, kamma. That 'you' that he is instructing is a fully developed existing being. Where else would you start? This is about you, now, escaping kamma, now. It is not some theory to be pondered in the ivory tower.
One of the benefits of this system is the freedom from the question: "How? How?"
You would be well advised to read the several translations of Digha Nikaya 15: The Mahā Nidāna sutta paying special attention to the part where the Buddha states that it is only in-so-far as there is a conjunction of consciousness with named forms that it is possible to speak of an existing being.
You can find several translations of this sutta here:
http://buddhadust.net/backmatter/indexes/sutta/dn/idx_digha_nikaya.htm#p15
My say.

The five grasping aggregates are circular in their conditioning.

SN12.65:2.16: ‘When name and form exist there’s consciousness. Name and form are a condition for consciousness.’

Grasped in ignorance, the aggregates grow through craving as described in detail by dependent origination. With ignorance, hypotheses sprout like weeds (e.g., "she like me, likes me not") and consciousness emerges to deal with all the hypotheses. Names and forms also emerge (e.g., "my hair should be like this, my clothes like that"). The ensuring suffering leads to more hypotheses, etc. It's the hook of intermittent reinforcement.

SN12.23:8.1: In the same way, ignorance is a vital condition for choices. … Freedom is a vital condition for the knowledge of ending.”

Abandoning ignorance, the aggregates freely operate on their own without choices. There is awareness of disparity of look without any personal attachment. With ignorance, one might be limited to consciousness of fashion. Without ignorance, one would be purely conscious that donning a jacket is sensible on a cold day.
Lastly, ignorance and sankhara precede consciousness because consciousness grows to deal with and address the grasping of "I want something". The purpose of consciousness is to make choices. Limited consciousness grasps. Pure consciousness lets go.
The Noble Eightfold Path is conditioned, grasping at the end of suffering, we learn to let go.

DN33:1.11.200: They live without wishes in the present life, extinguished, cooled, experiencing bliss, having become holy in themselves.

When it is said in dependent origination sankhara conditions conciousness in what way and how does sankhara condition consciousness

If you use hair shampoo & hair conditioner, this conditions your hair so your hair becomes soft & shiny. It does not create your hair. It only conditions it.

In the same way, sankhara conditions consciousness so to make consciousness: (i) pre-occupied with & (ii) polluted/tainted/dirtied by; those ignorance sankharas.
For example, the Pali suttas refer to consciousness 'landing' on & getting 'involved with' objects, as follows:

As long as consciousness remains, it would remain involved with form (feeling, perception, sankhara, consciousness), supported by form,
  founded on form. And with a sprinkle of relishing, it would grow,
  increase, and mature.
SN 22.53

Also, imagine consciousness is like a clear window and sankharas are like dust & dirt on the window.
For example, you try to meditate and watch your breathing but you cannot because distracting thoughts keep arising and all your mind is conscious of is those distracting thoughts.
Those distracting thoughts are 'sankhara' and they condition consciousness by causing consciousness to become pre-occupied or involved with those sankharas; as well as tainted/soiled by those sankharas.

and also how is conciousness conditioning nama rupa (also nama rupa I have heard many different descriptions of what it is so i would be happy if someone could give the right meaning of nama rupa)

The Buddhist (redefined) meaning of nama-rupa is mentality-materiality or mind-body. It is not 'name-form' (which is Brahminism). Consciousness conditions nama-rupa when consciousness remains pre-occupied with ignorant sankharas therefore the nama-rupa also becomes affected by those ignorant sankharas and gives inappropriate attention to those sankharas and forms intentions that incline with the power/direction of those sankharas.
The Pali suttas (MN 9; SN 12.2, etc) define nama-rupa as feeling, perception, intention, contact, attention and the physical form composed of the four elements of earth, wind, fire & water.
Therefore, when consciousness is conscious of a sankhara; what happens is nama then feels, perceives, has contact with and makes intentions towards and gives attention inappropriately to those sankhras.
Also, the body (rupa) is affected by those sankharas. The body becomes agitated and moved by those sankharas; such as when a person cannot control their bodily movements when the urge of an addiction arises. In this picture, the lady is trying to control the inner urges controlling her nama-rupa; to give up the ignorant choice and make the wise choice; but the ignorant choice is tormenting her nama-rupa, inwardly:

Its not rocket science. Just look inside.

and then nama rupa conditons salayatana again how??

When nama-rupa inclines or is enslaved with the power/direction of those sankharas, then the salayata also incline and become activated by the power of those ignorant sankharas.
The picture below shows bulging eyes, which are salayata conditioned by ignorant sankharas. The nama-rupa (mind-body) of the men are also aroused by the ignorant sankharas.

For example, an ignorant sankhara may arise of wanting to eat chocolate. This causes the salayatana to become aroused to look for chocolate, such as to walk to the cupboard or fridge to look for, hold and eat chocolate.

Going back to sankhara conditions consciousness what conciousness are they refering to is it the pure conciousness or limited conciousness and how can avidja or ignorance and sankhara come before conciousness in dependent origination because i must first be concious before i can have ignorance and do sankharas??

Consciousness in Dependent Origination is defined as the six types of consciousness (MN 9; SN 12.2, etc). However, this is merely a general explanatory principle, because the Buddha is listing 12 conditions that may not arise in that exact order. However, what is certain is what I explained previously, above, namely, the whenever ignorant sankhara arises then mind-consciousness (mano-vinnana) will become pre-occupied with those ignorant mental sankharas.
Its only later, when eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, etc, may arise, because there must be an 'external' object for the arising of these consciousnesses.
But 'sankhara' in dependent origination as an 'internal' object therefore the arising of the internal (mind or body) consciousness will occur after the arising of the sankhara.

While more complicated, sankhara also includes the breathing, which is called 'kaya-sankhara'. When the mind has concentration, it can be aware of the breathing in meditation. Sometimes in concentrated meditation, an ignorant impulse can arise and be felt in the breathing. If this occurs, the consciousness knowing the breathing affected by an ignorant impulse is both body-consciousness (which knows the breathing) & mind-consciousness (which feels any mental quality of that impulse).

In conclusion, it is not rocket science, if you have a determined meditation effort to examine internally what the Buddha taught. But if you wish to learn something from a book, it will never be truly understood.

To better understand your main question… (in what way and how does sankhara condition consciousness?) we have to get to know what ”paccayā” means in  sankhāra paccayā viññāna. It means “with sankhārā as condition viññāna arise.” – that is… without suitable CONDITIONS, causes (kamma) cannot automatically bring results (vipāka). Thus SUITABLE CONDITIONS must be present for causes to bring about corresponding effects. That is what paccayā means. In the Doctrine of Conditioned Arising or Dependent Origination (Paṭiccasamuppāda – [PS] ). The Buddha showed that all such volitional constructs were conditioned by ignorance of the reality behind appearance. For sankhārā as condition, viññāna to arise, there are 24 “paccayā” or “conditions” that causes the effect to materialize.
For you to know these 24 conditions, you must refer to books such as the Vibhanga-Prakaranaya, Pattāna-Prakaranaya and Patisambhidhā Magga Prakaranaya. They are all prakarana books that were compiled during the First Dhamma Council, edited, reorganized, and assigned as a segment of the Abhidhamma. Prakarana books discuss only the pure deep dhamma (abhidhamma) which is taken apart and broken down for easy comprehension but excludes the usual narratives, anecdotes, examples and model stories.
Of the 24 conditions, 16 conditions are found in the Akusala Mǔla Paticca Samuppāda Dhamma (that leads to suffering). The other eight conditions are found in the Kusala Mǔla Paticca Samuppāda Dhamma.

hētu paccayā -  the root cause must always be satisfied. all karmically wholesome and unwholesome mental states are entirely dependent on the simultaneity and presence of their respective roots.
ārammana-paccaya - as object, forms the condition for consciousness and mental phenomena. Thus for example the physical object of sight consisting in colour and light ('light-wave'), is the necessary condition and the sine qua non for the arising of eye-consciousness (cakkhu-viññāna).
adhipathi-paccaya - Predominance-condition is the term for 4 things. namely: concentrated intention (chanda), energy (viriya), consciousness (citta) and investigation (vīmamsā).
anantara paccayā - for example the presence a seed (to germinate) -  “An” means food or in this case the kamma seed; “antara” means in storage, waiting to bear fruit.
samanantara paccayā - for example the presence fertile soil (to germinate).   Thus all potential kamma seeds are waiting in annantara and can bring about instant results when right conditions (samanantara) appear.
sahajāta-paccaya - Co-nascence condition i.e. condition by way of simultaneous arising, is a phenomenon that for another one forms, a condition in such a way that, simultaneously with its arising, also the other thing must arise. Each of the 4 physical elements (solid, liquid, heat, motion) is such a condition for the other 3 elements.
aññamañña paccayā – can be taken as “forward and backward condition” or Condition by way of mutuality.
nissaya-paccaya - Support-condition; phenomenon which is aiding other phenomena in the manner of a foundation or base, just as the trees have the earth as their foundation.
upanissaya-paccaya - can be taken as 'decisive support' or 'inducement' by way of object, by way of proximity, and natural decisive support. Evil things, by wrong thinking about them, become an inducement to immoral life; by right thinking, an inducement to moral life. Faith, virtue, etc., produced in one's own mind, or the influence of climate, food, etc., on one's body and mind, may act as natural and decisive support-conditions.
purejāta-paccaya - Pre-nascence-condition refers to something previously arisen, which forms a base for something arising later on.
pacchājāta-paccaya -  Post-nascence-condition refers to consciousness and the phenomena therewith associated, because they are - just as is the feeling of hunger- a necessary condition for the preservation of this already arisen body.
āsevana paccaya” -  Asevana means to “associate with”. Or as in learning by heart, through constant repetition, the later recitation becomes gradually easier and easier.
kamma-paccaya - Kamma-condition is the generating condition (cause) of the 5 sense-organs, the fivefold sense-consciousness, and the other karma-produced mental and corporeal phenomena in a later birth.
vipaka-paccaya - The kamma-resultant 5 kinds of sense-consciousness are a condition by way of karma-result for the co-nascent mental and corporeal phenomena.
ahāra paccaya  - For the 4 nutriments…  for example food for viññāna.
indriya-paccaya - Faculty-condition.
jhāna-paccaya - Jhāna-condition.
magga-paccaya - Path-condition.
sampayutta-paccaya - Association-condition.
vippayutta-paccaya - Dissociation-condition.
atthi-paccaya - Presence-condition.
natthi-paccaya - Absence-condition.
igata-paccaya - Disappearance-condition.
avigata-paccaya - Non-disappearance-condition.

Yo paticca samuppādan passati, so dhamman passati is Buddha Dhamma. (Yo paticca samuppādan passati = Yo -any; paticca- strong mental urge (for liking and disliking);
samuppādan= sam + uppādan; sam – rāga, dvesha and moha tendencies; uppādan – arising; passati –gain precise knowledge by experiencing it penetratively; so – one who goes through this; dhamman – dhamma; passati – gains precise knowledge by experiencing it penetratively).
I have not gone into detail of the Kusala Mǔla Paticca Samuppāda Dhamma part – the last 8 points above. We live at a time when wisdom (dhamma gñana) is in short supply, the Kusalamǔla paticca samuppāda dhamma, as elucidated in the Vibhangaprakarana book of the Tripitaka dhamma, is today concealed and has became dormant. Buddhagosa, when writing Visuddhi Magga, admitted that he did not have the knowledge or accurate comprehension of paticca samuppāda dhamma and attempted to interpret only the akusalamǔla paticca samuppāda dhamma.

First need to understand, " awareness"::
that which makes one able to act/react/response such that "nirodha" occurs.
Dukkha:: arose due to birth of itself(dukkha).
birth:: arose due to "happenings" of certain conditions and causes.
happening:: arose due to excess of OR sufficient of fuel to such process OR such state of happening leading to such causes & conditions.
fuel to such:: arose due to hold-on and desire for occurence of such processes.
hold-on & desire:: arose due to running along with OR eating sensations.
sensations:: arose due to contact between somethings.
contact:: "facilitated" by sense bases.
sense base:: arose due to causes and conditions of accumulation of certain energy states which later "be-come" to take "form".
accumulation --> form:: arose due to conciousness OR tendency of energy to distinguish, categorize various energies as different by their properties.
conciousness OR ten•••:: arose due to accumulation of finest possible energy states with properties.
accumulation of energy:: due to un-awareness.
Note:: there seems to be a linear relation but it is actually a graphical relation between these.
For eg. un-awareness plays role at sankhara and conciousness level both.
It is due to un-awareness that energy considers "various energies" to be different from itself...... leading to the arise of various self-contradictory perceptions also(now, this consciousness is related with perception too).
No confusion, hmm!
(see ya all later)

Sankhara has the seed to attached a future experience. For this to happen you need consciousness. For consciousness to arise you need a being which is nama-rupa. A being automatically gets sense bases without one cannot experience.
This is like a painting canvas. Without the canvas, there cannot be painting in thin air. Likewise, consciousness cannot exist without nama-rupa. Nama-rupa always gives rise to sense bases. When there are sense bases there will always be contact.
Nama-rupa is mind and body of a being (Satta).
Sankara is created due to the need to experience, which intern gives rise to conciusness to experiance the external world though the faculties.
Having, ignorance is what relates conditioning or Sankhara. Without ignorance, one will not create Sankhara.

Many thanks for these brilliant questions.
Through careful introspective mindfulness, the practitioner will note that consciousness can never be found. All that can ever be known are objects of consciousness. Consciousness can only be understood. With this clarity, consciousness can be seen to be the result of observing objects. Without objects, there can be no consciousness.
Thus consciousness is the result of an object, a process dependant on the act of observation. That is to say, an activity. This activity is a process, though this process in and of itself knows nothing about its own intrinsic nature. Not only can it be said to be ignorant, but additionally, the corresponding consciousness does not know this either and takes no account of it, focusing instead on its object of awareness.
If Nama-Rupa is understood as Subject-Object it follows logically from consciousnesses dependance on an object.
Nama-rupa conditions salayatana in the sense that salayatana is dependant on nama-rupa. Salayatana differentiates the objects of Nama-Rupa and in this way is dependant.
An object arising within the field of a sense base gives rise to a stimulus or activity. This activity, without knowing, enables consciousness to manifest. This consciousness is limited to its object and is of six types corresponding to the appropriate sense base.
Avidja and Sankara come before the next or some future arising of consciousness. The currently running consciousness of a stream-winner can indeed discern avidja and corresponding subtle sensations or activities through the diligent practice of mindfulness.

The standard formula of dependent origination (paṭiccasamuppāda) is given in SN 12.1. The definition of every nidana is given in SN 12.2.
In the standard formula of dependent origination, every nidana that comes after, depends on the one that comes before, as the condition for arising. When the nidana before ceases, the nidana after ceases too.
Ignorance or avijja is the force of nature that gives rise to the mind-body phenomena, and also gives rise to the underlying tendencies that drive us towards craving. It's the natural or evolutionary instinct that drives us towards survival, sensual enjoyment and individual existence.
Dependent on ignorance, volitional formations (sankhara) arises. In this context, these are the physical and mental processes. The physical processes here refers to breathing and the rest of the processes like heart beating etc. (i.e. kaya sankhara). Mental processes are of two types. One is the "input path" which processes inputs (the six types of feelings) and produces mental states or cittas (i.e. citta sankhara), while the other is the "output path" which produces actions and words (i.e. vaci sankhara). This is based on MN 44.
Dependent on volitional formations, consciousness (vinnana) arises. SN 35.93 tells us that dependent on eyes and form, eye-consciousness arises. The six types of consciousness are related to the six sense media.
The way I see it, consciousness is the mind-body connection (where mind is "name" and body is "form"), and it's supported by:

Name, reverends, is one end. Form is the second end.
Consciousness is
the middle. And craving is the seamstress,
for craving weaves one to
being reborn in one state of existence or another.
AN 6.61

Dependent on consciousness, name-and-form (namarupa) arises. Name-and-form represents a mind-body system that operates together, like software-and-hardware. And if you read the definitions of "name" (feeling, perception, volition, contact, attention) and "form" (form made up of four great elements), they read like definitions of parts of mind and body respectively.
The body is called "form" because it is the form-sensor, that senses external forms. The mind is called "name" because it is the name-assigner, that assigns names to the forms sensed by the body. So the terms name(-assigner) and form(-sensor) describe functions of the mind and the body in the combination of namarupa.
Name-and-form (mind-body) has a mutually dependent relationship with the six types of consciousness according to SN 12.67, like two sheaves of reed leaning on each other.
To put it another way, the mind-body system (name-and-form) depends on the mind-body connection (consciousness) and the mind-body connection (consciousness) depends on the mind-body system (name-and-form).
The nidana of sankhara that comes before consciousness, is defined as bodily formations, verbal formations and mental formations. These represent the basic functioning or basic operations of the body and the mind, as separated or independent operations. Then when body and mind connects, we get consciousness which gives rise to the mind-body system and the mind-body system in turn sustains consciousness.

Depending on name-and-form (mind-body system), the six sense bases (salayatana) arises. And then dependent on the six sense bases, contact (phassa) arises. And then dependent on contact, feeling (vedana) arises.
SN 35.93 tells us that dependent on eyes and form, eye-consciousness arises. Then, the meeting of the three (eye, forms, eye-consciousness) gives rise to eye-contact. Eye-contact gives rise to feeling (sensation) born of eye-contact. The same applies to the other sense media and their objects of sensation.
So, consciousness here, is the mind-body connection. Eye-consciousness plus the physical eye, gives rise to the eye base. And similarly for the rest of the sense bases. The six sense bases refer to the six sense organs working with the six sense-consciousness (mind-body connections).
Contact is the meeting of the three - eye, eye-consciousness and forms, or you can say it's the eye base meeting forms. Then this gives rise to feeling (vedana), which is the mental input captured from the sense media.
I see the six sense bases as the six types of consciousness scanning the input of the six physical sense media through the mind-body system. Then when they meet the six types of sense objects, we get the six types of contacts.

For the rest of dependent origination, please see this answer.

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text:
Karma and Contact with Dharma
I'm wondering whether the knowledge of the Buddhist path and participating in it would be the fruition of good karma? I mean, since following this path implies virtue and further good karma, even if done temporarily, I would assume good karma is necessary to attain it.
I also wonder whether the adherence to the path -- e.g. stream entry, Bodhisattva bhumis -- occur as well from the accumulation of karma. In other words, does accumulating a certain level of good karma promote or even ensure that rebirths will generate good karma as well?
Thank you

Dhp 64-65 may increase faith for attentive.

I'm wondering whether the knowledge of the Buddhist path and participating in it would be the fruition of good karma.
First of all, it takes a lot of good Karma to attain human life, it is through human life only that one can work on oneself to attain Nibbana. Human life is a rare occurring. Then, of course, it takes a huge amount of intelligence, maturity and millions of lives of good karma to arrive at the true Dhamma and to arrive at the understanding that, 'desire is the root cause of sorrow'.
In other words, does accumulating a certain level of good karma promote or even ensure that rebirths will generate good karma as well?
This is something circumstantial. You might be reborn in brahma realm and you might do bad karma and then reborn in lower realms. There is no guarantee of rebirths generating good karma.


text:
Intention and Karma
When a text (e.g. Abhidhamma) lists 'wholesome' mental factors, is it meant that these are also likely to produce positive karmic consequences, or that these are just beneficial in general?
For example, in the Theravada tradition I read that sati, i.e. mindfulness, is a beautiful mental factor. In a discussion with the Dalai Lama, Matthieu Ricard explains how even a sniper may use mindfulness. So I am confused as to whether 'wholesome' and 'karmically positive' are synonymous or not.

As well, from this answer I understand that karma refers specifically to the ethical intention. So, when their compassionate action which lacks wisdom produces detrimental effects, is a well-intended, compassionate person still nevertheless generating positive karma? This possibility seems to imply that developing a compassionate intention almost negates completely the possibility of unvirtuous karma.
Thank you

Wholesome and unwholesome minds/types of consciousness, when ripen give rise to the respective resultant minds/types of consciousness. See: 89 / 121 types of consciousness
Sati in the The 52 Mental Factors (cetasika) is the Right Mindfulness. The mindfulness a shooter uses is Ekaggatā to concentrate the aim and Manasikāra as attention. These are universal factors which can appear in wholesome and unwholesome acts.

For example, in the Theravada tradition I read that sati, i.e. mindfulness, is a beautiful mental factor. In a discussion with the Dalai Lama, Matthieu Ricard explains how even a sniper may use mindfulness. So I am confused as to whether 'wholesome' and 'karmically positive' are synonymous or not.

This is where it's important to examine the root words in Pali. The English term 'mindfulness' is pretty broad and can carry different connotations depending on context, hence the need to look up its Pali terms to see the distinction. For example, in the case of unwholesome mindfulness of a sniper that Ven. Ricard was referring to, he possibly meant 'Manasikara'(or 'attention') instead of Sati. Manasikara is 1 of the 13 mental factors under the Annasamana(Ethically Variable) group; while Sati(or 'mindfulness') belongs to the Sobhana(Beautiful) group along with 25 other mental factors. All the details are pretty well-explained in Ven. Bodhi's "Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma"
Regarding actions that was done out of good intention but ended up with terrible results, this is exactly why Buddhism emphasizes the cultivation of both compassion and wisdom, which have to go hand in hand. So for example, some well-intent action that resulted in many accidental lives lost cannot be expected to reap some exclusively good kammic fruit. At best it'd only result in what's called mixed kamma with dark and bright results (ref. MN 57).

When a text (e.g. Abhidhamma) lists 'wholesome' mental factors, is it meant that these are also likely to produce positive karmic consequences, or that these are just beneficial in general?

I'm not sure i understand your distinction between karmic consequences, and what is beneficial in general. They seem like the same thing to me.

As well, from this answer I understand that karma refers specifically to the ethical intention. So, when their compassionate action which lacks wisdom produces detrimental effects, is a well-intended, compassionate person still nevertheless generating positive karma? This possibility seems to imply that developing a compassionate intention almost negates completely the possibility of unvirtuous karma.

In theory, we can have the best of intentions and still make a mess. A favorite (non-buddhist) quote of mine is "the road to hell is paved with good intentions".
Karma is a two sided coin. Our actions (karma) needs to be well meaning, as well as having good consequences (vipaka) in order to be considered beneficial.
(There are other aspects to take into consideration if one wishes to develop even more skillful karma-vipaka, but that's perhaps another topic).

Sati is mindfulness. It's keeping the mind on the task, without wandering.
From SN 47.20:

The Blessed One said, "Suppose, monks, that a large crowd of people
  comes thronging together, saying, 'The beauty queen! The beauty
  queen!' And suppose that the beauty queen is highly accomplished at
  singing & dancing, so that an even greater crowd comes thronging,
  saying, 'The beauty queen is singing! The beauty queen is dancing!'
  Then a man comes along, desiring life & shrinking from death, desiring
  pleasure & abhorring pain. They say to him, 'Now look here, mister.
  You must take this bowl filled to the brim with oil and carry it on
  your head in between the great crowd & the beauty queen. A man with a
  raised sword will follow right behind you, and wherever you spill even
  a drop of oil, right there will he cut off your head.' Now what do you
  think, monks: Will that man, not paying attention to the bowl of oil,
  let himself get distracted outside?"
"No, lord."
"I have given you this parable to convey a meaning. The meaning is
  this: The bowl filled to the brim with oil stands for mindfulness
  immersed in the body. Thus you should train yourselves: 'We will
  develop mindfulness immersed in the body. We will pursue it, hand it
  the reins and take it as a basis, give it a grounding, steady it,
  consolidate it, and undertake it well.' That is how you should train
  yourselves."

However, sati is not good enough. There is also samma sati - right mindfulness. Right mindfulness includes right view. Right view is the forerunner of the path according to MN 117.
From MN 117:

"One makes an effort for the abandoning of wrong view & for entering
  into right view: This is one's right effort. One is mindful to abandon
  wrong view & to enter & remain in right view: This is one's right
  mindfulness. Thus these three qualities — right view, right effort, &
  right mindfulness — run & circle around right view.

While sati or mindfulness is keeping the mind on the task, manasikara or attention is about directing the mind in the right direction.
Yoniso manasikara is appropriate attention and ayoniso manasikara is inappropriate attention. You can read the question "What is yoniso manasikara and ayoniso manasikara?"
From SN 9.11:

I have heard that on one occasion a certain monk was dwelling among
  the Kosalans in a forest thicket. Now at that time, he spent the day's
  abiding thinking evil, unskillful thoughts: i.e., thoughts of
  sensuality, thoughts of ill will, thoughts of doing harm.
Then the devata inhabiting the forest thicket, feeling sympathy for
  the monk, desiring his benefit, desiring to bring him to his senses,
  approached him and addressed him with this verse:

From inappropriate attention
    you're being chewed by your thoughts.
    Relinquishing what's inappropriate,
    contemplate appropriately.
Keeping your mind on the Teacher,
    the Dhamma, the Sangha, your virtues,
    you will arrive at
    joy,
    rapture,
    pleasure
    without doubt.
Then, saturated
    with joy,
    you will put an end
    to suffering
    & stress.

The monk, chastened by the devata, came to his senses.

So, what does this mean? Both are needed - samma sati or right mindfulness, and yoniso manasikara or appropriate attention. However, samma ditthi or right view has to come first. Without right view, every other effort goes the wrong way.
The sniper who aims, shoots and kills another person, may be mindful and have attention, but he doesn't have right view, because a person with right view will stick heedfully (appamada) to the first precept and not kill others, especially another human being.
The sniper who aims, shoots and kills another person, may be mindful and have attention, but it's not right mindfulness and not appropriate attention.

Relying on what the Dalai Lama and Matthieu Ricard say is not a good idea. Those people fail to understand that sati, sati sampajanna, satipatthana are not ''just knowing what is happening right now'' but knowing the vedanas, sanna and vitakka plus cleaning them.
The people who created vipassana mediation do the same mistake as the people who invented mahayana: they claim that tracking sense objects is ''living in the present moment'' and that tracking those stuff is meritorious, whereas the meritorious activity is actually cleaning vedanas, sanna and vitakkas (so this requires to actually track them in the first place). Plus you cannot clean rupa, kaya, the sense objects, the earth elements and so on, so tracking them and calling this meritorious is idiotic, that's the whole point of the buddha.
Then when vitakka is cleaned, there is the jhanas and the buddha calls this ''abiding in the here and now'' which is today called ''living in the present moment'' to use the word of the puthujjanas above. They confuse kāya-gatā-sati with tracking sense objects.
This is why those people are bad at ''sense restrained'', because they are bad at the cultivatoin for ''sense restrained'', which is sati, which makes them fail at jhanas, let alone right samadhi, let alone disenchantment, dispassion and all that.