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Dear Dimitry,
There are different types of nimitta but they can all be paccaya
(condition) by way of object-condition, arammana-paccaya. This is
explained in the last book of the Abhidhamma, the Patthana.
Often when Buddhists discuss nimitta they mean uggaha-nimitta
(acquired image) that appears when access concentration is attained.

In daily life we take concepts as nimitta and we may often be
deceived by these - so we think we really see women and men, for
example. This passage from the commentary to the UDANA ( translation
by Peter Masefield is interesting and
from PTS)explains about avijja: (p71,vol1, enlightenment chapter)
"it is ignorance since it causes beings
to dart among becomings and so on within samsara.., it
is ignorance since it darts among those things which
do not actually exist [i.e.men, women] and
since it does not dart among those things that do
exist [i.e.it cannot understand the khandas,
paramattha dhammas].
A good topic.
RobertK

In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Äìèòðèé Àëåêñååâè÷ Èâàõíåíêî (Dimitry A.
Ivakhnenko)" <koleso@...> wrote:

> Dear Pali friends, and especially Nina van Gorkom,
>
> Would you be so kind to relate the authoritative explanation of
> nimitta as a cause. What kind of cause is it? What does it cause?

Are

> there any examples of such causes?
>
> Metta, Dimitry