in Buddhist philosophy, an auxiliary, indirect cause, as distinguished from a direct cause (hetu). A seed, for example, is a direct cause of a plant, while sunshine, water, and earth are auxiliary causes of a plant. Sometimes pratyaya means the cause in general.

According to the 4th- or 5th-century text the Abhidharmakośa, all causes are classifiable into four types (catvāraḥ pratyayāḥ): (1) the direct cause (hetu-pratyaya); (2) the immediately preceding cause (samanantara-pratyaya), for, according to the Buddhist theory of universal momentariness (kṣaṇikatva), the disappearance of the mental activity of the first moment is regarded as the cause for the appearance of that of the second moment; (3) the object as a cause (ālambana-pratyaya), since the object present in the preceding moment becomes the cause of the mental activity for functioning; and (4) the superior cause (adhipati-pratyaya), which refers to all causes, except those stated above, that are effective to produce a thing or not to hinder the existence of it. In the latter sense, every existence can be a cause of all existences except itself.