The Concept of the Four Pratyayas

Cause (因) refers to that which can give rise to the emergence of another dhamma (法), while condition (缘) refers to that which assists the cause in bringing forth the emergence of that other dhamma. Both cause and condition are expedient causes for the birth of other dharmas, like a fuse.

The most fundamental cause of all dharmas is the Tathāgatagarbha (如来藏), the source from which the ten thousand dharmas arise; both the cause and the condition themselves are born from this most fundamental cause, the Tathāgatagarbha.

The sequential condition (次第缘), also known as the immediate condition (等无间缘), refers to the birth and cessation of identical dharmas in an uninterrupted, equal, and sequential manner, one after another, thereby inducing the birth of the next identical dharma. For example, take consciousness seeds (识种子): the former consciousness seed (such as mental consciousness) arises at a certain location on a certain sense-object (尘), then ceases and withdraws; the next identical consciousness seed (mental consciousness) arises at the same location, ceases and withdraws, and then another consciousness seed arises at the same location on the same sense-object, only to cease and withdraw again. In this way, identical consciousness seeds arise and withdraw continuously at the same location, forming the continuous activity of consciousness. Mental factors (心所法) function similarly.

The object condition (所缘缘) involves the correspondence between the object (所) and the subject (能). The subject refers to the seven consciousnesses (七识心) possessing subjective initiative. The seven consciousnesses are capable of cognizing all dharmas, especially the six sense-objects (六尘境界), thus they are the cognizing mind (能缘的心). The object (所缘) refers to all dharmas or specifically the six sense-objects. The object condition is thus the condition for the arising of all dharmas, or the condition for the arising of the six sense-objects.

The dominant condition (增上缘) refers to all other assisting conditions, apart from the thing itself, that help in the birth of this particular thing.