samanantara-pratyaya in Buddhism, a causal term meaning ‘immediately antecedent (anantara) and similar (sama) condition’. According to Buddhist causal theory, every existent is a continuum of momentary events of various kinds. These momentary events may be causally connected to one another in a variety of ways; one of these is denoted by the term samanantarapratyaya. This kind of causal connection requires that every momentary event have, as a necessary condition for its existence, an immediately preceding event of the same kind. So, e.g., among the necessary conditions for the occurrence of a moment of sensation in some continuum must be the occurrence of an immediately preceding moment of sensation in that same continuum. P.J.G.