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The Buddhist idea of Fate
因緣 is the Buddhist concept of a chance meeting or an opportunity that presents itself by fate.
Sometimes this is used to describe a cosmic chain of events or cause and effect.
It also is used to describe predestined relationships between people - and sometimes married couples (although if you want one about marriage, try this: Fate / Destiny of Lovers.
因緣 can also be translated as origin, karma, destiny, affinity, connection, and relation. This all depends on context - seen alone on a wall scroll, this will be read with a “fate/chance” meaning by a Chinese person or a Korean person who can read Hanja.
The more complex definition of this word would be, “Direct causes and indirect conditions, which underlie the actions of all things.”
This concept is known as nidana in the original Sanskrit. Also sometimes presented as hetupratyaya (or “hetu and prataya”), which I believe is Pali.
Note: Japanese will tend to use this version of the second Kanji:
If you order this from the Japanese master calligrapher, expect that you’ll get this version. However, this word often carries a negative connotation in Japanese (bad things happen), as it is used that way in a certain Japanese idiom. Therefore, this may not be the best choice if Japanese is your target language.
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your 因緣 search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
因緣 因缘 see styles |
yīn yuán yin1 yuan2 yin yüan innen |
More info & calligraphy: Fate / Opportunity / Chancehetupratyaya. Cause; causes; 因 hetu, is primary cause, 緣 pratyaya, secondary cause, or causes, e. g. a seed is 因, rain, dew, farmer, etc., are 緣. The 十二因緣 twelve nidānas or links are 'the concatenation of cause and effect in the whole range of existence'. |
三因緣 三因缘 see styles |
sān yīn yuán san1 yin1 yuan2 san yin yüan san innen |
three causes and conditions |
二因緣 二因缘 see styles |
èr yīn yuán er4 yin1 yuan2 erh yin yüan ni innen |
two causes and conditions |
何因緣 何因缘 see styles |
hé yīn yuán he2 yin1 yuan2 ho yin yüan ka innen |
what causes and conditions? |
四因緣 四因缘 see styles |
sì yīn yuán si4 yin1 yuan2 ssu yin yüan shi innen |
four reasons |
因緣依 因缘依 see styles |
yīn yuán yī yin1 yuan2 yi1 yin yüan i innene |
Dependent on cause, or the cause or causes on which anything depends. |
因緣分 因缘分 see styles |
yīn yuán fēn yin1 yuan2 fen1 yin yüan fen innen bun |
section on causes and conditions |
因緣力 因缘力 see styles |
yīn yuán lì yin1 yuan2 li4 yin yüan li innen riki |
power of causes and conditions |
因緣宗 因缘宗 see styles |
yīn yuán zōng yin1 yuan2 zong1 yin yüan tsung innen shū |
the teaching of causes and conditions |
因緣故 因缘故 see styles |
yīn yuán gù yin1 yuan2 gu4 yin yüan ku innen ko |
[because of] its causes |
因緣智 因缘智 see styles |
yīn yuán zhì yin1 yuan2 zhi4 yin yüan chih innen chi |
cognition of causation and interdependence |
因緣法 因缘法 see styles |
yīn yuán fǎ yin1 yuan2 fa3 yin yüan fa innen hō |
dependently arisen |
因緣生 因缘生 see styles |
yīn yuán shēng yin1 yuan2 sheng1 yin yüan sheng innen shō |
Causally-produced. |
因緣相 因缘相 see styles |
yīn yuán xiàng yin1 yuan2 xiang4 yin yüan hsiang inensō |
a causal attribute ; form |
因緣觀 因缘观 see styles |
yīn yuán guān yin1 yuan2 guan1 yin yüan kuan innen kan |
A meditation on the nidānas. |
因緣起 因缘起 see styles |
yīn yuán qǐ yin1 yuan2 qi3 yin yüan ch`i yin yüan chi innen ki |
arising from causes and conditions |
惡因緣 恶因缘 see styles |
è yīn yuán e4 yin1 yuan2 o yin yüan aku innen |
unfavorable circumstance |
有因緣 有因缘 see styles |
yǒu yīn yuán you3 yin1 yuan2 yu yin yüan u innen |
having a causal basis |
無因緣 无因缘 see styles |
wú yīn yuán wu2 yin1 yuan2 wu yin yüan mu innen |
no reasons |
爲因緣 为因缘 see styles |
wéi yīn yuán wei2 yin1 yuan2 wei yin yüan i innen |
[serve as] causes and condition[s] |
異因緣 异因缘 see styles |
yì yīn yuán yi4 yin1 yuan2 i yin yüan i inen |
synonym |
觀因緣 观因缘 see styles |
guān yīn yuán guan1 yin1 yuan2 kuan yin yüan kan innen |
scrutiny of the causes of one's error |
迷因緣 迷因缘 see styles |
mí yīn yuán mi2 yin1 yuan2 mi yin yüan mei innen |
confused in regard to causation |
一切因緣 一切因缘 see styles |
yī qiè yīn yuán yi1 qie4 yin1 yuan2 i ch`ieh yin yüan i chieh yin yüan issai innen |
all causes and conditions |
三法因緣 三法因缘 see styles |
sān fǎ yīn yuán san1 fa3 yin1 yuan2 san fa yin yüan sanhō innen |
causes and conditions for the three factors |
以何因緣 以何因缘 see styles |
yǐ hé yīn yuán yi3 he2 yin1 yuan2 i ho yin yüan ika innen |
by what causes and conditions...? |
以是因緣 以是因缘 see styles |
yǐ shì yīn yuán yi3 shi4 yin1 yuan2 i shih yin yüan i ze innen |
by these causes and conditions |
何因緣故 何因缘故 see styles |
hé yīn yuán gù he2 yin1 yuan2 gu4 ho yin yüan ku ka innen ko |
based on what causes and conditions? |
依因緣生 依因缘生 see styles |
yī yīn yuán shēng yi1 yin1 yuan2 sheng1 i yin yüan sheng e innen shō |
generated based on causes and conditions |
先世因緣 先世因缘 see styles |
xiān shì yīn yuán xian1 shi4 yin1 yuan2 hsien shih yin yüan sense innen |
causes and conditions from prior lifetimes |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Fate Opportunity Chance | 因緣 因缘 / 因縁 | in nen / innen | yīn yuán / yin1 yuan2 / yin yuan / yinyuan | yin yüan / yinyüan |
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line. In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese. |
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When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to my art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.
Allow a few weeks for delivery. Rush service speeds it up by a week or two for $10!
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The wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size"
single-character wall scroll.
We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.
Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.
Check out my lists of Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls and Old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.