缘份

[大肚子]

缘份 (yuan2 fen4) is a concept that fascinates me. For me it seems to be somewhere between coincidence and fate, but with an interpersonal element (as in 我们 有 缘份) lacking in the English terms. To be honest I feel that I only have a vague grasp of the concept. There also seems to be a huge gap between 缘份 the abstract concept and 缘份 in daily use. Does anyone here feel they understand this concept and can explain it readily in English?

[wix]

You are right it is very difficult to translate into English. I think you have to have a bit of a Zen attitude about it. i.e. understanding something means going beyond words. As long as you can understand it in your own mind then expressing it as words is not important.

[laohu489]

QFE. This is the best possible answer. I have had many discussions about this and I have accepted this as the way to deal with it. But there are a lot of languages and ideas that can't be accurately represented through translation, such as gemutlich from German.

[eddiewouldgo]

緣份 comes from Buddhism. Most people only know the concept of 因果(cause and consequence). But between 因 and 果，there is 緣， 因+緣=果。 因 in sanskrit is Hetu, the primary cause, 緣 Pratyaya, is the secondary condition or conditions pre-existing allowing primary causes to function.

[eddiewouldgo]

我们 有 缘份

（我们 = 你和我 = 因） + 缘份(external condition, meet on street, introduced by friends) = 結（果） (what will us become? 朋友，夫妻還是仇人)

[Quest]

百世修来同船渡，千世修来共枕眠。

有缘千里能相会，无缘对面不相逢。

缘由天注， 份在人为。

相识是缘，分手也是缘。

[eddiewouldgo]

As in 因+緣, when people talk about marriage they add a 女 to 因，姻緣。