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Yuan () or Yuanfen (; Vietnamese: duyên phận), "fateful coincidence," is a concept in the Chinese folk religion describing good and bad chances and potential relationships.〔Fan, Chen. 2013. p. 23〕 It can also be translated as "destiny, luck as conditioned by one's past," or "natural affinity among friends."〔''Lin Yutang's Chinese English Dictionary of Modern Usage'' (Shatin: The Chinese University Press of Hong Kong, 1972) p. 1432.〕 It is comparable to the concept of ''karma'' in Buddhism, but ''yuanfen'' is interactive rather than individual. The driving forces and causes behind ''yuánfèn'' are said to be actions done in previous incarnations. The proverb ''yǒu yuán wú fèn'' (有緣無份), "have fate without destiny," is sometimes used to describe couples who meet, but who do not for whatever reason stay together. Scholars K. S. Yang and D. Ho have analysed the psychological advantages of this belief: by assigning causality of negative events to ''yuanfen'' beyond personal control, people tend to maintain good relationships, avoid conflict, and promote social harmony; likewise, when positive events are seen as result of ''yuanfen'', personal credit is not directly assigned, which reduces pride on one side of the relationship and envy and resentment on the other.〔Fan, Chen. 2013. p. 24〕 〔Yang, Ho pp. 269, 280.〕 ==Role in society== K.S. Yang and D.Y. F. Ho trace the origins of the term to traditional Buddhism and observe that ''yuan '' or ''yuanfen ''are important concepts in maintaining social harmony in personal relationships and group solidarity because they attribute cause or "fateful coincidence" to an outside factor beyond the control or responsibility of individuals. Yang and Ho's research found that these concepts are still very much alive in Chinese social life and culture among university students. The concepts of ''yuan ''and ''yuanfen ''and beliefs in predestination and fatalism have waned, and belief in yuan has waned as well, but continuity with past conceptions is still strong.〔Yang, Ho pp. 269, 280.〕 Marc Moscowitz, an anthropologist, finds that ''yuanfen '' appears frequently in contemporary popular music. Here ''yuanfen ''refers to a “karmic relationship” with someone who was known in a previous life and is used to explain the end of a relationship that was not destined to work out. 〔Moscowitz p. 76〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Yuanfen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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