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Buy a Custom Destiny Chinese or Japanese Calligraphy Wall Scroll

We have many options to create artwork with the Chinese characters / Asian symbols / Japanese Kanji for destiny on a wall scroll or portrait...

Quick links to words on this page...

  1. Destiny / Fate
  2. Acceptance of Fate / Happy With Your Fate
  3. Destiny
  4. Fate / Chance Meeting
  5. Destiny Determined by Heaven
  6. Fate / Opportunity / Chance
  7. Foresight
  8. Free Will
  9. The Karma/Fate/Destiny...
10. Personal Fate or Destiny

Destiny / Fate

(single character)

mìng yùn
inochi / mei
命

This character is often translated as "destiny". Sometimes this character is simply translated as "life", but more in terms of one's lot in life. In certain context, this can mean command or decree (generally from a king or emperor). Of course, such a decree are part of fate and lead you to fulfill your destiny.

In Chinese this word leans toward the fate or destiny definition.
In Korean, it is usually read simply as "life".
In Japanese, it can mean all definitions shown above, depending on context.

See Also...  Good Fortune

Destiny / Fate

(two characters)

mìng yùn
mei un
命
運

These two characters contain the ideas of "fate", "destiny", "fortune" and "luck". You can also say that it means "what life throws at you" or "your lot in life" because the first character contains the idea of "life" or "living".

See Also...  Good Fortune

Destiny / Fate

mìng yùn
un mei
운명
運
命

These two characters contain the ideas of "fate", "destiny", "fortune" and "luck". This is often defined as "a person's fate" in various dictionaries.

These two characters can be put in either order with the same meaning in Chinese and Japanese. The character order shown here is more the more natural order for Japanese Kanji and old Korean Hanja.

See Also...  Good Fortune | Good Luck

Acceptance of Fate / Happy With Your Fate

lè tiān
樂
天

This word is hard to define. One dictionary defines this as, "acceptance of fate and happy about it". There is one rare English word equivalent which is sanguinity.

You can also say that this means, "Be happy with whatever Heaven provides", or "Find happiness in whatever fate Heaven bestows upon you". This is kind of a way to suggest being an optimist in life.

Note: This is sometimes used as a given name in China.

Destiny

dài sī dì nī
黛
絲
蒂
妮

This is the transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the name Destiny

Fate / Chance Meeting

yuán fèn
緣
份

These two characters contain the ideas of fate. But this is specifically the fate or destiny that brings two people together.

This is like the chance meeting of two people that leads some time later to marriage.

This could also be the chance meeting of two business people, who become partners and build a huge and successful company.

Basically, this is an idea often associated with a fateful meeting leading to good fortune.

Some will define this word as, "The destiny brings you two together", or "Meant to be".

分 Note: Second character can also be written without the left radical, as shown to the right. If you have a preference, please let use know in the special instructions for your project. There is no difference in meaning or pronunciation, just two (alternate) ways to write the same character.

See Also...  Soulmates | Good Fortune

Destiny Determined by Heaven

tiān yì
teni
천의
天
意

This is a way to express destiny in a slightly religious way. Literally this means "Heaven's Wish" or "Heaven's Desire" with the idea of fate and destiny being derived as well. It suggests that your destiny comes from God / Heaven and that your path has already been chosen by a higher power.

My Japanese dictionary defines this word as "divine will" or "providence" but it also holds the meaning of "the will of the emperor". Therefore I don't suggest this phrase if your audience is Japanese - it feels a little strange in Japanese anyway.

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Fate / Opportunity / Chance

Buddhist idea of Fate

yīn yuán
in nen
인연
因
緣

This 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.

This word 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: 縁
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.

See Also...  Buddhism | Opportunity

Foresight

xiān jiàn
senken
선견
先
見

Seeing the potential benefits or troubles that may lie ahead in the future.

Can also be defined as "presupposition" or "forethought".

See Also...  Fate

Free Will

zì yóu yì zhì
jiyuu ishi
자유의지
自
由
意
志

This concept has existed for thousands of years that humans have the ability to understand right and wrong, then make a decision one way or the other (thus affecting their own fate).

Sources such as Confucius, Buddhist scriptures, the Qur'an and the Bible all address this idea.

As for the characters shown here, the first two mean free, freedom, or liberty. The last two simply mean "will".

See Also...  Freedom | Strong Willed | Fate

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The Karma/Fate/Destiny
that Brings Lovers Together

yīn yuán
姻
緣

These two characters mean, "Destiny that brings lovers together". It can also be translated technically as, "Predestined matrimonial affinity" (wow, talk about taking the romance out of this word - that was from the Oxford C-E dictionary).

Basically, this is talking about the fate (or karma) that brings a husband and wife together. I would translate this as "Together by fate" or "Joined by destiny", but in the context of marriage. You could use this for non-married lovers, but the first character has a suggestion that this refers to those that are married.

Personal Fate or Destiny

yùn mìng
un mei
운명
運
命

These two characters can be reversed (written in either order) and yield roughly the same meaning. Either way it's about your "fate", "destiny", "fortune" and "luck".

This character order happens to be more common in old Korean and less common in modern Chinese.

See Also...  Good Fortune | Good Luck


A nice Chinese calligraphy wall scroll

The scroll that I am holding in this picture is a "medium size"
4-character wall scroll.
As you can see, it is a great size to hang on your wall.
(We also offer custom wall scrolls in larger sizes)

A professional Chinese Calligrapher

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.

Trying to learn Chinese calligrapher - a futile effort

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.


A high-ranked Chinese master calligrapher that I met in Zhongwei

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.



See: Our list of specifically Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls. And, check out Our list of specifically old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.

The following table is only helpful for those studying Chinese (or Japanese), and perhaps helps search engines to find this page when someone enters Romanized Chinese or Japanese

Title
Characters 
Simplified
Traditional
Japanese Romaji
(Romanized Japanese)
Various forms of Romanized Chinese
Destiny / Fate
inochi / mei
inochi/mei
mìng yùn
ming
ming4
ming
Destiny / Fate命运
命運
mei un
meiun
mìng yùn
ming yun
ming yün
ming4 yun4
mingyun
Destiny / Fate运命
運命
un mei
unmei
mìng yùn
yun ming
yün ming
yun4 ming4
yunming
Acceptance of Fate / Happy With Your Fate乐天
樂天
n/alè tiān
le tian
le t`ien
le4 tian1
letian
letien
le tien
Destiny黛丝蒂妮
黛絲蒂妮
n/adài sī dì nī
dai si di ni
tai ssu ti ni
dai4 si1 di4 ni1
daisidini
Fate / Chance Meeting缘份 / 缘分
緣份 / 緣分
n/ayuán fèn
yuan fen
yüan fen
yuan2 fen4
yuanfen
Destiny Determined by Heaven天意
天意
tenitiān yì
tian yi
t`ien i
tian1 yi4
tianyi
tieni
tien i
Fate / Opportunity / Chance因缘 / 因縁
因緣
in nen
innen
yīn yuán
yin yuan
yin yüan
yin1 yuan2
yinyuan
Foresight先见
先見
senkenxiān jiàn
xian jian
hsien chien
xian1 jian4
xianjian
Free Will自由意志
自由意志
jiyuu ishi
jiyuuishi
jiyu ishi
zì yóu yì zhì
zi you yi zhi
tzu yu i chih
zi4 you2 yi4 zhi4
ziyouyizhi
The Karma/Fate/Destiny / that Brings Lovers Together姻缘
姻緣
n/ayīn yuán
yin yuan
yin yüan
yin1 yuan2
yinyuan
Personal Fate or Destiny运命
運命
un mei
unmei
yùn mìng
yun ming
yün ming
yun4 ming4
yunming

If you have not set up your computer to display Chinese, the characters in this table probably look like empty boxes or random text garbage.
This is why I spent hundreds of hours making images so that you could view the characters in the "destiny,fate" listings above.
If you want your Windows computer to be able to display Chinese characters you can either head to your Regional and Language options in your Win XP control panel, select the [Languages] tab and click on [Install files for East Asian Languages]. This task will ask for your Win XP CD to complete in most cases. If you don't have your Windows XP CD, or are running Windows 98, you can also download/run the simplified Chinese font package installer from Microsoft which works independently with Win 98, ME, 2000, and XP. It's a 2.5MB download, so if you are on dial up, start the download and go make a sandwich.

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