FEATURES >> Fate and Luck, Ming and Yun

Here is another analogy: You are hungry. You go to a restaurant. You can order anything you want from the menu. You can even order something that is not on the menu, as long as they have the ingredients in the kitchen. You notice that some things are expensive and some things are cheap. Once you enter a particular restaurant, there is choice, but there are limits. You cannot order breakfast if you are given the dinner menu. You cannot order pizza in a Chinese restaurant.

This is Ming or fate. Birth is like entering a particular restaurant. The menu is like your astrological chart; you have choices in your life, but there are limits. Some options cost too much if you are not willing to work for them, yet are still available on the menu in case you are highly motivated. But isn't it better to know what is on the menu than to always be asking for lobster at a fast food restaurant?

If fate is pre-heaven, then luck, in the Chinese view, is post-heaven.

The Chinese view luck as variable with time and at least as predictable as the weather or the stock market. Probably more so. If you can know the condition of your luck, you can base your actions on how strong it is at that time.

On the other hand, Westerners tend to believe that luck is random. The English dictionary defines luck as, 'the seemingly chance happening of events which affect one.' Chance is defined as, among other things:

1. The occurence of events without apparent cause, luck
2. An unpredictable event The word chance comes from the Latin 'cadere' - to fall [as in dice]. It is random, and therefore unpredictable.

The Western science of luck and chance is statistics and probability. But this study is based on large groups. There is no 'scientific' ability to predict an individual's level of luck. To believe that luck is random by definition means that you cannot predict it for an individual.

People often say that luck involves being in the right place at the right time. The Chinese would not disagree. However, the Chinese have ways to predict the right time, and also to make the place right. They call this, the latter, 'feng shui.' People in the West believe that there is no way to know your luck, except perhaps an intuition ('I am feeling lucky today. I think I will buy a lottery ticket'). Or by an omen (seeing a black cat is unlucky). The only way to improve luck is with a talisman (lucky penny, rabbit's foot, or a personal object). Luck is passive, unpredictable, unknowable, random.

The Chinese word most frequently used to mean luck (in general, not specifying if it is good luck or bad luck) is Yun (yun4) which means:

1. Carry, transport
2. To move, to revolve
3. Use, wield, utilize
4. One's luck or fortune

Chinese luck is not nearly so passive as its Western counterpart. Because of its meanings of carry, transport, move, and revolve, it is used in phrases to do with shipping, sports, and even the orbit of planets. This then presents the concept that, like the orbit of planets, luck is cyclical and predictable. An orbit is not random movement. To orbit or to move means to pass through space and time in a specific pattern. Therefore, it is subject to the laws that govern time and space. This makes it knowable.

The third meaning of Yun is to use or to wield. No passivity here. If we can know our luck, we can also use it to our advantage. When it is good, go out and take risks, take advantage of opportunities. When it is poor, stay home and be still, to lessen exposure to problems.

There is one more meaning of Yun. In feng shui and Chinese astrology, it has the meaning of a period of time.

In feng shui, the twenty-year construction periods are called yun. They are related to the nine flying stars. These repeat in 180-year cycles (9 stars times 20 years each).

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