also: ていめい
predestined lifespan
Only with reading じょうみょう
Buddhist term for the length of life determined by past karma. Not used in everyday conversation.
Only with reading ていめい
Literary or formal term for an unavoidable fate. Rare in modern speech; 運命 is the common word.
In Buddhism, one's predestined lifespan is said to be determined by karma from previous lives.
He had no choice but to follow his destiny.
Standard kanji form for the Buddhist sense; also used for the destiny sense with reading ていめい.
Reading used for the non-Buddhist sense of destiny or fate.
From 定 (fixed, determined) and 命 (life, fate). The Buddhist reading じょうみょう uses the go-on reading of 命, while ていめい uses the kan-on reading.