定じょう命みょう

noun

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.

• 仏ぶっ教きょうでは、定じょう命みょうは前ぜん世せの業ごうによって決きまるとされる。

  In Buddhism, one's predestined lifespan is said to be determined by karma from previous lives.

noun

destiny; fate

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.

• 彼かれは定てい命めいに従したがうしかなかった。

  He had no choice but to follow his destiny.