Taxonomy of meanings for 因緣:　　

  • LITERATURE
    • NPabbuddhistBUDDH: genre, referring to historical narratives (for the phonetic transcription see 尼陀那); SANSKRIT nidāna
  • CAUSE
    • NPabbuddhistBUDDH: primary and subsidiary causes> cause, reason (determining one's life etc); causal link; karmic background
    • NPpost-Nreason for N; karmic background
  • METHOD
    • NPab.cmetaphysicalBUDDH: opportune occasions
    • NPabBUDDH: causes > causes / opportunity of teaching > 'case' (in Chán Buddhism sometimes referring to a specific method of instruction which consists of taking up a 'case' of old (which can consist of a question which was posed by a master, or can refer to a short dialogue between a master and his student, or the account of a teaching situation) and testing a Chán student with it); the term is closely related to 公案 (kooan) of the Song period)
    • VPiactBUDDH: engage in the 因緣 method, basing oneself on available cases/opportunities