Buddhism ascribes life's unpredictable ups and downs to "the cause & effect of past, present & future." But for the ancient Chinese, bereft of such concepts as "cause & effect" or "karma," other ways had to be found of resolving their inner perplexity.
但偏有人非戰之罪卻連戰皆北，或總是財神過路、失之交臂；也有人竟自機緣巧合、福從天降……，這些難以預測的人生起伏，佛家可以歸之於「三世因果」，但對於沒有「因果」、「業報」觀念的中國老祖宗們，就只有另外找方法來解答心中的困惑了。