# What is "Destiny Cannot Be Defied"?

During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a man named Shao Kangxie.

Master Shao was the author of the "Plum Blossom Divination."

One morning, he cast a divination and calculated that:

A porcelain vase in his house would shatter at noon.

He was curious—

How exactly would the vase break? Why would it break?

So throughout the morning he kept watch over that vase,

placing it on a table and staring at it intently,

as if protecting a precious treasure.

His wife called him to eat, but he didn't respond.

He was afraid that the moment he left, the vase would break.

At noon, his wife entered the room

and saw him still standing there, motionless, staring at the vase.

His wife finally couldn't contain herself and said angrily:

"You've done nothing all morning but stare at this broken vase!

You won't eat, you won't work!"

After speaking,

she suddenly grabbed the vase

and smashed it hard on the ground.

Crash—

It shattered.

That's why we often say:

When we try to peek at destiny and attempt to defy it,

how can we know

whether the act of "peeking at destiny and then trying to go against it"

is not itself already a part of destiny that was written long ago?