Caveat: Reading Some “Found Korean”

One thing I often do is try to decipher the "found Korean" in my environs.  I randomly look at signs, graffiti, etc., for phrases or words I'm curious about, and fiddle them into the dictionary in my cell phone to find out what they mean, to try to make sense of them. 

In the stairway of my building as I came home tonight, I found a scattering of abandoned business cards for a Buddhist 도사 (do-sa, teacher).  I brought one of the cards home and decided to read it.  A bit more challenging than just words on a sign.  Here's what I came up with – and the translations are tentative and in no way authoritative.

내 운명은 내가 알아야 성공할수 있다!
nae un-myeong-eun nae-ga ar-a-ya seong-gong-hal-su iss-da
My fate-TOPIC I-SUBJECT know-NECESSITY take-on-ABILITY there-is
I must know my fate in order to take it on.
"사주팔자"는 바꿀수 없어도 운명은 바꿀수 있다.
sa-ju-pal-ja-neun ba-kkul-su eops-eo-do un-myeong-eun ba-kkul-su iss-da
"Destiny"-TOPIC change-ABILITY there-isn't-ALSO fate-TOPIC change-ABILITY there-is
"Destiny" cannot be changed yet fate can be changed.

These are very Buddhist-sounding aphorisms, which leads me to think I'm at least on the right track as far as making sense of them.

There's probably something going on with the different vocabulary items indicating destiny, e.g. 사주팔자 (hanja:四柱八字) vs 운명 (hanja:運命).  Naver.com tells me that the former refers to the Four Pillars and Eight Characters (which is the day and time of one's birth, hence, via astrological notions, one's destiny), while the latter is just basic fate or fortune.   So with that understanding, it's saying that although obviously we cannot change the date and time of our birth (and hence, we cannot mess with the "stars" that shape our lives), we nevertheless control our fate.  The whole free will problem, right?

Who knows?  It's fun to try figuring it out, anyway.

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