https://library.uoregon.edu/ec/e-asia/reada/HSU-TING.pdf

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3924245&forum_id=2#35649771)

從惡緣人

"Originally pronounced yuàn, it described

the seam or embroidered hem in clothing, which is still the semantic root for the

translation of yuán as ‘edge or border’ (Luó 1992: 956). During the Han Dynasty

(207 BC–220 AD), however, a derivative meaning for the character came into being

in the form of . . . ‘foundation or basis’ (Bái 2004).

When Buddhism first entered China during the Han Dynasty, it so happened that

the word yīnyuán was used to translate a key element of the Buddhist doctrine of the

‘Twelve Nidanas’ In its new meaning, yīn ... became the primary cause, while yuán

became the secondary or circumstantial cause crucial for the production of a certain

effect (Bái 2004). In other words: ‘The direct cause is the seed, and yuan is the soil,

rain, and the sunshine’ (Soothill and Hodous 1968: 440 cited in Chang and Holt

1991: 35).

http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/docs/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/FUDOCS_derivate_000000005810/Heger_-_The_Meaning_and_Functions_of_the_Concept_of_Yuanfen_in_Contemporary_China.pdf

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3924245&forum_id=2#35650002)