命运就是destiny,指的注定要发生的事。 缘分，是中国文化的一个抽象概念，是一种人与人之间无形的连结，是某种必然存在的相遇的机会和可能。 举个例子： 1.命运有时是残酷的。Destiny is sometimes cruel. 2.婚姻是缘分。 A couple's conjugal fate is prearranged。

Oh, Beth, I am afraid we have to find the points from Buddism. Chinese culture was much influnced by Buddism and Confucius thoughts. Buddism says: one's destiny is decided and not changable. Your current life destiny is the result of your past lives. You can find the reasons in your past lives for all the happenings in your current life. If you hurt others or made others suffering in the past life, that was a kind of sin or debts( 孽债nie4zhai4), they will come for revenge in your following lives to make you suffer too. If you were kind or helped other in your past lives, which was a kind of credits, they will come and thank you or make you happy in the following lives. In this way, this religion to tell people should be good to others. That is why Chinese people will yell " 我上辈子造了什么孽了!?" when they were suffering too much. They are asking what sins they made in the past life. Chinese people also like to say " 别伤心了，你们可能还是缘分没到吧！”to console a sad guy who just lost love. If the girl and boy never had something special happened in the past lives , that is to say their connection is not much enough to make strong feeling happened this life In a word, nice people will end with a happy end and bad people will end with a sorry end. But why are some really bad guys enjoying instead of suffering? Buddism tells " 不是不报，而是时候未到”（ it is not the time for them to suffer, you will get that at the right time in the following period or lives ) After so long explanation, let us come back to your question. 命运 = destiny 命= whatever you deserved 运 = how you go on the way to your destiny 缘分 = connection, which means whether you had met and had somethng special happened with someone in the past lives. This connection can be positive ( 善缘）or negative (孽缘）. Generally, in nowadays daily life , Chinese people love to call positive connection 缘分. But in religion, it can be both positive or negative. Anyway, cultural things are confusing sometimes to a foreigner. I am also learning about christian or cathelic church culture now. Too many questions to ask my friend here. :) Good luck!

这是我个人的小小理解。 命运，顾名思义即是命中注定的运气。这种运气有好有坏，一个人生，生老病死，或一帆风顺，或历经坎坷，或事业有成，或家徒四壁，又或者中了彩票，都可以归于命运。 而缘分，是一种很美好的感觉。可以形容朋友间相见恨晚，一见如故，非常投缘的感觉。又可以形容一对恋人对相遇彼此充满着幸福感与满足感。

命运泛指事物既定的发展轨迹，可以指人也可以指物。命运一词在实际的使用当中既可以当成一种宿命论式的预言，又可以作为某事物已经发展结束后的总结。 缘分通常指两个或多个事物之间的隐形联系。同样可以指人也可以指物。缘分更偏向于主观，通常是一种主观感受。缘分一词在主观色彩上偏向褒义，但实际中使用中也有贬义用法，例如：孽缘，就是一种不好的缘分。缘分一词是中国文化的特有名词，其他语言中并没有准确的翻译。

命运和缘分在意思上有很多相似的地方，但是着重点不同，使用的场合也不完全相同。命运强调的是一个人的人生注定的走向，是必走的路没法逃避。缘分强调的是机缘和巧合，是一种说不出道不明的东西，可以说恋人或者爱人之间有缘分，也可以说朋友、亲人、老师、同学、同事、甚至陌生之间有缘分，不一定是人与人之间，也可以是人与某种事物有缘分，就像有的人去过很多国家都没有感觉，到了中国之后就很喜欢，这就叫和中国有缘分。缘分这个词在英语里没有对应的词可以翻译，只是用fate翻译不够准确。