Does Shin Buddhism teach that life is governed by destiny?
Shin Buddhism is part of general Mahayana Buddhism, and life is “governed” by Karma, which is not “destiny.” Everything in this world happens for a reason because everything is inter-connected. There are causes and conditions that lead to a certain result, and that result is part of the causes or conditions for other things.
Karma has two aspects, a passive aspect and an active aspect. The passive aspect is what we are born with, our height, eye color, hair color, etc., are inherited from our parents, and there is nothing we can do about it. We are born with it. But, what happens in life is determined by the choices we make. Life certainly looks more like an accident than destiny.
And, yes, everything happens for a reason. We just might not be able to see nor understand those reasons. The causes and conditions come together to cause something to happen. Most of the time, we don’t know why.
All the events—from the time we were born—leads us to this moment. We cannot possibly know all the causes and conditions that brought us to this moment. The hidden causes and conditions are so buried that we cannot know everything. We just have to assume the rains came so the crops could grow in 1946, so that when I was born there was enough food to eat. It is related and inter-related, but we cannot always see the connections.
Gassho (with palms together), Rev. Ron