A parable about how we are all different. Parables. About the meaning of life

Once upon a time he lived in a village old man. He was very poor, but even the kings were jealous of him because he had a beautiful white horse. They offered him fabulous money for the horse,

but the old man said:“This horse is not a horse for me, but a personality. How can you sell a personality, a friend?”

The man was poor, but never agreed to sell his horse. One morning he did not find the horse in the stall. The whole village gathered and everyone condemned the old man:

“You are a stupid old man,” they told him. “We knew that someday the horse would be stolen. It would be better if you sold it. What bad luck!”

The old man said:"I don't know the whole story. I don't know if he left or was taken away. It's a fact, everything else is a judgment. Whether it's bad luck or a blessing, I don't know, because it's all just a part. Who knows what will follow this?"

People laughed. They always knew he was a little crazy. But fifteen days later he unexpectedly returned, and what’s more, he brought four foals with him.

The people gathered again and said:"You were right, old man, it wasn't bad luck, it was a blessing."

And again the old man said:“I don’t know the whole story. I only know that the horse was gone, then he came back. Who knows whether this is a blessing or not? You read a single word in a sentence - how can you judge a whole book?”

But people still decided that he was wrong, because there were more horses! The old man had an only son. He started riding foals and a week later he fell and broke his leg.

People said:“What bad luck! Your only son lost the ability to walk, and yet he was your only support! It would be better if you sold your horse then, if only you had money.”

And once again the old man answered them:"You are obsessed with judgment, don't go that far. I only know that my son fell and broke his leg. No one knows whether it is bad luck or a blessing."

It so happened that a few weeks later a war broke out in the country, and all the youth were taken into the army. Only the old man's son remained because he was crippled. All the residents cried because the battles were lost and most of the youth died.

People came to the old man and told him: “You were right, this turned out to be a blessing. Your son may be crippled, but he is with you, our sons are gone forever.”

And again the old man said:"You go on judging. I don't know the whole story, and no one knows. Judgment means a frozen state of mind. Don't judge, otherwise you will never become one with the whole."

In reality, the journey never ends. One part ends, but another begins, one door closes, another opens. You reach the top, but another, higher one appears. Life is an endless journey!

Loving yourself for the benefit of others.

A woman dies and Death comes to her. The woman, seeing Death, smiled and said that she was ready.
- What are you ready for? – asked Death.
- I’m ready for God to take me to Heaven! – the woman answered.
- Why did you decide that God would take you to him? – asked Death.
- Well, how? “I suffered so much that I deserve the peace and love of God,” the woman answered.
- What exactly did you suffer from? – asked Death.
- When I was little, my parents always punished me unfairly. They beat me, put me in a corner, shouted at me as if I had done something terrible. When I was at school, my classmates bullied me and also beat and humiliated me. When I got married, my husband drank all the time and cheated on me. My children exhausted my soul, and in the end they didn’t even come to my funeral. When I was working, my boss yelled at me all the time, delayed my salary, left me on weekends, and then fired me without paying me. The neighbors gossiped about me behind my back, saying that I was a prostitute. And one day a robber attacked me and stole my bag and raped me.
- Well, what good have you done in your life? – asked Death.
“I was always kind to everyone, went to church, prayed, took care of everyone, took care of everything on myself. I experienced so much pain from this world, like Christ, that I deserved Paradise...
“Well, okay...” Death answered, “I understand you.” There remains a small formality. Sign one agreement and go straight to Paradise.
Death handed her a piece of paper with one sentence to tick. The woman looked at Death and, as if she had been doused with ice water, said that she could not tick this sentence.
On the piece of paper it was written: “I forgive all my offenders and ask forgiveness from everyone I offended.”
- Why can’t you forgive them all and ask for forgiveness? – asked Death.
- Because they don’t deserve my forgiveness, because if I forgive them, it means nothing happened, it means they won’t answer for their actions. And I have no one to ask for forgiveness... I didn’t do anything bad to anyone!
-Are you sure about this? – asked Death.
- Absolutely!
- How do you feel about those who caused you so much pain? – asked Death.
- I feel anger, rage, resentment! It’s unfair that I should forget and erase from my memory the evil that people have done to me!
- What if you forgive them and stop having these feelings? – asked Death.
The woman thought for a while and replied that there would be emptiness inside!
- You have always experienced this emptiness in your heart, and this emptiness devalued you and your life, and the feelings that you experience give significance to your life. Now tell me, why do you feel empty?
- Because all my life I thought that those whom I loved and those for whom I lived would appreciate me, but in the end they disappointed me. I gave my life to my husband, children, parents, friends, but they did not appreciate it and turned out to be ungrateful!
- Before God said goodbye to his son and sent him to earth, he finally said one phrase to him, which was supposed to help him realize life in himself and himself in this life...
- Which one? – the woman asked.
- THE WORLD STARTS WITH YOU..!
- What does it mean?
- So he didn’t understand what God told him... It’s about the fact that only you are responsible for everything that happens in your life! You CHOOSE to suffer or be happy! So explain to me who exactly caused you so much pain?
“It turns out I’m on my own…” the woman answered in a trembling voice.
- So who can’t you forgive?
- Myself? – the woman answered in a crying voice.
- Forgiving yourself means admitting your mistake! Forgiving yourself means accepting your imperfections! Forgiving yourself means opening up to yourself! You hurt yourself and decided that the whole world is to blame for this, and they don’t deserve your forgiveness... And you want God to accept you with open arms?! Have you decided that God is like a soft-bodied, stupid old man who will open doors for fools and evil sufferers?! Do you think he created the perfect place for people like you? When you create your own paradise, where first of all you, and then the others, will feel good, then you will knock on the doors of the heavenly abode, but for now God gave me instructions to send you back to earth so that you learn to create a world in which love and care reign. And those who cannot take care of themselves live in the deep delusion that they can take care of others. Do you know how God punishes a woman who considers herself an ideal mother?
- How? – the woman asked.
- He sends her children whose destinies are broken before her eyes...
- I realized... I couldn’t make my husband loving and devoted. I couldn’t raise my children to be happy and successful. I couldn’t preserve a hearth where there would be peace and harmony... In my world, everyone suffered...
- Why? – asked Death.
- I wanted everyone to feel sorry for me and have compassion... But no one felt sorry for me... And I thought that God would definitely take pity on me and hug me!
- Remember that the most dangerous people on earth are those who want to arouse pity and compassion for themselves... They are called “victims”... Your greatest ignorance is that you think that God needs someone’s sacrifice! He will never allow into his abode someone who has known nothing but pain and suffering, for this sacrifice will sow pain and suffering in his world...! Go back and learn to love and care for yourself, and then for those who live in your world. First, ask yourself for forgiveness for your ignorance and forgive yourself for it!
The woman closed her eyes and began the journey again, but only under a different name and with different parents.

Short wise parables about life: Eastern wisdom

Parable - short story, story, fable, with or without morality.
A parable does not always teach life, but it always gives a wise hint with deep meaning.
Hidden in parables life meaning- a lesson for people, but not everyone can see this meaning.
A parable is not a fictional story, it is a life story about real events. From generation to generation, parables were passed down from mouth to mouth, but at the same time they did not lose their wisdom and simplicity.
Many parables describe stories that happen in everyday life; many of the events described in the parables are very similar to ours. The parable teaches us to look at things from different sides and act wisely and reasonably.
If the parable seemed incomprehensible or meaningless, this does not mean that the parable is bad. We are simply not prepared enough to understand it. Rereading the parables, each time you can find something new and wise in them.
So, let's read eastern parables, we think and grow wiser!

Three important questions

The ruler of one country strove for all wisdom. Once he heard rumors that there was a certain hermit who knew the answers to all questions. The ruler came to him and saw: a decrepit old man, digging a garden bed. He jumped off his horse and bowed to the old man.

— I came to get an answer to three questions: who is the most main man on earth, what is the most important thing in life, what day is more important than all the others.

The hermit did not answer and continued to dig. The ruler undertook to help him.

Suddenly he sees a man walking along the road - his whole face is covered in blood. The ruler stopped him kind words comforted, brought water from the stream, washed and bandaged the traveler’s wounds. Then he took him to the hermit’s hut and put him to bed.

The next morning he looks and the hermit is sowing the garden bed.

“Hermit,” the ruler begged, “won’t you answer my questions?”

“You already answered them yourself,” he said.

- How? - the ruler was amazed.

“Seeing my old age and weakness, you took pity on me and volunteered to help,” said the hermit. “While you were digging the garden bed, I was the most important person for you, and helping me was the most important thing for you.” A wounded man appeared - his need was more acute than mine. And he became the most important person for you, and helping him became the most important thing. It turns out that the most important person is the one who needs your help. And the most important thing is the good you do to him.

“Now I can answer my third question: which day in a person’s life is more important than the rest,” said the ruler. — The most important day is today.

Most valuable

One person in childhood was very friendly with an old neighbor.

But time passed, school and hobbies appeared, then work and personal life. The young man was busy every minute, and he had no time to remember the past, or even to be with his loved ones.

One day he found out that his neighbor had died, and suddenly remembered: the old man taught him a lot, trying to replace the boy’s dead father. Feeling guilty, he came to the funeral.

In the evening, after the burial, the man entered the empty house of the deceased. Everything was the same as many years ago...

But the small golden box, in which, according to the old man, the most valuable thing for him was kept, disappeared from the table. Thinking that one of her few relatives had taken her, the man left the house.

However, two weeks later he received the package. Seeing his neighbor's name on it, the man shuddered and opened the parcel.

Inside was the same golden box. It contained a gold pocket watch with an engraving: “Thank you for the time you spent with me.”

And he realized that the most valuable thing for the old man was the time spent with his little friend.

Since then, the man tried to devote as much time as possible to his wife and son.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths. It is measured by the number of moments that make us hold our breath.

Time is running away from us every second. And it needs to be spent usefully right now.

Life as it is

I will tell you a parable: in ancient times, a grief-stricken woman who had lost her son came to Gautama Buddha. And she began to pray to the Almighty to return her child to her. And Buddha ordered the woman to return to the village and collect a mustard seed from each family in which at least one member would not be burned on the funeral pyre. And having walked around her village and many others, the poor thing did not find a single such family. And the woman realized that death is a natural and inevitable outcome for all living. And the woman accepted her life as it is, with its inevitable departure into oblivion, with the eternal cycle of lives.

Butterflies and fire

Three butterflies, flying up to a burning candle, began to talk about the nature of fire. One, flying up to the flame, returned and said:

- The fire is shining.

Another flew closer and scorched the wing. Arriving back, she said:

- It burns!

The third, flying very close, disappeared in the fire and did not return. She found out what she wanted to know, but she could no longer tell the rest about it.

The one who has received knowledge is deprived of the opportunity to talk about it, so the one who knows is silent, and the one who speaks does not know.

Understand fate

Zhuang Tzu's wife died, and Hui Tzu came to mourn her. Chuang Tzu squatted and sang songs while hitting the pelvis. Hui Tzu said:

“Not mourning the deceased who lived with you until old age and raised your children is too much.” But singing songs while hitting the pelvis is simply no good!

“You are wrong,” replied Chuang Tzu. “When she died, could I not be sad at first?” As I grieved, I began to think about what she was like in the beginning, before she was born. And not only was she not born, but she was not yet a body. And not only was she not a body, she was not even a breath. I realized that she was scattered in the emptiness of boundless chaos.

Chaos turned - and she became breathing. The breath turned and she became the body. The body transformed and she was born. Now a new transformation has come - and she died. All this changed each other, just as the four seasons alternate. Man is buried in an abyss of transformations, as if in the chambers of a huge house.

Money doesn't buy happiness

The student asked the Master:

— How true are the words that money does not buy happiness?

He replied that they were completely correct. And it's easy to prove.

For money can buy a bed, but not sleep; food, but no appetite; medicines, but not health; servants, but not friends; women, but not love; home, but not home; entertainment, but not joy; education, but not intelligence.

And what is named does not exhaust the list.

Go ahead!

Once upon a time there lived a woodcutter who was in very distress. He lived on the insignificant sums of money earned from firewood, which he brought to the city on his own from the nearby forest.

One day a sannyasin passing along the road saw him at work and advised him to go further into the forest, saying:

- Go ahead, go ahead!

The woodcutter listened to the advice, went into the forest and walked forward until he reached a sandalwood tree. He was very pleased with this find, cut down the tree and, taking with him as many pieces of it as he could carry, sold them at the market for good price. Then he began to wonder why the good sannyasin did not tell him that there was a sandalwood tree in the forest, but simply advised him to go forward.

The next day, having reached the felled tree, he went further and found copper deposits. He took with him as much copper as he could carry and, selling it at the market, earned even more money.

The next day he found gold, then diamonds, and finally acquired enormous wealth.

This is exactly the situation of a person who strives for true knowledge: if he does not stop in his progress after achieving some paranormal powers, he will eventually find the wealth of eternal Knowledge and Truth.

Two snowflakes

It was snowing. The weather was calm, and large fluffy snowflakes slowly circled in a bizarre dance, slowly approaching the ground.

Two snowflakes flying nearby decided to start a conversation. Afraid of losing each other, they held hands, and one of them cheerfully said:

- How good it is to fly, enjoy the flight!

“We don’t fly, we just fall,” the second answered sadly.

“Soon we will meet the earth and turn into a white fluffy blanket!”

- No, we are flying towards death, and on the ground we will simply be trampled.

“We will become streams and rush to the sea.” We will live forever! - said the first one.

“No, we will melt and disappear forever,” the second objected to her.

Finally they got tired of arguing. They unclenched their hands, and each flew towards the fate that she herself had chosen.

Great good

A rich man asked a Zen master to write something good and encouraging, something that would bring great benefit to his entire family. “It must be something that each member of our family thinks about in relation to others,” said the rich man.

He gave a large piece of snow-white expensive paper, on which the master wrote: “The father will die, the son will die, the grandson will die. And all in one day."

The rich man was furious when he read what the master wrote to him: “I asked you to write something good for my family, so that it would bring joy and prosperity to my family. Why did you write something that upsets me?”

“If your son dies before you,” the master answered, “it will be an irreparable loss for your entire family. If your grandson dies before your son dies, it will be a great grief for everyone. But if your entire family, generation after generation, dies on the same day, it will be a real gift of fate. This will be a great happiness and benefit for your entire family.”

Heaven and Hell

Once upon a time there lived one man. AND most of He spent his life trying to figure out the difference between hell and heaven. He thought about this topic day and night.

And then one day he had an unusual dream. He went to hell. And he sees people there sitting in front of pots of food. And everyone has a large spoon with a very long handle in their hand. But these people look hungry, thin and exhausted. They can scoop from the cauldron, but they won’t get into your mouth. And they swear, fight, hit each other with spoons.

Suddenly another person runs up to him and shouts:

- Hey, let's go faster, I'll show you the road leading to heaven.

They arrived in paradise. And they see people there sitting in front of pots of food. And everyone has a large spoon with a very long handle in their hand. But they look well-fed, satisfied and happy. When we looked closely, we saw that they were feeding each other. Man should go to man with goodness - this is heaven.

The secret of happiness

One merchant sent his son to seek the secret of happiness from the wisest of all people. The young man walked through the desert for forty days and finally came to a beautiful castle that stood on the top of a mountain. There lived the sage whom he was looking for.

However, instead of the expected meeting with the holy man, our hero entered a hall where everything was seething: merchants came and went, people chatted in the corner, a small orchestra played sweet melodies and there was a table laden with the most exquisite dishes of the area. The sage talked with different people, and the young man had to wait about two hours for his turn.

The sage listened carefully to the young man's explanations about the purpose of his visit, but said in response that he did not have time to reveal to him the secret of happiness. And he invited him to take a walk around the palace and come again in two hours.

“However, I want to ask one favor,” the sage added, handing the young man a small spoon into which he dropped two drops of oil:

— While walking, hold this spoon in your hand so that the oil does not spill out.

The young man began to go up and down the palace stairs, not taking his eyes off the spoon. Two hours later he came to the sage again.

- Well, how? - he asked. —Have you seen the Persian rugs that are in my dining room? Have you seen the park that the head gardener took ten years to create? Have you noticed the beautiful parchments in my library?

The young man, embarrassed, had to admit that he did not see anything. His only concern was not to spill the drops of oil that the Sage entrusted to him.

“Well, come back and get acquainted with the wonders of my universe,” the Sage told him. - You cannot trust a person if you are unfamiliar with the house in which he lives.

Reassured, the young man took the spoon and again went for a walk around the palace, this time paying attention to all the works of art hanging on the walls and ceilings of the palace. He saw gardens surrounded by mountains, the most delicate flowers, the sophistication with which each piece of art was placed exactly where it was needed. Returning to the sage, he described in detail everything he saw.

- Where are the two drops of oil that I entrusted to you? - asked the sage.

And the young man, looking at the spoon, discovered that the oil had spilled out.

“This is the only advice I can give you: the secret of happiness is to look at all the wonders of the world, never forgetting about two drops of oil in a spoon.”

Sermon

One day the mullah decided to appeal to the believers. But one young groom came to listen to him. The mullah thought to himself, “Should I speak or not?” And he decided to ask the groom:

- There is no one here except you, what do you think, should I speak or not?

The groom replied:

“Sir, I’m a simple person, I don’t understand anything about this.” But when I come to the stable and see that all the horses have run away and only one remains, I will still give her something to eat.

The mullah, taking these words to heart, began his sermon. He spoke for more than two hours, and when he finished, he felt relieved. He wanted to hear confirmation of how good his speech was. He asked:

— How did you like my sermon?

“I’ve already said that I’m a simple person and I don’t really understand all this. But if I come to the stable and see that all the horses have run away and only one remains, I will still feed her. But I won't give her all the feed that is meant for all horses.

A parable about positive thinking

An old Chinese teacher once said to his student:

- Please take a good look around this room and try to note everything in it that has brown.

The young man looked around. There were many brown objects in the room: wooden picture frames, a sofa, a curtain rod, desks, book bindings and many other small things.

- Now close your eyes and list all the items... blue color, asked the teacher.

The young man was confused:

- But I didn’t notice anything!

Then the teacher said:

- Open your eyes. Just look at how many blue things there are here.

It was true: the blue vase, the blue photo frames, the blue carpet, the old teacher's blue shirt.

And the teacher said:

- Look at all these missing items!

The student replied:

- But this is a trick! After all, at your direction, I was looking for brown, not blue objects.

The teacher sighed quietly and then smiled: “That’s exactly what I wanted to show you.” You searched and found only brown. The same thing happens to you in life. You search and find only the bad and miss the good.

I was always taught that you should expect the worst and then you will never be disappointed. And if the worst does not happen, then a pleasant surprise awaits me. And if I always hope for the best, then I will only expose myself to the risk of disappointment.

We should not lose sight of all the good things that happen in our lives. If you expect the worst, you will definitely get it. And vice versa.

It is possible to find a point of view from which each experience will have positive value. From now on, you will look for something positive in everything and everyone.

How to achieve the goal?

A great master of archery named Drona taught his students. He hung a target on a tree and asked each of the students what he saw.

One said:

— I see a tree and a target on it.

Another said:

- I see a tree, the rising sun, birds in the sky...

Everyone else answered about the same.

Then Drona approached his best disciple Arjuna and asked:

- What do you see?

He replied:

“I can’t see anything but the target.”

And Drona said:

“Only such a person can hit the target.”

Treasures

IN ancient india There lived a poor man whose name was Ali Hafed.

One day a Buddhist priest came to him and told him how the world was created: “Once upon a time the earth was a complete fog. And then the Almighty stretched out his fingers to the fog, and it turned into a ball of fire. And this ball rushed around the universe until rain fell on the ground and cooled its surface. Then the fire, breaking the earth's surface, burst out. This is how mountains and valleys, hills and prairies arose.

When the molten mass flowing down the surface of the earth cooled quickly, it turned into granite. If it cooled slowly, it became copper, silver or gold. And after gold, diamonds were created.”

“A diamond,” said the sage Ali Hafed, “is a frozen drop of sunlight.” “If you had a diamond the size of your thumb,” the priest continued, “you could buy the entire neighborhood.” But if you owned diamond deposits, you could put all your children on the throne, all thanks to your enormous wealth.

Ali Hafed learned everything there was to know about diamonds that evening. But he went to bed, as always, a poor man. He lost nothing, but he was poor because he was not satisfied, and he was not satisfied because he was afraid of being poor.

Ali Hafed did not sleep a wink all night. He thought only about diamond deposits.

Early in the morning he woke up the old Buddhist priest and began to beg him to tell him where to find the diamonds. The priest did not agree at first. But Ali Hafed was so insistent that the old man finally said:

- OK then. You must find the river that flows in the white sands among high mountains. There, in these white sands, you will find diamonds.

And then Ali Hafed sold his farm, left his family with a neighbor and went to look for diamonds. He walked further and further, but could not find the treasure. In complete despair, he committed suicide by throwing himself into the sea.

One day, the man who bought Ali Hafed's farm decided to water the camel in the garden. And when the camel poked its nose into the stream, this man suddenly noticed a strange sparkle coming from the white sand from the bottom of the stream. He put his hands into the water and pulled out the stone from which this fiery glow emanated. He brought this unusual stone home and put it on the shelf.

One day the same old Buddhist priest came to visit the new owner. Opening the door, he immediately saw a glow above the fireplace. He rushed towards him and exclaimed:

- It's a diamond! Ali Hafed is back?

“No,” answered Ali Hafed’s successor. — Ali Hafed did not return. And this is a simple stone that I found in my stream.

- You're wrong! - exclaimed the priest. “I recognize a diamond from a thousand other precious stones.” I swear to all that is holy, it's a diamond!

And then they went into the garden and dug up all the white sand in the stream. And in it they found gems, even more amazing and more valuable than the first. The most valuable things are always nearby.
*

A parable is one of the most ancient types of edifying stories. Instructive allegories allow you to briefly and succinctly give any moral statement, without resorting to direct persuasion. That is why parables about life with morality - short and allegorical - have at all times been a very popular educational tool, touching on the most different problems human existence.

Parables about good and evil

The ability to distinguish between good and evil distinguishes a person from an animal. It is not surprising that the folklore of all nations contains many parables on this topic. They tried to give their own definitions of good and evil, explore their interaction and explain the nature of human dualism in the Ancient East, and in Africa, and in Europe, and in both Americas. A large corpus of parables on this topic shows that, despite the difference in cultures and traditions, the idea of ​​these fundamental concepts among different nations general .

Two wolves

Once upon a time, an old Indian revealed to his grandson one vital truth:
– There is a struggle in every person, very similar to the struggle of two wolves. One wolf represents evil - envy, jealousy, regret, selfishness, ambition, lies... The other wolf represents good - peace, love, hope, truth, kindness, loyalty...
The little Indian, touched to the depths of his soul by his grandfather’s words, thought for a few moments, and then asked:
– Which wolf wins in the end?
The old Indian smiled faintly and replied:
– The wolf you feed always wins.

Know it and don't do it

The young man came to the sage with a request to accept him as a student.
– Can you lie? - asked the sage.
- Of course not!
- What about stealing?
- No.
- What about killing?
- No…
“Then go and find out all this,” exclaimed the sage, “but once you know, don’t do it!”

Black dot

One day the sage gathered his students and showed them an ordinary piece of paper on which he drew a small black dot. He asked them:
-What do you see?
Everyone answered in unison that it was a black dot. The answer was not correct. The sage said:
-Don’t you see this one? white sheet paper - it is so huge, bigger than this black dot! This is how it is in life - the first thing we see in people is something bad, although there is much more good. And only a few see the “white sheet of paper” right away.

Parables about happiness

Wherever a person is born, whoever he is, whatever he does, in essence, he does one thing - seeks happiness. This inner search continues from birth to death, even if it is not always realized. And on this path a person faces a lot of questions. What is happiness? Is it possible to be happy without having anything? Is it possible to get happiness ready-made or do you need to create it yourself?
The idea of ​​happiness is as individual as DNA or fingerprints. For some people and the whole world is not enough to feel at least satisfied. For others, a little is enough - a ray of sunshine, a friendly smile. It seems that there can be no agreement between people regarding this ethical category. And yet, in different parables about happiness, common ground is found.

A piece of clay

God molded man from clay. He sculpted an earth, a house, animals and birds for man. And he was left with an unused piece of clay.
- What else should you make? - God asked.
“Make me happy,” the man asked.
God didn’t answer, thought for a moment and put the remaining piece of clay in the man’s palm.

Money doesn't buy happiness

The student asked the Master:
– How true are the words that money does not buy happiness?
The master replied that they were completely correct.
- It's easy to prove. For money can buy a bed, but not sleep; food - but not appetite; medicines - but not health; servants - but not friends; women - but not love; home - but not home; entertainment - but not joy; teachers - but not the mind. And what is named does not exhaust the list.

Khoja Nasreddin and the traveler

One day Nasreddin met a gloomy man wandering along the road to the city.
- What's wrong with you? – Khoja Nasreddin asked the traveler.
The man showed him a tattered travel bag and said plaintively:
- Oh, I'm unhappy! Everything I own is endless huge world, will barely fill this pathetic, worthless bag!
“Your affairs are bad,” Nasreddin sympathized, snatched the bag from the traveler’s hands and ran away.
And the traveler continued on his way, shedding tears. Meanwhile, Nasreddin ran ahead and placed the bag right in the middle of the road. The traveler saw his bag lying on the way, laughed with joy and cried out:
- Oh, what happiness! And I thought I had lost everything!
“It’s easy to make a person happy by teaching him to appreciate what he has,” thought Khoja Nasreddin, watching the traveler from the bushes.

Wise parables about morality

The words “morality” and “morality” in Russian have different shades. Morality is rather a social attitude. Morality is internal, personal. Nevertheless, basic principles morality and morality largely coincide.
Wise parables easily, but not superficially, touch upon these basic principles: the attitude of man to man, dignity and baseness, attitude towards the Motherland. Issues of the relationship between man and society are often embodied in parable form.

Bucket of apples

The man bought it for himself new home– large, beautiful – and a garden with fruit trees near the house. And nearby, in an old house, there lived an envious neighbor who constantly tried to ruin his mood: either he would throw garbage under the gate, or he would do some other nasty things.
One day a man woke up in good mood, went out onto the porch, and there was a bucket of slop. The man took a bucket, poured out the slop, cleaned the bucket until it shined, collected the largest, ripest and most delicious apples into it and went to his neighbor. The neighbor opens the door in the hope of a scandal, and the man handed him a bucket of apples and said:
- He who is rich in what, shares it!

Low and worthy

One padishah sent the sage three identical bronze figurines and ordered him to convey:
“Let him decide which of the three people whose statues we are sending is worthy, who is so-so and who is low.”
No one could find any difference between the three figurines. But the sage noticed holes in his ears. He took a thin flexible stick and stuck it into the ear of the first figurine. The stick came out through the mouth. The second figurine's wand came out through the other ear. The third figurine has a wand stuck somewhere inside.
“A person who divulges everything he hears is certainly low,” the sage reasoned. - Anyone whose secret goes in one ear and comes out through the other is a so-so person. The truly noble one is the one who keeps all secrets within himself.
This is what the sage decided and made corresponding inscriptions on all the figurines.

Change your voice

The dove saw an owl in the grove and asked:
-Where are you from, owl?
– I lived in the east, and now I’m flying to the west.
So the owl answered and began to hoot and laugh angrily. The dove asked again:
- Why did you leave? home and fly to foreign lands?
- Because in the east they don’t like me because I have a nasty voice.
“It was in vain that you left your native land,” said the dove. “You don’t need to change the land, but your voice.” In the West, just like in the East, they do not tolerate evil hooting.

About parents

The attitude towards parents is a moral task that was solved long ago by humanity. Biblical legends about Ham, gospel commandments, numerous proverbs, and fairy tales fully reflect people’s ideas about the relationship between fathers and children. And yet, there are so many contradictions between parents and children that to modern man From time to time it is useful to remind about this.
The constant relevance of the topic “Parents and Children” gives rise to more and more new parables. Modern authors, following in the footsteps of their predecessors, find new words and metaphors to again touch on this issue.

Feeder

Once upon a time there lived an old man. His eyes were blinded, his hearing was dull, and his knees trembled. He could hardly hold a spoon in his hands, he would spill soup, and sometimes food would fall out of his mouth.
The son and his wife looked at him with disgust and during meals began to sit the old man in a corner behind the stove, and the food was served to him in an old saucer. One day the old man's hands were shaking so much that he could not hold the saucer of food. It fell to the floor and broke. Then the young daughter-in-law began to scold the old man, and the son made a wooden feeder for his father. Now the old man had to eat from it.
One day, when the parents were sitting at the table, their little son entered the room with a piece of wood in his hands.
-What do you want to do? - asked the father.
“A wooden feeder,” answered the baby. – When I grow up, dad and mom will eat from it.

Eagle and eaglet

An old eagle flew over the abyss. He carried his son on his back. The eaglet was still too small and could not make it this way. Flying over the abyss, the chick said:
- Father! Now you carry me across the abyss on your back, and when I become big and strong, I will carry you.
“No, son,” answered the old eagle sadly. - When you grow up, you will carry your son.

suspension bridge

On the way between two high-mountain villages there was a deep gorge. The residents of these villages built a suspension bridge over it. People walked on its wooden planks, and two cables served as railings. People were so used to walking across this bridge that they didn’t have to hold on to these railings, and even children fearlessly ran across the gorge on the planks.
But one day the ropes and railings disappeared somewhere. Early in the morning people approached the bridge, but no one could take a single step on it. While there were cables, it was possible not to hold on to them, but without them the bridge turned out to be impregnable.
This is what happens with our parents. While they are alive, it seems to us that we can do without them, but as soon as we lose them, life immediately begins to seem very difficult.

Everyday parables

Everyday parables are a special category of texts. In a person’s life, every moment a situation of choice arises. What role can seemingly insignificant little things, unnoticed little meanness, stupid provocations, absurd doubts play in fate? Proverbs answer this question clearly: huge.
For a parable, nothing is insignificant or unimportant. She firmly remembers that “the flutter of a butterfly’s wing echoes like thunder in distant worlds.” But the parable does not leave a person alone with the inexorable law of retribution. She always leaves the opportunity for the fallen to rise and continue on their way.

Everything is in your hands

In a Chinese village there lived a sage. People came to him from everywhere with their problems and illnesses, and no one left without receiving help. For this they loved and respected him.
Only one person said: “People! Who do you worship? After all, he is a charlatan and a fraudster!” One day he gathered a crowd around him and said:
– Today I will prove to you that I was right. Let's go to your sage, I will catch a butterfly, and when he comes out onto the porch of his house, I will ask: “Guess what I have in my hand?” He will say: “Butterfly,” because anyway, one of you will let it slip. And then I’ll ask: “Is she alive or dead?” If he says that he is alive, I will squeeze his hand, and if he is dead, then I will release the butterfly to freedom. In any case, your sage will be made a fool!
When they came to the house of the sage, and he came out to meet them, the envious man asked his first question:
“Butterfly,” answered the sage.
- Is she alive or dead?
The old man, smiling into his beard, said:
- Everything is in your hands, man.

Bat

A long time ago, a war broke out between animals and birds. The hardest thing was for the old Bat. After all, she was both an animal and a bird at the same time. And therefore she could not decide for herself who it would be more profitable for her to join. But then she decided to cheat. If the birds prevail over the animals, then she will support the birds. Otherwise, she will quickly go over to the animals. So she did.
But when everyone noticed how she was behaving, they immediately suggested that she not run from one to the other, but choose one side once and for all. Then old Bat said:
- No! I'll stay in the middle.
- Fine! - said both sides.
The battle began and the old Bat, caught in the middle of the battle, was crushed and died.
This is why he who tries to sit between two stools will always find himself on the rotten part of the rope that hangs over the jaws of death.

Fall

One student asked his Sufi mentor:
- Teacher, what would you say if you found out about my fall?
- Get up!
- And next time?
- Get up again!
– And how long can this continue – keep falling and rising?
- Fall and rise while you're alive! After all, those who fell and did not rise are dead.

Orthodox parables about life

Also Academician D.S. Likhachev noted that in Rus' the parable as a genre “grew” from the Bible. The Bible itself is littered with parables. It was this form of teaching the people that Solomon and Christ chose. Therefore, it is not surprising that with the advent of Christianity in Rus', the genre of parables took deep roots in our land.
Popular faith has always been far from formalism and “bookish” complexity. Therefore, the best Orthodox preachers constantly turned to allegory, where they generally transformed the key ideas of Christianity into a fairy-tale form. Sometimes Orthodox parables about life could be concentrated into one phrase-aphorism. In other cases - into a short story.

Humility is a feat

Once a woman came to the Optina hieroschemamonk Anatoly (Zertsalov) and asked him for his blessing on spiritual feat: living alone and fasting, praying and sleeping on bare boards without interference. The elder told her:
– You know, the evil one does not eat, does not drink and does not sleep, but everything lives in the abyss, because he has no humility. Submit in everything to the will of God - that’s your feat; humble yourself before everyone, reproach yourself for everything, bear illness and sorrow with gratitude - this is beyond any feats!

Your cross

One person thought that his life was very difficult. And one day he went to God, told about his misfortunes and asked Him:
– Can I choose a different cross for myself?
God looked at the man with a smile, led him into the storage room where there were crosses, and said:
- Choose.
A man walked around the storehouse for a long time, looking for the smallest and lightest cross, and finally found a small, small, light, light cross, approached God and said:
- Lord, can I take this one?
“It’s possible,” God answered. - This is your own.

About love with morals

Love moves the worlds and human souls. It would be strange if the parables ignored the problems of relationships between men and women. And here the authors of the parables raise a great many questions. What is love? Is it possible to define it? Where does it come from and what destroys it? How to find it?
Parables also touch on narrower aspects. Everyday relations between husband and wife - it would seem that what could be more banal? But here too the parable finds food for thought. After all, it’s only in fairy tales that things end with a wedding crown. And the parable knows: this is just the beginning. And keeping love is no less important than finding it.

All or nothing

One man came to the sage and asked: “What is love?” The sage said: “Nothing.”
The man was very surprised and began to tell him that he had read many books that described how love can be different, sad and happy, eternal and fleeting.
Then the sage replied: “That’s it.”
The man again did not understand anything and asked: “How can I understand you? All or nothing?
The sage smiled and said: “You yourself just answered your own question: nothing or everything. There can be no middle ground!”

Mind and heart

One person argued that the mind on the street of love is blind, and that the main thing in love is the heart. As proof of this, he cited the story of a lover who swam many times across the Tigris River, bravely fighting the current, to see his beloved.
But one day he suddenly noticed a spot on her face. After this, while swimming across the Tigris, he thought: “My beloved is imperfect.” And at that very moment the love that held him on the waves weakened, in the middle of the river his strength left him, and he drowned.

Repair, don't throw away

An elderly couple who had lived together for over 50 years was asked:
- Probably, you have never had a fight in half a century?
“We were arguing,” the husband and wife answered.
– Maybe you never had any need, you had ideal relatives and a full house?
- No, everything is like everyone else.
– But you never wanted to separate?
– There were such thoughts.
– How did you manage to live together for so long?
– Apparently, we were born and raised in a time when it was customary to fix broken things and not throw them away.

Don't demand

The teacher learned that one of his students was persistently seeking someone's love.
“Don’t demand love, so you won’t get it,” said the teacher.
- But why?
- Tell me, what do you do when uninvited guests break into your door, when they knock, scream, demanding to open it, and tear out their hair from the fact that it is not opened for them?
“I lock it tighter.”
– Don’t break into the doors of other people’s hearts, as they will close even more tightly before you. Become a welcome guest and any heart will open to you. Take the example of a flower that does not chase bees, but by giving them nectar, attracts them to itself.

Short parables about insult

The outside world is a harsh environment that constantly pits people against each other, striking sparks. A situation of conflict, humiliation, or insult can unsettle a person for a long time. The parable comes to the rescue here too, playing a psychotherapeutic role.
How to react to an insult? Give vent to anger and respond to the insolent? What to choose – the Old Testament “an eye for an eye” or the Gospel “turn the other cheek”? It is curious that of the entire corpus of parables about insults, the Buddhist ones are the most popular today. The pre-Christian, but not Old Testament, approach seems most acceptable to our contemporaries.

Go your own way

One of the disciples asked Buddha:
– If someone insults or hits me, what should I do?
– If a dry branch falls from a tree and hits you, what will you do? – he asked in response:
– What will I do? “It’s a simple accident, a simple coincidence that I found myself under a tree when a branch fell from it,” said the student.
Then the Buddha remarked:
- So do the same. Someone was mad, angry and hit you. It's like a branch falling from a tree on your head. Don’t let this bother you, go on your way as if nothing happened.

Take it for yourself

One day, several people began to viciously insult Buddha. He listened silently, very calmly. And that's why they felt uneasy. One of these people addressed the Buddha:
– Don’t our words hurt you?!
“It’s up to you to decide whether to insult me ​​or not,” replied the Buddha. – And mine is to accept your insults or not. I refuse to accept them. You can take them for yourself.

Socrates and the insolent

When some impudent person kicked Socrates, he endured it without saying a word. And when someone expressed surprise why Socrates ignored such a blatant insult, the philosopher remarked:
- If a donkey kicked me, would I really bring him to court?

About the meaning of life

Reflections on the meaning and purpose of existence belong to the category of so-called “damned questions”, and no one has a definite answer. However, deep existential fear - “Why am I living if I’m going to die anyway?” - torments every person. And of course, the genre of parable also touches on this issue.
Every nation has parables about the meaning of life. Most often it is defined as follows: the meaning of life is in life itself, in its endless reproduction and development through subsequent generations. The brevity of everyone's existence individual person viewed philosophically. Perhaps the most allegorical and transparent parable in this category was invented by the American Indians.

Stone and bamboo

They say that one day a stone and a bamboo had a heated argument. Each of them wanted a person's life to be similar to his own.
The stone said:
– A person’s life should be the same as mine. Then he will live forever.
Bamboo replied:
- No, no, a person’s life should be like mine. I die, but am immediately born again.
The stone objected:
- No, it’s better to be different. Let better person will be like me. I do not bow to the wind or the rain. Neither water, nor heat, nor cold can harm me. My life is endless. For me there is no pain, no care. This is how a person's life should be.
Bamboo insisted:
- No. A person's life should be like mine. I die, it is true, but I am reborn in my sons. Isn't that right? Look around me - my sons are everywhere. And they too will have their own sons, and all will have smooth and white skin.
The stone was unable to answer this. Bamboo won the argument. This is why human life is like the life of bamboo.

At the foot of the mountain lies a village in dense greenery. There are meadows around. There was a shepherd in the village. Should we just call him a shepherd? He did not undertake to herd restive cattle. A neighbor will come up to him and become...
... in the mountains, I know all the yayls (summer mountain pastures), and I know the animals well. Allah rewarded them with wool the same as the character of the owner
... milk, and he followed one cow. All this is good, but every cow cannot be his mother! Cruel
... the rest! They rushed as fast as they could, scattering in different directions. And from that day on they call this mountain Mount Witness