A short story about health. Beautiful short parables about life with morality (5 pieces)
Parable "About the incredulous person"
One day, a stupid and distrustful person came to visit a neighbor.
The owner led him into the house and offered soup, but as soon as he took up the spoon, he noticed a small snake in his plate. In order not to offend the owner, he nevertheless ate the soup, but a few days later he became so seriously ill that he had to go to a neighbor. And he, having listened to the complaint, prepared medicine in a small cup, which he then handed over to this complainant.
As he was about to take his first sip, he again noticed a small snake in his cup. But this time he decided not to be silent and said loudly that it was for this reason that he fell ill last time.
Laughing, the owner pointed to the ceiling, where a large bow hung. “In your cup, you don't see a snake, but the reflection of an onion,” he said. “There is no snake.” The incredulous neighbor looked again at his cup and, of course, there was not a snake, but a simple reflection.
He left his neighbor's house without taking his medicine and was well within a day. A person usually sees only what he wants to see.
What do you see in your life?
Parable "About the butterfly"
The main idea: each person is the master of his own destiny.
In ancient times, there lived a wise man, to whom people came for advice. He helped everyone, people trusted him and greatly respected his age, life experience and wisdom. And then one day, one envious person decided to disgrace the sage in the presence of many people.
The envious and sly one came up with a whole plan on how to do this: “I will catch a butterfly and bring it to the sage in my closed palms, then I will ask him what he thinks is the butterfly in my hands alive or dead. If the sage says that I am alive, I will close my palms tightly, crush the butterfly and, opening my hands, I will say that our great sage was mistaken. If the sage says that the butterfly is dead, I will open my hands, the butterfly will fly out alive and unharmed and say that our great sage was mistaken. So did the envious man, caught the butterfly and went to the sage. When he asked the sage what kind of butterfly he had in his hands, the sage replied: "Everything is in your hands."
Parable "The Wisdom of Life"
Once a wise man, standing in front of his students, did the following. He took a large glass vessel and filled it to the brim with large stones. Having done this, he asked the disciples if the vessel was full. All confirmed that it is full.
Then the sage took a box of small pebbles, poured it into a vessel and gently shook it several times. Pebbles rolled into the gaps between large stones and filled them. After that, he again asked the disciples if the vessel was now full. They again confirmed - the fact is complete.
Finally, the sage took a box of sand from the table and poured it into a vessel. The sand, of course, filled the last gaps in the vessel.
“Now,” the sage addressed his disciples, “I would like you to be able to recognize your life in this vessel! Large stones represent important things in life: your family, your loved one, your health, your children - those things that, even without everything else, can still fill your life. Small stones represent less important things, such as your job, your apartment, your house, or your car. Sand symbolizes life's little things, everyday fuss. If you first fill your vessel with sand, then there will be no room for larger stones.
Parable "Priceless gift"
Once a wise old man came to a village and stayed to live. He loved children and spent a lot of time with them. He also liked to give them gifts, but he gave only fragile things. No matter how hard the children tried to be neat, their new toys often broke. The children were upset and wept bitterly. Some time passed, the sage again gave them toys, but even more fragile ones.
One day, the parents could not stand it and came to him:
“You are wise and wish only the best for our children. But why do you give them such gifts?
They try their best, but the toys still break and the children cry.
But the toys are so beautiful that it is impossible not to play with them.
“Very few years will pass,” the old man smiled, “and someone will give them his heart.
Maybe this will teach them to handle this priceless gift a little more carefully?
Parable "The sage about the filters of perception"
An old and very wise man said to his friend: “Look at the room we are in better and try to remember things Brown". There was a lot of brown stuff in the room, and the friend got the job done quickly.
But the sage asked him next question: "Close your eyes and list all the things ... of blue color!" The friend was confused and indignant: “I didn’t notice anything blue, because I remembered only brown things at your instruction!”
To which the wise man replied: "Open your eyes, look around - there are a lot of blue things in the room." And it was absolutely true.
Then the sage continued: “By this example, I wanted to show you the truth of life: if you look for only brown things in the room, and only bad things in life, then you will only see them, notice only them, and only they will be remembered to you. and participate in your life. Remember: if you are looking for something bad, then you will definitely find it and you will never notice anything good. Therefore, if you wait all your life and mentally prepare for the worst, then it will definitely happen to you, you will never be disappointed in your fears and fears, but you will find new and new confirmations of them. But if you hope and prepare for the best, then you will not attract bad things into your life, but you simply risk being disappointed sometimes - life is impossible without disappointments. Expecting the worst, you miss out on all the good that is actually in it. If you expect bad, then you get it. And vice versa. You can acquire such fortitude, thanks to which any stressful, critical situation in life will have positive aspects.
People notice only what corresponds to their thinking, passing through the filters of perception, like through a sieve, the information around them.
Do you notice the good around you in life and in people?
Parable "Ingenuity of a smart person"
In order to test the mind and observation of the sultan of the neighboring kingdom, and at the same time the ingenuity of his people, one padishah in ancient times sent three golden figures to his neighbor. These figures looked exactly the same and had the same weight. But all of them, according to the one who sent them, differed from each other in their value. The Sultan was asked to determine which of the figures was the most valuable. Together with his courtiers, he carefully examined the figures, but could not detect the slightest difference. Even the wisest men of his state were ready to give their heads for cutting off, that there is no difference between the figures. The king fell into despair. What a disgrace! It turned out that he rules his country, where there is not a single savvy subject who could tell the difference between the figures. The whole state took part in solving the riddle, and everyone tried their best.
When it seemed that hope was already lost, a young man languishing in prison undertook to discover the difference between the figures, if only he would be allowed to examine them. The Sultan ordered to bring young man to the palace and ordered to show him three golden figures. The young man examined them very carefully and finally established that each of the figures had a small hole in the ear. Then, to check, he slipped a thin silver wire into it. It turned out that the first figure had a silver wire come out of its mouth, the second one - from the other ear, and the third one came from the navel. After thinking for a while, the young man turned to the Sultan.
“Oh, great one,” he said, “I think that the solution to the riddle lies before us like an open book. It remains only to read what is written there. Please note: just as no person is like the others, so each of these figures is one of a kind. The first figure is reminiscent of those people who, having barely heard some news to the end, rush to tell others about what they have heard. The second figure is similar to people about whom they say: "It flies in one ear, flies out the other." The third figure is in many ways similar to those who remember what they heard and try to let it through their own hearts. Mister! Now judge which figure is the most valuable. Whom would you choose and make your entourage? The one who blurts everything out, the one for whom your words are like the wind, or the one who can be completely trusted, because he will keep your words in the recesses of his soul? »
And how smart are you and how do you know how to pass different knowledge through your heart in order to turn your failures into success?
Parable "Golden Windows"
The boy sat on the threshold of his house on the hill and looked enviously at the beautiful building below in the valley. It was lit by the rays of the midday sun, and the windows shone with golden light. The house looked like a fairytale castle.
The boy sadly thought that he lives in a poor unprepossessing house, and, perhaps, the same as him, the boy walks through the rooms of that wonderful castle.
One day the boy decided to go down to the valley and take a closer look at the wonderful house, admire it. He did just that.
And what did he see at the hour when the sun's rays did not illuminate the building? He discovered that the fairy-tale castle, which had so delighted him, was the most ordinary house, which was no better than his own.
Here the boy involuntarily shifted his gaze to the top of the hill, to his house. The sun was setting, and its rays brightly illuminated the glass of the windows, which now sparkled with gold. This is what his habitual dwelling looked like from the lowlands. But the house in which I live is also beautiful, ”the boy thought, climbing the path to the top of the hill.
Look at the windows of your house as the sun shines on them!
The Parable of the Ten Fools
Once ten fools were fording a river, reaching the other side, they decided to make sure that they all crossed it. One of them began to count, but while counting the others, he missed himself. "I see nine - we lost one. Who could it be?" he said. "Did you count correctly" - asked the other and began to count himself. But he also counted only nine. One by one, each one counted nine, missing himself. "There are only nine of us! But who is missing?" All efforts to find the "missing" were unsuccessful. "Whoever he was, he drowned! We lost him!" - said the most sentimental of them. Saying this, he burst into tears, and the other nine followed suit.
seeing crying people on the bank of the river, a sympathetic traveler asked what was the cause of their grief. They explained what happened to him and was told that even after repeated checks, they could not count more than nine people. Hearing their story, but seeing all ten in front of him, the traveler realized what was the matter. And in order for the fools to understand that there were really ten of them who got safely ashore, he said to them: "Let each of you call his number in sequence: one, two, three, etc., while I will strike him, so that you make sure that you are included in the bill and, moreover, only once. Then there will be a "missing" tenth." Hearing this, the fools rejoiced at the prospect of finding their "lost" comrade and accepted the method suggested by the traveler.
While the good traveler dealt blows to each of the ten in turn, the one who received the blow counted himself loudly. "Ten" - said the last, after receiving the last blow in turn. They looked at each other in confusion. “There are ten of us,” they said in one voice and thanked the traveler for getting rid of grief.
How often do we not see the hidden behind the obvious, and how often the obvious itself?
Parable "Whisper"
Once a young man was driving a shiny new Jaguar in a great mood, singing some tune. Suddenly he saw children sitting by the road. As he carefully drove around them and was about to pick up speed again, he suddenly heard a stone hit the car. The young man stopped the car, got out of it and, grabbing one of the boys by the scruff of the neck, began to shake him, shouting:
- The bastard! Why the hell did you throw a stone at my car! Do you know how much this car costs?!
“Forgive me,” the boy replied. “It was not my intention to harm you or your machine. The fact is that my brother is disabled, he fell out of the wheelchair, but I cannot lift him, he is too heavy for me. For several hours we have been asking for help, but not a single car has stopped. I had no choice but to throw the stone, otherwise you wouldn't have stopped either.
The young man helped the boy to seat the disabled man in a chair, trying to hold back tears and suppress a lump in his throat. Then he went to his car and saw a dent in the brand new shiny door left from the stone.
He drove this car for many years and every time he said “no” to the mechanics who offered to fix the dent, because she constantly reminded him: if you ignore the whisper, a stone will fly at you.
Parable "Enjoy your coffee!"
A group of successful alumni who have made remarkable careers came to visit their old professor. Of course, soon the conversation turned to work - graduates complained about numerous difficulties and life problems. Having offered coffee to the guests and having received consent, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a coffee pot and a tray laden with a variety of cups - both simple, and expensive, and exquisite: plastic, glass, porcelain, crystal.
When the graduates took apart the cups, the professor said:
Have you noticed that all the expensive cups have been taken apart? Nobody chose a cup simple and cheap. The desire to have only the best is the source of your problems. Realize that the cup itself does not make coffee taste better, and sometimes even hides what we are drinking. What you really wanted was coffee, not a cup. But you deliberately chose expensive cups, and then looked at who got what. Now think: life is coffee. And work, money, position in society are just cups. They are just tools for storing Life. What cup we have does not determine or change the quality of our Life. Sometimes, concentrating only on the cup, we forget to enjoy the taste of the coffee itself. Enjoy your coffee!
Fairy tale "Petina's greed"
In a small town on the most ordinary street, in the very ordinary house Once upon a time there was a boy named Petya. Petya recently turned 8 years old, and he felt very grown up. His parents gave him a beautiful new soccer ball for his birthday. Petya valued this ball very much. When I walked on the street, I did not let him out of my hands and did not let any of the guys play.
Once, when Petya was left at home alone, he heard some rustling in the closet. The boy was frightened, but curiosity got the better of him, he decided to open the door and look inside. There, in the darkness, sat a small round man.
Hello Petya.
Hello. And who are you?
I? I am a little wizard. Petya, you are very good boy so I can give you whatever you want. Do you want some candy?
I want, - Petya was delighted.
Okay, but I have one condition.
You must eat candy alone and not share with anyone.
Okay, - said Petya, - it's easy, I can do it.
And the little man gave him a big package of sweets.
The boy thought: “How wonderful that I now have my own little wizard! It’s great that you don’t have to share with anyone, as mom and dad and grandmother constantly taught.
Petya went outside. The sun shone brightly. The guys immediately ran up and, seeing a large package of sweets in the boy's hands, began to wait for him to treat them. But Petya pressed the sweets to himself, went to the bench and ate it all alone.
Several days have passed. One evening, Petya again heard a rustle in the closet, this time it was louder. The boy opened the door without fear and saw the same round little man, only he became larger. The little man smiled.
Hello Petya! How wonderful of you to visit me. I have a surprise for you.” The little wizard took out a new cellular telephone. "Here," he handed it to the boy.
Here it is yes-ah-ah-ah-ah! Petya exclaimed. His parents had not yet allowed him to have a telephone, but he really wanted to.
Now it's yours, - said the little man. But remember our agreement!
Yes Yes! Certainly! I won't give it to anyone," the boy said quickly.
Petya was happy. He went out into the street, beaming with pleasure, he wanted to brag, but the guys did not come up to him. The boys already knew that Petya would not share anything with them, among themselves they called him a greedy man. All evening Petya sat alone on the bench, admiring his new acquisition.
The next day he looked into the closet again. Opening the door, the boy screamed in surprise. The little wizard had grown overnight and was already as tall as Petya.
Hello dear Petya. Do you like my gifts?
Certainly! But what is happening to you, why are you growing?
Because you help me, thank you for that. And today I have prepared a special gift for you - a bicycle. It's yours, take it.
Petya's joy knew no bounds!
And don't give it to anyone? he asked.
Petya took the bike and went for a walk, imagining how his friends would stare at him with envy. Going out into the street, I saw that all the children were playing in the neighboring yard. Petya rode up to them on a brand new shiny bicycle, but no one paid attention to the boy. "So be it," thought Petya. He rode around the yard for almost an hour, and when he got tired, he went home a little upset. I'd rather talk to my new closet friend, he decided.
When he returned, he found that the door to the closet was ajar. Looking in, Petya recoiled in horror. The little wizard was no longer small, he could barely fit in the closet. It seemed that if he started to move, the walls of the room would collapse.
You have become so big!
Yes, and it's all thanks to you! In the closet it became crowded for me, and now I will live in your room.
But this is my room! And only mine!
Of course, of course, I understand. But I'll give you whatever you want.
Petya thought. A couple more days and the little man will destroy the house. What will happen then? “So be it, I will not be greedy and give him my room,” the boy decided.
Okay, live with me.
After these words, right before our eyes, the wizard began to decrease. Suddenly it dawned on Petya who this little man really was. It was greed! Yes, yes, his greed, Petina! How did he not understand this before? The boy immediately took the bike and went outside. Seeing a neighbor's girl, he offered her a ride, and at that time he ran home. To great joy, greed has decreased. Then Petya understood what to do next. He grabbed the soccer ball and ran outside again. Boys were playing on the sports ground, and Petya went to them. Together they played until the evening. Petya came home happy and tired. When he opened the closet, he saw no one there. The greed is gone!
Parable "Out of difficulties"
Once a donkey fell into a well of a peasant. A peasant came running to the cry of a donkey and threw up his hands: “How can I get him out?” I thought that it was impossible to pull it out and decided: “The donkey is already old anyway, he has not long to live, he was still going to get a young donkey. Yes, and the well was almost dry, anyway I was going to bury it and dig a new well in another place - so be it - and I will bury the donkey so that the smell of decomposition is not heard. He began to throw earth into the well. The donkey, realized that he would die and began to utter a terrible cry, but then subsided. After several throws of land, the peasant decided to see what was happening down there. He was very surprised to see how the donkey was behaving. Every piece of earth that fell on his back was shaken off and crushed by the donkey. Very soon the donkey appeared upstairs and jumped out of the well!
Challenges in our lives are learning situations that help us become stronger.
Reading interesting books is good for human health
Long-term observations have shown that if a person, for example, reads some articles about natural landscapes, smells, sounds, taste sensations, at that very moment he activates the same parts of the brain as when he actually comes into contact with the described phenomena.
However, experts noted that the brain does not act in a similar way if a person is watching TV or sitting at a computer monitor.
According to John Stein, who is a professor at the University of Oxford, in the process of reading, a person makes the brain work actively. When a reader dives head first into a book, much more is happening than just reading the text. Fantasizing good deeds that happen to the heroes of the book, a person at the level of thought does the same thing, but with himself.
A parable is one of the most ancient varieties of an edifying story. Instructive allegories make it possible to briefly and succinctly give some kind of moral attitude, without resorting to direct persuasion. That is why parables about life with morals - short and allegorical - have at all times been a very popular educational tool, affecting the most different problems human existence.
The ability to distinguish between good and evil distinguishes a person from an animal. It is not surprising that the folklore of all nations keeps 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 understanding of these fundamental concepts in different peoples general .
two wolves
Once upon a time, an old Indian revealed to his grandson one vital truth:
- In every person there is a struggle, very similar to the struggle of two wolves. One wolf represents evil - envy, jealousy, regret, selfishness, ambition, lies ... The other wolf represents goodness - 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 at the end?
The old Indian smiled almost imperceptibly and replied:
The wolf you feed always wins.
Know and don't
The young man came to the sage with a request to accept him as a student.
- Can you lie? the sage asked.
- Of course not!
- What about stealing?
- Not.
- What about killing?
- Not…
“So go and know all this,” exclaimed the sage, “and having known, do not do it!”
black dot
One day the sage gathered his disciples and showed them an ordinary sheet of paper, where he drew a small black dot. He asked them:
– What do you see?
Everyone answered in chorus that a black dot. The answer was not correct. The sage said:
- Don't you see this one? White list paper - it's so huge, bigger than this black dot! This is how it is in life - we first see something bad in people, although there is much more good. And only a few see a "white sheet of paper" at once.
Parables about happiness
Wherever a person is born, whoever he is, whatever he does, in fact, he does one thing - he is looking for happiness. This inner quest continues from birth to death, even if it is not always conscious. And along the way, a lot of questions lie in wait for a person. What is happiness? Is it possible to be happy without having anything? Is it possible to get happiness ready-made or do you have to create it yourself?
The concept 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 about this ethical category. And yet, in different parables of happiness, points of contact are found.
piece of clay
God molded man from clay. He blinded the earth, the house, animals and birds for man. And he had an unused piece of clay.
- What else to blind you? God asked.
“Blind me happiness,” the man asked.
God did not answer, thought and put the remaining piece of clay in the man's palm.
Money can not buy happiness
The student asked the Master:
- How true are the words that happiness is not in money?
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 mentioned does not exhaust the list.
Khoja Nasreddin and traveler
One day Nasreddin met a gloomy man walking along the road to the city.
- What happened to you? Khoja Nasreddin asked the traveler.
The man showed him a battered travel bag and said plaintively:
- Oh, I'm unhappy! Everything that I own in an infinitely vast world will hardly fill this miserable, worthless bag!
“Your deeds are bad,” Nasreddin sympathized, snatched the bag from the traveler’s hands and ran away.
And the traveler continued on his way, shedding tears. In the meantime, Nasreddin ran ahead and put the sack right in the middle of the road. The traveler saw his bag lying on the way, laughed with joy and exclaimed:
- Oh, what happiness! And I thought I had lost everything!
“It is easy to make a man 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 more of a social attitude. Morality is internal, personal. However, basic principles morality and morality are in many ways the same.
Wise parables easily, but not superficially touch upon precisely these basic principles: the relationship of man to man, dignity and meanness, attitude towards the Motherland. Questions of the relationship between man and society are often embodied in a parable form.
Bucket of apples
The man bought new house- large, beautiful - and a garden with fruit trees near the house. And nearby, in an old house, lived an envious neighbor who constantly tried to spoil his mood: either he would throw garbage under the gate, or he would do some other nasty things.
Once a man woke up in a 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 to a shine, collected in it the largest, ripest and delicious apples and went to a neighbor. The neighbor opens the door in the hope of a scandal, and the man handed him a bucket of apples and said:
- Whoever is rich, he shares it!
low and worthy
One padishah sent three identical bronze figurines to the sage 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 in the ear of the first figurine. The wand 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. “The one whose secret enters in one ear and exits through the other is a so-so person. Truly noble is he who keeps all secrets within himself.
So the sage decided and made the appropriate inscriptions on all the figurines.
change your voice
Dovewing saw an owl in the grove and asked:
Where are you from, owl?
I used to live in the east, and now I'm flying west.
So the owl answered and began to hoot and laugh angrily. The dove asked again:
- Why did you leave your home and fly to foreign lands?
“Because in the East they don’t like me because I have a nasty voice.
- In vain you left your native land, - said the dove. – You need to change not the land, but the voice. In the west, just as in the east, they do not tolerate evil hooting.
About parents
Attitude towards parents is a moral task that has long been solved by mankind. Biblical legends about Hama, Gospel commandments, numerous proverbs, fairy tales fully reflect people's ideas about the relationship between fathers and children. Yet there are so many contradictions between parents and children that modern man It is worth mentioning this from time to time.
The constant relevance of the topic "Parents and children" gives rise to more and more parables. Modern authors, following in the footsteps of their predecessors, find new words and metaphors to touch upon this issue again.
feeder
There lived an old man. His eyes were blind, his hearing dulled, and his knees trembled. He almost could not hold a spoon in his hands, spilled soup, and sometimes food fell out of his mouth.
The son and his wife looked at him with disgust and began to put the old man in a corner behind the stove while eating, 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 a 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.
Once, when the parents were sitting at the table, their little son with a piece of wood in hand.
- What do you want to do? the father asked.
– wooden feeder, the kid replied. - When I grow up, my father and mother will eat from it.
Eagle and eagle
The old eagle flew over the abyss. He carried his son on his back. The eaglet was still too small and could not master this path. Flying over the abyss, the chick said:
- Father! Now you are carrying me across the abyss on your back, and when I become big and strong, I will carry you.
“No, son,” the old eagle answered sadly. “When you grow up, you will carry your son.
Suspension bridge
There was a deep gorge on the way between two high mountain villages. The inhabitants of these villages built a suspension bridge over it. People walked on its wooden boards, and two cables served as a railing. People were so accustomed to walking on this bridge that they could not hold on to this railing, and even children fearlessly ran across the gorge on the planks.
But one day the ropes-railings disappeared somewhere. Early in the morning people approached the bridge, but no one could take a step across it. While the cables were, it was possible not to hold on to them, but without them the bridge turned out to be impregnable.
It's the same with our parents. While they are alive, we think that we can do without them, but as soon as we lose them, life immediately begins to seem very difficult.
Worldly parables
Everyday parables are a special category of texts. In a person's life every moment there is a situation of choice. What role can seemingly insignificant trifles, inconspicuous little meanness, stupid provocations, ridiculous doubts play in fate? Parables answer this question unequivocally: huge.
For a parable, there is nothing insignificant and unimportant. She remembers strongly that "the flutter of a butterfly's wing echoes like thunder in the 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.
All in your hands
A sage lived in a Chinese village. From everywhere people came to him with their problems and illnesses, and no one left without receiving help. For this he was loved and respected.
Only one person said: “People! Who do you worship? After all, this is a charlatan and a swindler! 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'll catch a butterfly, and when he comes out on the porch of his house, I'll ask: "Guess what I have in my hand?" He will say: “Butterfly”, because anyway one of you will let it slip. And then I will ask: “Is it 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 fooled!
When they came to the house of the wise man, and he came out to meet them, the envious man asked his first question:
“Butterfly,” answered the sage.
- Is it alive or dead?
The old man, smiling through his beard, said:
Everything is in your hands, man.
Bat
A long time ago, a war broke out between the beast and the birds. The hardest thing was the old Bat. After all, she was both an animal and a bird at the same time. That is why 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 beasts, then she will support the birds. Otherwise, she will quickly go over to the beasts. And so she did.
But when everyone noticed how she was behaving, they immediately suggested that she not run from one to the other, but once and for all choose one side. Then the old Bat said:
- Not! I will stay in the middle.
- Good! both sides said.
The battle began and the old Bat, caught in the middle of the battle, was crushed and died.
That is why he who tries to sit between two chairs will always end up on the rottenest part of the rope that hangs over the mouth of death.
The fall
One student asked his Sufi teacher:
“Master, what would you say if you knew about my fall?”
- Get up!
– And next time?
- Get up again!
- And how long can it go on - all fall and rise?
- Fall and get up while you're alive! After all, those who fell and did not rise are dead.
Orthodox parables about life
Another academician D.S. Likhachev noted that in Russia the parable as a genre "grew" from the Bible. The Bible itself is littered with parables. It was this form of preaching to the people that Solomon and Christ chose. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that with the advent of Christianity in Russia, the parable genre took root deeply in our land.
Folk 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 fabulous form. Sometimes Orthodox parables about life could be concentrated into one phrase-aphorism. In other cases - in a short story.
Humility is a feat
Once a woman came to Optina hieroschemamonk Anatoly (Zertsalov) and asked him for blessings on spiritual feat: to live alone and without interference to fast, pray and sleep on bare boards. The old man said to her:
- You know, the evil one does not eat, does not drink and does not sleep, but everything lives in the abyss, because he does not have humility. Submit in all the will of God - here is your feat; humble yourself before everyone, reproach yourself for everything, bear illness and sorrow with gratitude - this is beyond all feats!
your cross
One person seemed to have a very hard life. And one day he went to God, told about his misfortunes and asked Him:
– May I choose another cross for myself?
God looked at the man with a smile, led him into the vault, where there were crosses, and said:
- Choose.
A man walked around the store for a long time, looking for the smallest and lightest cross, and finally found a small, small, light, light cross, went up to God and said:
“God, can I have this one?”
“Yes, you can,” God replied. - This is your own.
About love with morality
Love moves the worlds and human souls. It would be strange if the parables ignored the problems of relations between a man and a woman. And here the authors of parables raise a great many questions. What is love? Can you define it? Where does it come from, and what destroys it? How to get it?
Parables also touch upon narrower aspects. Household relations between husband and wife - it would seem, what could be more banal? But here, too, the parable finds food for thought. After all, it is only in fairy tales that the wedding crown ends. And the parable knows: this is just the beginning. And keeping love is as important as finding it.
All or nothing
A man came to a wise man and asked, "What is love?" The wise man said: "Nothing."
The man was very surprised and began to tell him that he had read many books that describe that 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 have 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 evidence of this, he cited the story of a lover who many times swam across the Tigris River, bravely fighting the current to see his beloved.
But one day he suddenly noticed a speck on her face. After that, as he swam across the Tigris, he thought, "My beloved is not perfect." And at the same moment the love that kept 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?
“They fought,” the husband and wife replied.
- Maybe you never had a need, were ideal relatives and the house is a full bowl?
- No, it's like everyone else.
- But you never wanted to disperse?
– There were also such thoughts.
How did you manage to live together for so long?
– Apparently, we were born and raised in those times when it was customary to fix broken things, and not throw them away.
Don't demand
The teacher found out that one of his students was persistently seeking someone's love.
“Don’t ask for love, that way you won’t get it,” the teacher said.
- But why?
Tell me what you do when someone knocks on your door uninvited guests when they knock, shout, demanding to be opened, and tear their hair out because they are not opened to them?
“I lock her tighter.
- Do not break into the doors of other people's hearts, so they will close even more strongly in front of you. Become welcome guest and any heart will open before you. Take an example from 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 pushes people against each other, striking sparks. The situation of conflict, humiliation, insult received can permanently unsettle a person. The parable comes to the rescue here too, playing a psychotherapeutic role.
How to respond to an insult? Give vent to anger and respond to insolent? What to choose - the Old Testament "eye for an eye" or the gospel "turn the other cheek"? It is curious that of the entire corpus of parables about insults, Buddhist parables are the most popular today. The pre-Christian, but not the Old Testament, approach seems to be the most acceptable to our contemporary.
Go your own way
One of the disciples asked the Buddha:
- If someone insults me or hits me, what should I do?
- If a dry branch falls on you from a tree and hits you, what will you do? he asked in response:
- What will i do? It's a mere accident, a mere coincidence, that I was 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 from a tree has fallen on your head. Don't let it bother you, go your own way as if nothing happened.
Take it for yourself
One day, several people began to viciously insult the Buddha. He listened silently, very calmly. And so they became uncomfortable. One of these people addressed the Buddha:
“Are you not offended by our words?!
“It is up to you whether you insult me or not,” said the Buddha. “And it is mine to accept your insults or not. I refuse to accept them. You can take them for yourself.
Socrates and the insolent
When some insolent man kicked Socrates, he endured without saying a word. And when someone expressed surprise why Socrates ignored such a brazen insult, the philosopher remarked:
- If a donkey kicked me, would I really begin to bring him to court?
About the meaning of life
Reflections on the meaning and purpose of being belong to the category of so-called " damn questions", and no one has a clear answer. However, a deep existential fear - "Why am I living if I'm going to die anyway?" - torments every person. And of course, the genre of the parable also concerns 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 the existence of each individual person is considered philosophically. Perhaps the most allegorical and transparent parable of this category was invented by the American Indians.
stone and bamboo
It is said that once stone and bamboo had a strong argument. Each of them wanted a person's life to be similar to his own.
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 immediately I am born again.
Stone objected:
- No, let it be different. Let be better man will be like me. I do not bow down to the wind or to the rain. Neither water nor heat nor cold can harm me. My life is endless. For me there is no pain, no worries. This is how a person's life should be.
Bamboo insisted:
- Not. A person's life should be like mine. I am dying, it is true, but I am reborn in my sons. Isn't it true? Look around me - my sons are everywhere. And they will also have their sons, and all will have smooth and white skin.
The stone failed to answer this. Bamboo won the argument. That is why human life is like the life of bamboo.
