home » Instructions » Parable about happiness for children. Parables about life with morals - short

Parable about happiness for children. Parables about life with morals - short

The wise old Lion lay in the grass and basked in the sun. A small lion cub suddenly rushed past. He jumped, now and then circling around himself.

What are you doing? Lev asked lazily.

I want to catch my tail! - answered the Lion.

But why would you uhthen? Lev chuckled.

I was told that in the tail - my happiness. If I catch myself by the tail, then I will catch my happiness. Therefore, I have been running for the second day after my tail. However, he eludes me all the time.

Yes, - grumbled the wise old King of beasts, - once I, like you, ran after my happiness, but it eluded me all the time. Then I decided to leave this venture. Over time, I realized that it is pointless to chase after happiness, as it always follows me. Wherever you are, your happiness is always with you... You just need to remember this!

Parable "Who creates happiness"

God molded a man out of clay, and he had an unused piece left.

- What else to blind you? God asked.

“Blind me happiness,” the man asked.

God did not answer, and only put the remaining piece of clay in the man's palm.

Parable "The true length of life"

One man was looking for the perfect place. He searched for a long time. And in a distant country he found a place where he felt good. He wandered around the city he liked so much and looked around. But when he wandered into the cemetery, he was horrified. On all tombstones, the dates of death indicated that these people lived for two or three years, accurate to the hours lived. In fear, the man ran out of the city, but on the square he ran into an old man. In horror, the man shouted: - You monsters! Are you killing your children? The old man showed him a book that hung around his neck on a chain, and said: - When our child reaches maturity, we give him such a book. And every moment, every minute or hour of true happiness in our lives, each of us enters into this book. After death, we add up all these moments. And these are the real days of our lives.

Parable about freedom of choice

"Once upon a time there was one Teacher. This strange man remained happy all his life, the smile did not leave his face for a second! His whole life was as if filled with the aroma of a holiday ... And even on his deathbed he continued to laugh merrily. that he is enjoying the coming of death!” His disciples sat around - puzzled, bewildered - and perplexed.

And finally, one of them could not stand it and asked:

- Teacher, why are you laughing? You have been laughing all your life. But we did not dare to ask you how you manage to do it. And now we are completely confused. Dying, you continue to laugh! But what's so funny about that?!

And the old man answered: - Many years ago I came to my Teacher. I was then young and stupid, as you are now. I was only seventeen years old, and I was already a sufferer - exhausted and embittered at life. My Master was then seventy, and he laughed just like that, without any reason. I asked him, "How do you do it?" And he answered: "I am free in my choice. And this is my choice. Every morning, when I open my eyes, I ask myself: what will you choose today - bliss or suffering?" And so it turns out that since then every morning I choose bliss. But it's so natural!"

Angel de Coitet, The Golden Ratio.

Parable "Happy Chicken"

Once a thief broke into someone else's chicken coop and stole a chicken. When he was running away, he knocked over the lamp, and the chicken coop caught fire. The chicken looked back and, seeing the fire of the fire, understood: it saved her life. When the thief fattened the chicken with millet and bread, the chicken understood that he was taking care of her. When the thief wandered from city to city, hiding the chicken in his bosom, the chicken understood: he loves her. When the chicken saw that the thief had brandished a knife, she realized that he wanted to commit suicide. She jumped on the knife and covered the thief with her body. And she died happy.

About coffee and life priorities

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. Offering coffee to his guests, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a coffee pot and a tray filled with a variety of cups - porcelain, glass, plastic, crystal - simple, expensive, and exquisite. When the graduates took apart the cups, the professor said: If you notice, all the expensive cups have been taken apart. No one chose simple and cheap cups. The desire to have only the best for yourself is the source of your problems. Realize that the cup alone does not make the coffee better. Sometimes it's just more expensive, and sometimes it even hides what we drink. What you really wanted was coffee, not a cup. But you deliberately chose the best cups.. And then looked at who got which cup. Now think: life is coffee, and work, money, position, society are 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!" happy people there is no best. But they make the best out of what's out there. Happiness is in wanting what you have. It's not about having what you want.

We have prepared for you 3 short parables about love and happiness, which will help you understand these concepts more deeply and allow you to better understand people and life.

We hope that these parables will cheer you up.

Read short parables about love and happiness

A wealthy young man came up to a dervish who was sitting in the marketplace and, putting a piece of gold into a begging bowl, said:

Sir, I need your advice. I like one girl. Really like. And now I am tormented, because I do not know what to do: to marry or not.
- Don't get married.

But why?!
If you really wanted to, you wouldn't have asked.

Did you like parables? You can download parables for free from our website.

A short story about life

One student often suffered from prolonged depression.

The doctor strongly advises me to start taking medication to cope with depression, he said.

Well, why don't you start? the Master asked him.

I'm afraid it will damage my liver and shorten my life.

What do you prefer - a healthy liver or a joyful mood? One year of life is more valuable than twenty years of sleep.

He later addressed his students:

Life is like a fairy tale: it doesn't matter if it's long or short; what matters is whether it is good.

A short story about happiness

Master Bahauddin was happy all his life, the smile never left his face. His whole life was saturated with the aroma of the holiday! Even as he died, he laughed merrily. He seemed to enjoy the coming of death. His disciples were sitting around, and one asked:

Why are you laughing? All your life you have been laughing, and we all hesitated to ask how you do it? And now, in the last minutes, you are laughing! What's funny here?

The old master replied:

Many years ago I came to my Master as a young man, seventeen years old, but already deeply suffering. The master was seventy, and he smiled and laughed just like that, for no apparent reason.

I asked him:
"How do you do it?"

And he answered:

“Inside, I am free to choose. It's just my choice. Every morning when I open my eyes, I ask myself what to choose today - bliss or suffering? And so it happens that I choose bliss, because it is so natural.

Good afternoon, my dear friends!

Let's start the conversation about happiness, about how success and happiness are connected, as always, with parables.

Parable about happiness.

The sage walked along the road, rejoicing at the beauty of the surrounding world, admiring the sunny day, flowering fields, colorful butterflies. Wandering towards him, hunched over from an unbearable burden, was an unfortunate man who obviously had no time for the joys of the world.

“For what purpose do you doom yourself to unbearable suffering? Why do you need this?” the sage addressed him.

“For the happiness of my children and grandchildren, I suffer. All my life my great-grandfather suffered to make my grandfather happy, and my grandfather suffered to make my father happy. So that happiness would not bypass my house, my father suffered. And I will endure all suffering for the sake of the happiness of my children and grandchildren,” he heard in response.

"Was there anyone in your family that was happy?"

“No, but my children and grandchildren will certainly become happy!”

“An illiterate person cannot teach reading, and a mole will never raise an eagle! To understand how to make children and grandchildren happy, you must first learn to be happy yourself,” said the sage.

Parable about family happiness.

Two families lived next door in a small town. In one of them, eternal quarrels and strife, and in the other, happiness and mutual understanding settled. How jealous the obstinate hostess was that everything was going so well in the neighbor's house. One day she says to her husband: “Go to the neighbors, see why everything is so quiet and smooth for them.”

Nothing to do, the peasant went to the neighbors, quietly went into the house and in a secluded corner and hid. Watching with interest what is happening in the house. And the hostess, singing merrily, puts the house in order, and she does it all cleverly.

And then she took on an expensive vase to wipe the dust, but the phone rang at the wrong time. The woman was distracted, and put the vase on the very edge of the table. At this time, her husband also needed something in the room. He caught the vase and dropped it on the floor.

“Lord, what will happen now,” thought the hiding neighbor.

And the woman, sighing with regret, said to her husband: “I'm sorry, dear, I put the vase so carelessly. It's my fault".

“What are you, dear? I didn't notice the vase in a hurry, and it's my fault. And in other matters, the main thing is that a greater misfortune does not come to us.

... How painful it was to listen to all this neighbor. It pinched his heart. He was very upset and quietly went home.

“And why did you go there for so long? What did you manage to see?" His wife met him at the door.

"Succeeded!"

"Well, how are they?"

“They are all to blame, but we are always right.”

A parable about happy and unfortunate.

There lived one person. He was very rich and famous. It would seem that success and happiness are his constant companions. Everything you can dream of, what you like and what you fell in love with - he had everything: dozens of cars and even a plane, and no one considered the rest. But at the same time he was quite unhappy. Even having risen into the sky on an airplane, he experienced nothing but sadness.

All his desires were fulfilled instantly, and he did not have them already. There was not a single obstacle in his path that would interfere with success and happiness, but they were absent. A rich courtyard, exquisite cuisine, amazing attractions, travel - nothing amused him. He himself was unable to explain the cause of his suffering. Sadness, discontent were his constant companions.

And he decided to take his own life, for which he went to the river. And on the shore, the beggar was catching fish for himself in order to figure out a simple dinner. He rejoices at the caught fish, like a piece of gold. Glowing with happiness.

"And why are you so happy?" asked the unfortunate man.

“Why, the evening is so warm, the sunset is beautiful and I will have an excellent dinner.”

“Is this really enough to be so happy and satisfied with your life?”

“Yes, today success accompanies me and I’m just happy!” the beggar replied.

"But you don't have anything."

“Yes, I am the richest in this world,” the beggar looked at the rich man in bewilderment.

“I have everything, but what is your wealth if you don’t even have shoes?”

The beggar smiled slyly: “I have the main thing: my desires, goals, the future in which I am striving, an infinite number of problems that need to be overcome. I solve the most fascinating crossword - own life. What could be more interesting. Today I am the luckiest person on this earth, I have a wonderful dinner. And I'm happy, I'm happy!"

The rich man thought for a long time in the dark night, returning home. What he understood is not known, but the next day he disappeared. Couldn't find him and he didn't show up anymore. Obviously he left in search of success and happiness, where there are problems, plans, goals, dreams. To a world where desires appear.

Rejoice if there are still desires in your life that are not fulfilled, problems that have to be dealt with, tasks that await your solution. When all this is gone, the joy of achievement will disappear. An endless night will come in which success and happiness cannot be considered.

Download for free. The book "24 Internet Professions"

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, different peoples have a common idea of these fundamental concepts.

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 white sheet of paper – it is 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 - sunbeam, 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; dwelling - but not the hearth; 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, the basic principles of morality and morality are largely 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.
One day a man woke up good mood, went out onto the porch, and there - a bucket of slop. The man took a bucket, poured out the slop, cleaned the bucket to a shine, collected the largest, ripest and most delicious apples into it 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 corresponding 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 entered the room with a piece of wood in his hands.
- What do you want to do? the father asked.
“Wooden feeder,” answered the kid. - 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 offered her not to run from one to the other, but to choose one side once and for all. 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 the one who tries to sit between two chairs will always end up on the rotten 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 for a spiritual feat: to live alone and fast, pray and sleep on bare boards without interference. 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 morals

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, there were ideal relatives and a house - 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 repair 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 do you do when uninvited guests are breaking at your door, when they knock, shout, demanding to open it, and tear their hair out because they are not opened?
“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 a 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 just a mere accident, a mere coincidence that I ended up under a tree when a branch fell from it,” the student said.
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 "damned 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.

A beautiful legend-parable from Paulo Coelho about happiness and three pillars "three sisters" in national park Blue Mountains in Australia: There is an Australian legend about a shaman who was walking with his three sisters when they met the most famous warrior of the time. - I want to marry one of these beautiful girls, said the warrior. “If one of them marries, the other two will suffer,” said the shaman. - I'm looking for a tribe that allows a man to have three wives. Behind …