Proverbs about happiness. The Parable of Women's Happiness

Every parable is a short story. The conclusion from it is some moral maxim, which the author or narrator of the parable of happiness wants to bring to the listener or reader. Basically, the source of these tales in the European tradition is the New Testament, in which the Savior chose this form of reporting wisdom to simpletons. But before analyzing the traditions of women's happiness that are in the Gospel, it is interesting to study the entire eastern parable tradition on this topic and to assess similarities and differences.

As a rule, these parables are always told first, and then recorded, and the writings of copyists and interpreters could conceal or lose in the centuries the meaning, the moral message. Wise parables of happiness could lose some of the wisdom that is found in incomprehensible shades, but the basic maxim has always remained unchanged.

Chinese parables about women's happiness

Chinese tradition of their happiness is often reduced to issues of harmony and wisdom. Women's happiness in China is not finding or gaining romantic affection, but harmonious existence in the house - full cup - with healthy sons. The most famous Chinese parable of female happiness tells of a woman and a master of feng shui.

The latter asked the poor person to get drunk. She threw a little straw into the bowl of water. The enraged master deceived the woman, offering her for the sake of increasing her happiness and prosperity, to move the house not into a successful, but into a ruinous place. Imagine his surprise when he saw that her affairs had come in full order. He reminded her of the straw. The woman replied that she made the master drink more slowly, and he did not get sick, drinking in a hurry and with greed the icy spring water. He realized that Buddha had endowed her with kindness and wisdom with happiness, and the human desire to harm had gone against the will of the deity.

So the Chinese maxim of female happiness is simple: do what you must and the Buddha will consider.

Indian parables about women's happiness

Indian parables about women's happiness are not always stories about Situ and Rama, where only self-sacrifice is rewarded. There are also legends bearing a more sparing and human ideology. But it is interesting that almost all Indian parables, where the woman is an independent actor, belong to the period of the Great Mongols, they are Islamic, and not Vedic.

So, in the tale of cowhide milk, the wise daughter of a philosopher saves her father from the punishment of a padishah, who commissioned the impossible task of finding cowhide milk. A successful joke about the pregnancy of a man, the girl softens the wrath of the lord, and in the end, thanks to his courage, ingenuity and intelligence, becomes his wife.

The fate that steadily leads to the death of a woman almost at the beginning of every story is a parable, Sita wins by suicide and a bonfire, and the daughter of a philosopher by resourcefulness. This, at a minimum, allows us to say that in the Islamic religious tradition the role of women is much higher than in the more ancient religions, and the rights to happiness, it not only has more, but can share its joy with loved ones.

Proverbs about the woman's happiness in the "Thousand and One Nights"

The number of legends about clever, beautiful and successful women in the collection of Arab and Iranian fairy tales is counted in the hundreds. Practically in each of them clever ladies relieve beloved ones from problems, direct people to the true path, save the kingdoms. The main maxim of almost every parable of women's happiness is a logical message: your happiness is in your hands. It is the fruit of your mind and inner strength.

Proverbs about happiness here, obviously, can be considered as a tool to increase the competitiveness of the population by creating a woman from an independent player or fighter. One can recall a story about Ali Baba. And this message is evident in almost all Arab legends.

Buddhist Proverbs About Women's Happiness

Buddhism, which is characteristic, does not share men and women in its stories. We are all on the path of rebirth, and female happiness from the masculine is not different, the goal of life is to become enlightened and reborn at a higher level. These are, rather, the algorithms for achieving nirvana, and not parables of happiness, short instructions about the ways of protecting and developing the soul do not look like a recommendation, but an instruction.

The road to happiness in Buddhism is laid out by philosophical knowledge, and not handmade carpets, as in the Arab tradition and some Russian fairy tales. This feeling is nothing more than a state of mind. It is immaterial. If you want to be happy, be it, because Buddha said so.

Proverbs about women's happiness in the European tradition

The European tradition of stories about women's happiness grew out of the parables of King Solomon and the story of the two Marys. Three thousand tales of the above-mentioned ruler are a set of moral norms, through which he carried out non-verbal control of the people.

If the polygamous king paid much attention to the issues of self-achievement by women, he did not give happiness, then Jesus stressed that it was not the Mary who takes care of the guests, but the one who listens to his speeches. It is interesting that the later religious tradition of this message did not hear, and continued to determine the place of the woman in the kitchen.

Thus, we can draw attention to the fact that respect for the rights of women to happiness and its independent achievement is in Confucianism, Islam and early Christianity. Hinduism, Judaism, and later (before Protestantism) Christianity as an object of action were not considered a woman, and the rights to independent happiness were almost deprived of her. Already during the early Renaissance, the influence of the East was manifested, above all, in the "Decameron" and similar collections of short stories - the same parables of happiness. And again, intelligent wives and lucky mistresses are born.

What is the modern parable?

Modern online parables about women's happiness are almost all based on Buddhist or yogic ideology. Let go of desires, enlighten, merge with the Cosmos - and you will have both female happiness and a new piece of cake. Active activity and reason are also almost excluded. There is practically no moral maxim in these modern legends. So to argue that the parable - the secret of happiness of a modern woman, is difficult enough. Well, what time - such and legends, and no one canceled feminism.