Any parable is a short story. The conclusion from it is some kind of moral maxim that the author or narrator of the parable of happiness wants to convey to the listener or reader.
The main source of these legends in the European tradition is the New Testament, in which the Savior chose this form of bringing wisdom to the common people. But before analyzing the legends about women's happiness that are in the Gospel, it is interesting to study the entire Eastern parable tradition on this topic and evaluate the similarities and differences.
As a rule, these parables were always first told and then written down, and the works of scribes and interpreters could hide or lose their meaning, moral message for centuries. Wise parables about happiness could lose some of the wisdom that is contained in shades we do not understand, but the main maxim has always remained unchanged.
Chinese parables about women's happiness
The Chinese most often reduce their legends about happiness to questions of harmony and wisdom. Women's happiness in China is not finding or gaining romantic affection, but a harmonious existence in a house - a full bowl - with he althy sons.
The most famous Chinese parable about female happiness tells about a woman and a feng shui master.
The last one asked the poor lady for a drink. She threw some straw into his bowl of water. The enraged master deceived the woman, offering her, in order to increase her happiness and prosperity, to move the house not to a good place, but to a bad place. Imagine his surprise when he saw that her affairs were in perfect 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 greedily the icy spring water. He realized that the Buddha gave her happiness for kindness and wisdom, and the human desire to harm went against the will of the deity.
So the Chinese maxim of female happiness is simple: do what you must, and the Buddha will take into account.
Indian parables about women's happiness
Indian parables about women's happiness are not always stories about Sita and Rama, where only self-sacrifice is rewarded. There are also legends that carry a more benign and humane ideology.
But it is interesting that almost all Indian parables, where a woman is an independent character, belong to the period of the Great Mongols, they are Islamic, not Vedic.
So, in the tale of cow's milk, the wise daughter of the philosopher saves her father from the reprisal of the padishah, who entrusted him with an impossible task - to find cow's milk. With a successful joke about a man’s pregnancy, the girl softens the lord’s anger and, as a result, thanks to her courage, ingenuity and intelligence, becomes hiswife.
Fate, which steadily leads to the death of a woman almost at the beginning of every story - a parable, Sita wins by suicide and a fire, and the philosopher's daughter - resourcefulness. This, at least, allows us to say that in the Islamic religious tradition the role of a woman is much higher than in older religions, and she not only has more rights to happiness, but can also share her joy with loved ones.
Parables about women's happiness in the "Thousand and One Nights"
The number of legends about smart, beautiful and lucky women in the collection of Arabic and Iranian fairy tales is in the hundreds. In almost every one of them, smart ladies save their beloved from problems, guide people on the true path, and save kingdoms. The main maxim of almost every parable about women's happiness is a logical message: your happiness is in your hands. This is the fruit of your mind and inner strength.
The parables of happiness here, obviously, can be considered as a tool for increasing the competitiveness of the population by creating an independent player or fighter from a woman. You can remember at least the story of Ali Baba. And this message is evident in almost all Arabic legends.
Buddhist parables about women's happiness
Buddhism, which is characteristic, in its legends little separates men and women. We are all on the path of rebirth, and women's happiness is no different from men's, the goal of life is to become enlightened and be reborn at a higher level. These are, rather, algorithms for achieving nirvana, and not parables about happiness, short instructions on the path of protection and development of the soul looknot a recommendation, but an instruction.
The road to happiness in Buddhism is paved with philosophical knowledge, and not with handmade carpets, as in the Arab tradition and some Russian fairy tales. This feeling is nothing more than a state of mind. It is intangible. If you want to be happy, be it, because Buddha said so.
Parables about female 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 mentioned ruler is a set of moral norms with the help of which he carried out non-verbal control of the people.
If the king-polygamist did not pay much attention to the issues of independent achievement of happiness by women, then Jesus emphasized that it was not the Mary who was busy with receiving guests, but the one who listened to his speeches that was more dear to him. Interestingly, the later religious tradition did not hear this message, and continued to determine the place of a woman in the kitchen.
Thus, one can pay attention to the fact that respect for the rights of ladies to happiness and its independent achievement is in Confucianism, Islam and early Christianity. Hinduism, Judaism, and later (before Protestantism) Christianity did not consider a woman as an object of action and almost deprived her of the right to independent happiness. Already in the period of the early Renaissance, the influence of the East manifested itself, first of all, in the Decameron and similar collections of short stories - the same parables about happiness. And again, smart wives and lucky mistresses are born.
What is a modern parable?
Modern network parables about women's happiness are almost all based on Buddhist or yogic ideology. Get rid of desires, become enlightened, merge with the Cosmos - and you will have both female happiness and a new piece of the pie. Vigorous activity and reason are also almost excluded. There is practically no moral maxim in these modern traditions. So to say that the parable is the secret of the happiness of a modern woman is quite difficult. Well, what time - such are the legends, and no one has canceled feminism.
