Share your favorite parables

[Seamus]

I was thinking about how useful parables can be for illustrating difficult (and even simple) concepts, but I couldn't find a thread devoted to sharing parables, so I decided to start this one.

TC shared a parable with me yesterday that I really enjoyed:

I don't think I quite understand what you mean about associating completely with her. Could you elaborate on that a little bit?

Sorry, Seamas.

There's a Buddhist parable:

Two travelling monks reached a river where they met a young woman. Wary of the current, she asked if they could carry her across. One of the monks hesitated, but the other quickly picked her up onto his shoulders, transported her across the water, and put her down on the other bank. She thanked him and departed.

As the monks continued on their way, the one was brooding and preoccupied. Unable to hold his silence, he spoke out. "Brother, our spiritual training teaches us to avoid any contact with women, but you picked that one up on your shoulders and carried her!"

"Brother," the second monk replied, "I set her down on the other side, while you are still carrying her."

So, because you forgot yourself and associated/identified with her, you ended up like the angry monk, still carrying Joanne.

What are your favorite parables? What concepts do they help you to better understand?

 

[MikaelYosef]

What are your favorite parables? What concepts do they help you to better understand?

I came to this thread based on the music I'm currently listening to Simile est regnum caelorum by Christobel de Morales and a subsequent parody Mass by Francisco Guerrero. For anyone with Spotify, a link to this album is: Simile est regnum caelorum (I think it can still be listened to without membership, but there are ads in between).

I was curious as to what this motet was about. Simile est regnum caelorum refers to the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard in the Gospel of Matthew ( Matthew 20:1-16). The text is:

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

“About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

I have to admit that I'm still working out the meaning of this internally, mostly the bolded section. In reading the parable, I identify with those workers who weren't the last and perhaps are grumbling at the ones who came in at the end and were treated the same. At least in terms of my emotional reaction to others in this life who seemingly do their thing for the majority of their lives, with good health, fortune, and without apparent struggle and later on stumble into a higher life meaning/purpose and seemingly undergo a meteoric rise versus, a long term quiet struggle. So am I really grumbling or do I know the life experience is not really a mathematical equation..... I think I have the answer to that on paper, but it's still an easier-said-than-done kind of thing. A forced smile isn't a smile - the challenge is to smile and genuinely be smiling. If anyone has any tips or advice I'd love to hear it.

Sidenote: I'm not religious but was raised in my youth in a Christian way......I think it's quite amazing that a text with this information is >2k years old. I'd challenge religious-text-dismissing-atheists to write anything comparable, without the internet (and Wikipedia!), that is informative, challenging to the human experience and timeless.

 

[loreta]

I like this one, I think it is a parable?

A scorpion, which cannot swim, asks a frog to carry it across a river on the frog's back. The frog hesitates, afraid of being stung by the scorpion, but the scorpion argues that if it did that, they would both drown. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: "I couldn't help it. It's in my nature."

This story makes me think about psychopaths that appears in our lives, little psychopaths that can put your life in danger if you are naive. Or too gentle. Or do not have the knowledge of what is a scorpion (psychopath).

 

[Seamus]

I like this one, I think it is a parable?

One of my favorites!

 

[Seamus]

I came to this thread based on the music I'm currently listening to Simile est regnum caelorum by Christobel de Morales and a subsequent parody Mass by Francisco Guerrero. For anyone with Spotify, a link to this album is: Simile est regnum caelorum (I think it can still be listened to without membership, but there are ads in between).

I was curious as to what this motet was about. Simile est regnum caelorum refers to the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard in the Gospel of Matthew ( Matthew 20:1-16). The text is:

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

“About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

I have to admit that I'm still working out the meaning of this internally, mostly the bolded section. In reading the parable, I identify with those workers who weren't the last and perhaps are grumbling at the ones who came in at the end and were treated the same. At least in terms of my emotional reaction to others in this life who seemingly do their thing for the majority of their lives, with good health, fortune, and without apparent struggle and later on stumble into a higher life meaning/purpose and seemingly undergo a meteoric rise versus, a long term quiet struggle. So am I really grumbling or do I know the life experience is not really a mathematical equation..... I think I have the answer to that on paper, but it's still an easier-said-than-done kind of thing. A forced smile isn't a smile - the challenge is to smile and genuinely be smiling. If anyone has any tips or advice I'd love to hear it.

Sidenote: I'm not religious but was raised in my youth in a Christian way......I think it's quite amazing that a text with this information is >2k years old. I'd challenge religious-text-dismissing-atheists to write anything comparable, without the internet (and Wikipedia!), that is informative, challenging to the human experience and timeless.

That's a good one @MikeJoseph82, thanks for sharing it! Here are some thoughts that come up for me:

• Its never to late to start on the Work
• Those who start earlier will end up with the same "rewards" as those who start later.
• Its not about the amount of work you put in, but the type of work and who/what you're working for (?)
• The workers at the vineyard are all working together, so those who start earlier shouldn't begrudge or feel superior to those who join the work later.

Again just some thoughts, fwiw.

 

[MikaelYosef]

That's a good one @MikeJoseph82, thanks for sharing it! Here are some thoughts that come up for me:

• Its never to late to start on the Work
• Those who start earlier will end up with the same "rewards" as those who start later.
• Its not about the amount of work you put in, but the type of work and who/what you're working for (?)
• The workers at the vineyard are all working together, so those who start earlier shouldn't begrudge or feel superior to those who join the work later.

Again just some thoughts, fwiw.

Thanks Séamas, I don't wish to derail the thread so soon, as I have comments about that issue separately so will continue to gather my thoughts and post that in another thread. But in general I think this parable is intimately related to the idea that 'All there is is Lessons'.

 

[PERLOU]

- Confucius. Quand un homme a faim, mieux vaut lui apprendre à pêcher que de lui donner un poisson .

- Confucius. When a man is hungry, it is better to teach him to fish than to give him a fish .

 

[PERLOU]

La parabole de la cruche fissurée Dans une région aride et sèche, un vendeur d'eau se rendait chaque matin à la rivière située hors des limites du village afin de remplir ses cruches d'eau. Ensuite, il se dirigeait vers la ville pour distribuer cette bonne eau fraîche à ses clients. Cet homme faisait ce travail chaque jour depuis des années. Une des cruches, fissurée, perdait beaucoup d'eau. Les autres, plus neuves, rapportaient plus d'argent que cette dernière. La pauvre cruche fissurée se sentait inférieure. Elle décida un matin de se confier à son patron: - Tu sais, dit-elle, je suis consciente de mes limites. Tu perds beaucoup d'argent par ma faute. Je suis toujours à moitié vide lorsque nous arrivons au marché du village. Pardonne mes faiblesses. Son propriétaire lui sourit sans rien dire. Par contre, quelques semaines plus tard, en route vers la rivière, l'homme interpelle sa cruche fissurée et lui dit: - Regarde sur le bord de la route. - C'est joli, c'est beau, c'est plein de fleurs de toutes les espèces! s'exclama la cruche fissurée. - C'est grâce à toi, répliqua le vendeur d'eau. C'est toi qui chaque matin, arrose le bas-côté de la route. J'ai acheté plusieurs paquets de graines de fleurs et je les ai semées le long de la route, et toi, sans le savoir et sans le vouloir, tu les arroses chaque jour.

The parable of the cracked pitcher In an arid and dry region, a water vendor would go to the river outside the village limits every morning to fill his pitchers with water. Then he would head for the town to distribute this good fresh water to his customers. This man had been doing this work every day for years. One of the jugs was cracked and was losing a lot of water. The others were newer and made more money than this one. The poor cracked jug felt inferior. One morning she decided to confide in her boss: "You know," she said, "I am aware of my limits. You are losing a lot of money because of me. I am always half empty when we arrive at the village market. Forgive my weaknesses. The owner smiles at her without saying anything. But a few weeks later, on the way to the river, the man calls out to his cracked pitcher and says: "Look on the side of the road. - It's pretty, it's beautiful, it's full of all kinds of flowers! the cracked jug exclaimed. - It's thanks to you," replied the water seller. You're the one who watered the roadside every morning. I bought several packets of flower seeds and sowed them along the road, and you, without knowing it and without wanting to, water them every day.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Traduit avec www.DeepL.com/Translator (version gratuite)

 

[loreta]

Here a parable that I love:

Kisa Gotami was the wife of a wealthy man of Savatthi. Her story is one of the more famous ones in Buddhism. After losing her only child, Kisa Gotami became desperate and asked if anyone could help her. Her sorrow was so great that many thought she had lost her mind. An old man told her to see the Buddha. The Buddha told her that he could bring the child back to life if she could find white mustard seeds from a family where no one had died. She desperately went from house to house, but to her disappointment, she could not find a house that had not suffered the death of a family member. Finally the realization struck her that there is no house free from mortality. She returned to the Buddha, who comforted her and preached to her the truth. She was awakened and entered the first stage of enlightenment. Eventually, she became an Arahat.

When I read this parable many years ago I cried. For many reasons, one of them because I saw how a good master was Buddha, how comprehensive and human. It is a story that also makes us feeling compassion and love. A very beautiful parable.

 

[loreta]

La parabole de la cruche fissurée Dans une région aride et sèche, un vendeur d'eau se rendait chaque matin à la rivière située hors des limites du village afin de remplir ses cruches d'eau. Ensuite, il se dirigeait vers la ville pour distribuer cette bonne eau fraîche à ses clients. Cet homme faisait ce travail chaque jour depuis des années. Une des cruches, fissurée, perdait beaucoup d'eau. Les autres, plus neuves, rapportaient plus d'argent que cette dernière. La pauvre cruche fissurée se sentait inférieure. Elle décida un matin de se confier à son patron: - Tu sais, dit-elle, je suis consciente de mes limites. Tu perds beaucoup d'argent par ma faute. Je suis toujours à moitié vide lorsque nous arrivons au marché du village. Pardonne mes faiblesses. Son propriétaire lui sourit sans rien dire. Par contre, quelques semaines plus tard, en route vers la rivière, l'homme interpelle sa cruche fissurée et lui dit: - Regarde sur le bord de la route. - C'est joli, c'est beau, c'est plein de fleurs de toutes les espèces! s'exclama la cruche fissurée. - C'est grâce à toi, répliqua le vendeur d'eau. C'est toi qui chaque matin, arrose le bas-côté de la route. J'ai acheté plusieurs paquets de graines de fleurs et je les ai semées le long de la route, et toi, sans le savoir et sans le vouloir, tu les arroses chaque jour.

The parable of the cracked pitcher In an arid and dry region, a water vendor would go to the river outside the village limits every morning to fill his pitchers with water. Then he would head for the town to distribute this good fresh water to his customers. This man had been doing this work every day for years. One of the jugs was cracked and was losing a lot of water. The others were newer and made more money than this one. The poor cracked jug felt inferior. One morning she decided to confide in her boss: "You know," she said, "I am aware of my limits. You are losing a lot of money because of me. I am always half empty when we arrive at the village market. Forgive my weaknesses. The owner smiles at her without saying anything. But a few weeks later, on the way to the river, the man calls out to his cracked pitcher and says: "Look on the side of the road. - It's pretty, it's beautiful, it's full of all kinds of flowers! the cracked jug exclaimed. - It's thanks to you," replied the water seller. You're the one who watered the roadside every morning. I bought several packets of flower seeds and sowed them along the road, and you, without knowing it and without wanting to, water them every day.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Traduit avec www.DeepL.com/Translator (version gratuite)

What a beautiful parable! ♥ ♥

 

[YoYa]

Twins talking to each other in the womb.

(Probably everyone knows this story. I thought it should not be missing here.
Children and teenagers like this story very much.)

"Tell me, do you believe in life after birth?" asks one of the twins.

"Yes, in any case! Here we grow and become strong for what is to come outside," replies the other twin.

"I think that's nonsense!" Said the first.
"There can be no life after birth - what should that look like?"

“I don't know. But it will be brighter than here for sure. And maybe we'll walk around and eat with our mouths?"

“I've never heard such nonsense! Eating with your mouth, what a crazy idea. There is the umbilical cord that nourishes us. And how do you want to run around the umbilical cord, is far too short for that!"

“But it works. Everything will just be a little different."

"You're crazy! Nobody has ever come back from "after birth". Life is over with the birth period!"

“I admit that nobody knows what life will be like after the birth.
But I know that we will then see our mother, and she will take care of us."

"Mother??? You don't believe in a mother, do you? Where is she please?"

“Well here - all around us. We are and live in it and through it.
We couldn't be without it!"

"Nonsense! I've never noticed anything from a mother, so she doesn't exist either."

“But sometimes, when we're very quiet, you can hear them sing. Or feel when she caresses our world ......"