目連救母的典故最早見於西晉竺法護所譯的《佛說盂蘭盆經》，南朝梁武帝時盂蘭盆法會就已十分普及，佛門的講經儀式隨著世俗化的發展，講唱的文本除了為宗教而服務的講經變文，又發展出為聽眾而服務的俗講變文。目連救母的故事於變文盛行的唐代大致已趨於定型，由於「救母」、「遊地府」、「轉世」等主題都十分引人入勝，加上盂蘭盆法會的普及，兩者相得益彰，故能充分展現變文的本色，後世的目連文學對故事的架構與傳教的宗旨均能善加傳承，甚至在東亞佛教文化圈亦廣為流傳。從現存的敦煌文獻來看，目連變文大致可分為〈目連緣起〉、〈大目乾連冥間救母變文并圖一卷并序〉與〈目連變文〉三種，本文試從神話學的觀點分析，將目連救母的一連串歷程詮釋為修佛證道的試煉之旅，進而探討其宗教關懷。目連受佛祖啟蒙，由羅漢道轉向菩薩道，最後悟得：脫離苦難、證得涅槃之道，即回報父母重恩之道，亦即渡化世間眾生之道。可見目連變文不只宣了揚佛家孝道思想，更欲藉由孝親之天性，指引世人放棄小乘教義，轉讀大乘。經由論證可知，目連變文不只為世人呈現佛教孝子的典範，更展現出慈悲為懷、普渡眾生的宗教關懷。 The literary quotation of the Mulian’s story about rescuing his mother from hell was first seen in “BodhisattvaKsitigarbha” as far as known. The Bon (Yue Lan Festival) was already very popular in Southern Dynasties of Liang Wudi. With the secularized development of the Buddhist preaching ceremony, the popular bianwen (SuJiangbianwen) for public services has derived from the preaching bianwen (jiangjingwen) for religious service. When the bianwen prevailed generally in Tang Dynasty, Mulian’s story has already tended to forming gradually. The themes like “rescuing the mother”, “visiting of hell” “reincarnation” was very fascinating, nad the Bon was very popular ,so the narrative structure and its missionary work could be inherited well by the later Mulian literature, and even could be spread around the Buddhist cultural circle in East Asian. According to the existing Dunhuang literatures, “Mulian Bianwen＂ should be classified into three types: “Mulian pratitya-samutpada”, “Mahamaudgalyayana Bianwen about rescuing his mother from hell, attaching the preface and a roll of drawing”, and “Mulian Bianwen”. This study attempts to analyze “Mulian Bianwen” based on the mythology, explain his journey of trials for Buddhist practicing, and furthermore discuss its religious orientation. Mulian accepted the enlightenment from Buddha and then realized the truth: the way from misery to Nirvana, was the way to repay his parents’ great grace, and also the way to salvation all sentient beings. It means that: “Mulian Bianwen” was helpful for preaching the Buddhist Filial Piety Thought and guiding all sentient being to transform their faith from Theravada Buddhism into Mahayana Buddhism. Through the argumentation of this study, we can be sure that “Mulian Bianwen” not only set an example for Buddhist dutiful son, but also performance the religious orientation of compassion and divine intervention.
