敦煌文献“董仲寻母”与“目连救母”情节内涵比较

Comparisons of the Plots and Connotations Between the Stories of“Dong Zhong’s Search for Mother”and“Mu Lian’s Rescue of Mother”in the Dunhuang Documents

敦煌文献中《目连变文》与《董永变文》皆属于佛教讲唱文学,但它们所体现母子分离原因、幼子寻母缘起、寻母者能力、寻母认母的凭借、天机泄露与宣示佛法的意义、母子情感与寻母故事的结局、母亲的善恶形象及其所归之处是天堂抑或地狱等,皆有不同。尽管来自于佛教的“救母”故事最终影响到我国“寻母”传说的演变,但故事的渊源与所接受的影响,却只能是两个不容混淆的问题;“董仲寻母”并非来源于遥远的国度,而是与我国远古时代的民间习俗、祖先信仰、孝亲文化有着难以割裂的渊源关系。

Both the stories of“Dong Zhong’s search for mother”and“Mu Lian’s rescue of mother”are Buddhism narrative literatures.However,they are different in terms of the reasons for the separation of mother from the child,the causes and abilities of the child to search for mother,the evidences of the mother-child relationship,the connotations of the disclosure of top secrets and the publicity of Buddhist doctrines,the emotion between mother and the child,the ending of the stories of searching for mother,the good and bad images of mother,and whether the mother will go to heaven or hell,and so on.Although the story of rescuing mother in Buddhism has ultimately influenced the evolutions of Chinese legends of searching for mother,the source of the two stories is different.That is to say that,instead of originating from ancient India,the story of“Dong Zhong’s search for mother”arises from the folk customs,ancestor belief and filial piety cultures of our country.