元代佛典《佛說目連救母經》向《目連寶卷》與閩北目連戲的文學性演變=The Transformation of the Mulian Story from a Yuan-Dynasty Buddhist Text, "Sutra of Buddha's Sermon on Mahāmaudgalyāyana's Rescue of His Mother", to Two Literary Texts, "The Mulian Precious Scroll" and "The Putian Mulian Drama"
《佛説目連救母經》="Sutra of Buddha's Sermon on Mahāmaudgalyāyana's Rescue of His Mother"; 《黃籙九幽醮無碍夜齋次第儀》="Yellow Register Recording Sequence of Rituals for all of the Orphan Souls Sinking in the Nine Hells"; 鄭振鐸; 《目連救母寶卷》="Precious Scrolls on Mulian Saving His Mother"; 《香山寶卷》="Xiangshan Precious Scrolls"; 莆田目連戲=Putian Drama on the Mulian Story
The ”Foshuo Mulian jiumu jing” (”Sutra of Buddha's Sermon on Mahāmaudgalyāyana's Rescue of His Mother”)was first published in 1304 in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, but later became lost in China. It was reprinted and published in Japan in 1346, and this edition is now preserved in Kōkōji Buddhist Monastery in Kyoto. The present article is a study of this edition and draws the following conclusions:1. The Ming-dynasty ”Mulian jiumu baojuan” (”Precious Scroll of How Mulian Saved His Mother”) cited in Zheng Zhenduo's (1898-1958) ”History of Chinese Vernacular Literature contains several parts which are identical with the Foshuo Mulian jiumu jing”.2. In both the ”Putian Mulian Play” and ”Precious Scroll”, the name of Mulian's mother is given as Liu Sizhen. This name originates in the ”Foshuo Mulian jiumu jing”. In the Mulian plays circulated in southern Fukien, the mother's name is Shizhen. This might have been inherited from northern Fukien plays, in which the name was adopted from the ”Mulian jiumu jing”. This name is not found in plays from other regions. It is thus observed that the northern Fukien plays were established under the influence of the ”Mulian jiumu jing”, albeit via the ”Precious Scroll”.3. The end of the ”Putian Mulian Play” contains the story of Princess Miaoshan, a variant name of Bodhisattva Guanyin. This was derived from the ”Xiangshan Precious Scroll”.4. The three points above allow the conclusion that the ”Putian Mulian Play” was derived from the ”Mulian jiumu jing”. It appeared around late Yuan and early Ming times, most likely because Northern Fukien women were fond of precious scroll literature. It may at least be inferred that the ”Putian Mulian Play” is the oldest extant Mulian drama text, which took shape before the Zheng Zhizhen (1518-1595)1582 version.
