目連救母 說話의 초기 형성 과정에 대한 小考 — 초기 불교 문헌들과 ≪佛說盂蘭盆經≫의 비교를 중심으로

Abstract

I, in this study, examined the life of Mulian(Maudgalyayana, Moggallana) in the early Buddhist texts, and through the examination I understood the early perception on his character of the native, living, power, and death in these texts. Then I compared that with what is described in the Ullambana Sutra to understand the early formation of the story of Mulian rescuing his mother. The early Buddhist texts I examined were the Pali texts like Jataka, Dammapada- Atthaka, and translated Buddhist Sutras in Chinese like Ekottara Agama, Mulasarvastivada Vinaya ksudrakavastu, and found that in these texts Mulian had psychic powers like spiritual moving, diverse miracles before his death in his last existence. He was from a novel family, had a devoted, filial living, but killed or tried to kill his parents or mother under his wife’s bad influence or mother’s misdeed in the previous existence. The main story of Ullambana Sutra is that Mulian, who has spritual powers, rescues his mother who has fallen into the hell of starvation because of her sinful misdeed, and the description of the devoting and filial living of Mulian in the early Buddhist texts is succeeded in this sutra. There are stories about Mulian rescuing hungry ghosts, and Sariputta and Uttara rescuing his mother in Avadana-sataka, these three stories were combined into one story, and Mulian’s spiritual powers and filial mind in the early Buddhist texts were also joined into this new story, but that of killing his parents is eliminating the story of killing his parents or mother in order to strengthen the consistency of the story. The story of Mulian in Ullambana Sutra can be compared with the late texts like Pure land Ullambana Sutra, Maytrisimit, and Mulasarvastivada Vinaya Bhaisajyavastu in the following studies.