在中國文學發展的流變上，存在著一些共同的主題，並呈顯了人們相似的思惟與祁願。佛教的傳入，對於某些主題有著推進深化的作用，本文擬於探討的「救母」情節，即是其中之一。從佛經中開啟的「救母」的旅程，到目連故事的發展，可謂是一個全盛期；後來的白蛇故事與沉香故事對這一主題的承接，則成為另一種轉折。三者之間雖然都有著「救母」的情節存在，但是由於方式不同、人物不同、身份不同，以致於產生了質變的過程。 本文嘗試由Alan Cole在 "Mothers and Sons in Chinese Buddhism" 一文中，比較儒教孝道與佛教孝道時的觀點切入。佛教藉由「乳恩」與「生債」，建構了兒子對母親的負疚感。其孝道觀念是以母親為主的一脈，不同於儒家的以父親為主，重構了中國人對於孝道的認知。而女性因為歷經生產之過程而成為「不潔」，也強化了兒子拯救母親責任感。以此觀點來檢視這三個故事，自然可以理解「子救母」會變成其共同子題的原因。 原先佛經故事及目連故事中對於「救母」的陳述比較傾向於密教（尤其是佛教）的救贖與業報的超脫。在宗教傳播的層面上，目連的「救母」故事可以說是一個集其大成者。然而，隨著往後故事情節的轉易，及傳統儒家觀念的交互影響，遂使得白蛇故事中的「救母」方式，改為儒家觀念裡，必須靠著兒子功成名就，並得皇帝聖恩，方使母親得以出塔的第一個質變。而「救母」子題的第二個質變當出於道教的影響，因此會有沉香故事中人神結合，而子可以為「救母」而挑戰天神的情節產生。

In the development of Chinese stories, there are several themes which represent what people think and wish. After the introduction of Buddhism into China, these themes are reinforced. The "recuing-mother" theme discussed in this paper is one of them. This plot has a complete development in the story of Mu Lian 目連, and later on continued to show in the stories of White Snake (白蛇) and Shen Xiang (沈香), only with some alterations. In other worlds, although all three stories share the same plot of "rescuing-mother," the differences in the ways of rescuing, roles and status of the son make them different. This paper adopts what Alan Cole mentions in "Mothers and Sons in Chinese Buddhism" that the obedience children pay to their parents is different in Confucianism and Buddhism. Buddhism requires sons to have a quilty conscience toward their mothers by imparting in them the ideas of ru-en 乳恩 (breastfeeding) and sheng-zhai 生債 (debt). Therefore, the obedience in Buddhism is mainly towards mother, which is quite different from what we find in Confucianism where obedience has everything to do with father. In Buddhism, because of the process of birth is seen as unclean, mother becomes the un-pure object in need of rescue, this increases the son's sense of duty and the need to rescue mother from suffering. Seeing from this perspective, "rescuing mother" at first tended to be a religious redemption and an escape from son's guilt in putting his mother in such a situation. This is seen especially in the story of Mu Lian. Afterwards, the "rescuing mother" in Buddhism began to mingle with that of Confucian ideas. We see in the story of White Snake that the rescuing of mother by son has to rely on the political and bureaucratic achievements and eventually on the emperor's permission. This is the first change. Another change came form the influence of Daoism as in the Shen Xiang story where human and god are merged and the son can challenge gods in order to rescue his mother.