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Abstract

Lao-Tzu is a well known man of thought. And it is also a name of his book. Even though the book, Lao-Tzu, is one of the most translated and published one in the world, there are still lots of things to discuss. For example, it’s very Lao-Tzu’s existence that many have still doubts about. This paper focuses on proposing a new approach to the study of Lao-Tzu by means of analyzing two materials intertextually: Simaqian(司馬遷)'s <laoziliezhuan(老子列傳)> and Lao-Tzu Text. The conclusion is summarized as follows. The thinker Lao-Tzu, who was from the countryside and served as a petty official in the central city, suggests ‘the holy way’ using ‘beautiful words’ in the text, Lao-Tzu. But the text wasn’t originally written as a book. In my view, it was originally an oral statement and distributed as same way and then finally compiled as a form of book. That’s because the text, Lao-Tzu, has strong points: one is its strong oral-friendly features and the other is popularity. Similarly, Lao-Tzu’s ‘beautiful words’ have advantage of naturalness and familiarity. Moreover, Lao-Tzu’s philosophy was based on folk religion but succeed in transcending it. Accordingly, we can find the harmonious coexistence of religious mysteries and rational foresight in Lao-Tzu’s ‘the holy way’ From this point of view, it’s more apparent that Lao-Tzu’s true potential and its contemporary value are beyond doubt.