根據本文對於道家思想原型的考察，其認為《管子•心術上》之「原經」部分為道家最古老的文獻。本文即由《莊子》與《管子》四篇的比較研究，企圖證成其理論。
本文指出，《莊子•內篇》之〈人間世〉的「心齋寓言」與〈養生主〉「庖丁解牛寓言」，顯然是繼承〈心術〉系統之類型相異的寓言。而《莊子》書中與「心齋寓言」相關的寓言又包含：〈人間世〉、〈德充符〉、〈大宗師〉、〈寓言〉中的幾個寓言。
其中，〈大宗師〉的「坐忘寓言」、「見獨寓言」，及〈寓言〉的「大妙寓言」等等，顯示出道家思想成熟之極點；而這些寓言也大抵與〈內業〉同時。至於《莊子•外篇》之〈在宥〉、〈天地〉、〈天道〉等等，則呈現出道家思想衰落之現象；較〈內業〉為晚。於此可知《管子》四篇之學說的傳承過程經過了很長的時間。
總之，《莊子》書中不僅有傳承自《管子》四篇〈心術上〉系統的學說，亦皆受到〈心術下〉思想之影響，而將此傳承作為發展其思想的重要一環。按此考察結果，本文對於《管子》心術系統與《莊子》內外篇的推定，當如下頁簡表所示。
In search of the prototype of Taoist thought, this article aims to propose an observation that the argument on the ”practice of mind” (hsin shu) in the Hsin shu Ⅰ Chapter of the Kuang Tzu includes the oldest element of the Taoist philosophy. The author also tries to show that this element was incorporated into the thought of the Chuang Tzu.
This study observes that the argument on the practice of mind in the Kuang Tzu has been incorporated into the parable on the ”mental fast” (hsin chai) in the Jen chien shi Chapter of the Chuang Tzu and the parable on the butcher Ting in the Yang sheng chu Chapter. The similar ideas are also found in other parables in the Chuang Tzu, eg., those in the Jen chien shi Chapter, the Ta tsung shi Chapter, the Yü yan Chapter.
The arguments in the parable on ”sitting and forgetting”, and ”solitariness” in the Ta tsung shi Chapter and the parable on ”the Great wonderfulness” in Yü yan Chapter demonstrate the culmination of Taoist thought, and such a completeness of the thought leads us to assume that these parables have been taken into form at the almost same period as the Nei ye Chapter of the Kuang Tzu was composed. On the other hand, ideas found in the Tsai you Chapter, Tien tao Chapter, and Tian ti Chapter insinuate the ”declination” of Taoist tenet, and this phenomenon implies that these parables are presumably composed latter than the Nei ye Chapter. These facts suggest that the ideas and arguments in the so-called the ”Four chapters” of the Kuang Tzu went under long span of the evolutionary process of its thought.
In sum, this study attempts to show the thought of the Chuang Tzu has been taken into form under the influence of the idea and argument in the Hsin shu Ⅰ Chapter as well as the Hsin shu Ⅱ Chapter. It is in such an influential relationship that we can find a clue to understand the developmental process of the pre-Qin Taoist theory. This article also provides a picture which illustrates aforementioned influential relationship of ideas and arguments between the Kuang Tzu and the Chuang Tzu.
