本文以1939年邓广铭在昆明听陈寅恪讲天师道课的笔记为例，讨论有关道教史研究的几个问题。首先，从学术史角度讨论如何理解陈寅恪对中古宗教史中滨海地域、外来文化以及“汉化”现象的猜测和分析。其次，指明陈寅恪中古宗教研究的意义，并不在于解决天师道的具体历史问题，而在于提示中古史研究的大关节。最后，通过这份课程笔记中的两句话，重新理解陈寅恪为何如此重视道教在中国思想、学术与文化史中的意义。

Taking Deng Guangming’s notes on lectures in the Celestial Masters by Chen Yinke in the year of 1939 for instance, this paper discusses several problems in the studies of Daoist history. First, the author discusses how to understand Chen Yinke’s presumption and analysis of coastal area, foreign culture, and the phenomenon of Chinesization in the history of medieval religion in a perspective of academic history. Second, the paper points out that the significance of Chen’s studies of medieval religion lies not in solving concrete problems of the Celestial Masters, but in indicating the key to studies of medieval history. Finally, the author provides a new understanding of why Chen attached such importance to the significance of Daoism in the intellectual, academic, and cultural history of China through two sentences in Deng’s lecture notes.