Biography

Li was born in present-day Tianshui, Gansu, but some accounts relate he was from Zhao, Hebei. After achieving the degree of Jinshi in 798, he joined the imperial bureaucracy and served in the history department at Changan.

In 809, he was assigned to the southern provinces and made the trip with his pregnant wife from Luoyang to Guangzhou over nine months. The course they took included the modern provinces of Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Guangdong. His record of the trip, the Lainan Lu (來南録, "Record of Coming to the South"), contains detailed descriptions of medieval southern China and is considered one of the earliest forms of the diary.

At the time of his death in Xiangyang, Hubei, Li held the position of Governor of East Shannan Circuit (now Hubei and Henan). There is some debate about the year of his death. The Old Book of Tang gives the date of 841. While the Qing Dynasty historians, however, have argued that it should be 836.

Late imperial scholars regarded Li as the founder of one of the ten great schools of philosophy in the Tang and Song dynasties. As a philosopher, Li was heavily influenced by Buddhist philosophers like Liang Su and also the great neo-Confucian Han Yu. His extensive writings are preserved in the Liwengong Wenji (李文公文集). This work is presumably a later edition of the ten chapters of the Li Ao Ji (李翺集) as referenced in the New Book of Tang. Some of the few poems he produced can also be found in the Quan Tang Shi (全唐詩).

Works Cited

生平

李翱是北魏司空、清淵文穆公李衝十世孫，北魏使持節、侍中、太傅、錄尚書事、青州刺史、濮陽孝懿公李延寔九世孫，中書侍郎、左光祿大夫、清淵獻侯李彬八世孫，清淵縣侯李桃杖七世孫。李翱為唐代貞元十四年（798年）進士。元和初，任國子博士、史館修撰；元和十五年（820年），授考功員外郎並兼任史職。後貶為朗州、廬州刺史。

唐文宗即位，入朝為諫議大夫，不久以本官知制誥，太和七年（833年）自桂管都防禦使改授潭州刺史、湖南觀察使，累官山南東道節度使，卒於襄陽。

作品和思想

曾從韓愈學古文，皇甫湜是他的同學，李翱代表著韓文平易的一面；皇甫湜則代表著韓文奇崛的一面。

韓愈去世後，李翱寫祭文悼念他。文中說：「貞元十二，兄在汴州。我游自徐，始得兄交。視我無能，待予以友。講文析道，為益之厚。二十九年，不知其久。」又親自為韓愈作《韓吏部行狀》，這是韓愈生前囑咐的（墓誌銘則規定由皇甫湜撰寫）。

在思想上李翱大抵同於韓愈，同樣興儒反佛，認為佛教徒「不蠶而衣裳具，弗耨而飲食充」。但李翱的觀點體現了融合佛教、道教，思想接近禪宗。他跟高僧禪師時有往來，並寫了禪詩贈送藥山惟儼禪師：「煉得身形似鶴形，千株松下兩函經。我來相問無餘說，雲在青天水在瓶。」

朱伯崑指出，「人性本善」的說法，始於李翱的《復性書》。

注釋

參考書目

• 馬良懷《論韓愈、李翱思想的歷史地位》