Lǐ Yìzhuó 李翊灼 (1881-1952)
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Lǐ Yìzhuó 李翊灼 (1881-1952) was an academic, scholar of Buddhist history, and author of several works on Buddhist Studies. He, Ōuyáng Jiàn 歐陽漸, and Guì Bóhuá 桂伯華 are popularly known as the "Three Outstanding People of Jiāngxī" 江西三傑.
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Lǐ received a traditional education as a child. Some time in the 1900s under the influence of his fellow Jiāngxī native Guì Bóhuá 桂伯華 he began to study under Yáng Wénhuì 楊文會 at the Jīnlíng Scriptural Press 金陵刻經處, where he excelled at the study of Yogacara 法相唯識. In 1908 he and Ōuyáng Jiàn 歐陽漸 reportedly attempted to start an agricultural operation on Mount Jiufeng 九峰山, but it was not successful. In 1912 he participated in the establishment of the first short-lived Chinese Buddhist Association (1912) 中國佛教會 along with Ōuyáng, Guì, Lí Duānfǔ 黎端甫 and others.
When the Dunhuang manuscripts were brought to the National Library in 1911 (then the Capital Library 京師圖書館), Lǐ was contracted to catalogue and write abstracts for the texts. He identified about 160 texts that did not exist elsewhere, and indexed them in his 疑偽外道目錄, first published in 1912 in the first issue of 古學匯刊. This index was later included in the indices section of the Taisho Canon. In July 1924 he represented Jiāngxī Buddhism as one of about 10 Chinese participants at the second World Buddhist Federation meeting 世界佛教聯合會 at Lúshān 廬山.
Lǐ taught at a number of schools, including Xīnyuǎn University in Jiāngxī 江西心遠大學 and Northeastern University 東北大學 in Shěnyáng 瀋陽, where he taught Philosophy, Buddhist Studies, and classes on the Book of Changes. After the Mukden Incident of 1931, he went to Běijīng to teach at Tsinghua University 清華大學, and in 1933 accepted a position at Zhōngyāng University 中央大學 in Nánjīng 南京 where he taught for ten years. In 1948 he returned to Nánchāng 南昌, where he died of illness in 1952.
Lǐ was married to Guì Yuánchéng 桂圓成, the sister of Guì Bóhuá, though the two reportedly were not close and at some point Yuánchéng returned to her brother's home.
Print references for Lǐ are scattered; at the moment online sources provide the most information. Many of them reproduce the same biographical sketch; the original source of this information appears to be a work by Yu Lingbo.