Early years
Yunmen was born in the town of Jiaxing near Suzhou and southwest of Shanghai to the Zhang family, apparently in 864 CE. His birth year is uncertain. The two memorial stele at the Yunmen monastery states he was 86 years old when he died in 949 CE, which suggests that he was born in 864 CE.
Initial Zen-studies
While a boy, Yunmen became a monk under a "Commandment master" named Zhi Cheng in Jiaxing. He studied there for several years, taking his monastic vows at age 20, in 883 CE.
The teachings there did not satisfy him, and he went to the school of Reverend Chen, Muzhou Daozong (also known as Bokushu.) to gain enlightenment. According to legend, first mentioned in 1100, he had his leg broken for his trouble:
Yunmen [Yunmen] went to Bokushu's temple to seek Zen. The first time he went, he was not admitted. The second time he went, he was not admitted. The third time he went the gate was opened slightly by Bokushu, and thus Yunmen stuck his leg in attempting to gain entrance. Bokushu urged him to "Speak! Speak!"; as Yunmen opened his mouth, Bokushu pushed him out and slammed shut the large gate so swiftly that Yunmen's leg was caught and was broken.
Daozong told Yunmen to visit the pre-eminent Zen master of the day, Xuefeng Yicun of Mt. Hsiang-ku, in Fuzhou (Fukushū) in modern-day Fujian, and become his disciple, as by now, Daozong was too old (~100 years old) to further teach Yunmen. After a few years studying with him, Yunmen did so, and received after several years, enlightenment.
Advanced Zen-studies
While Yunmen had received his teacher's seal of approval, he nevertheless did not become abbot, probably because he had only stayed there for 4 or 5 years. When Xuefeng Yicun died, Yunmen began travelling and visited quite a number of monasteries, cementing his reputation as a Ch'an master.
During a subsequent visit to the tomb of the Sixth Patriarch in Guangdong, Yunmen eventually joined (c. 911 CE) the monastery of Rumin Chanshi/Ling-shu Ju-min, who died in 918 CE. They became great friends. With his death, Yunmen became head priest of the Lingshu monastery on Mt. Lingshu (Reiju-in).
In this Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the T'ang dynasty was greatly weakened, and entire sections of the empire had broken away. The South was peaceful and developed, but the "North was torn by the ravages of war". The area of Southern China where Yunmen lived broke free during the rebellion of Huang Chao, a viceroy of the Liu family. Eventually, the Liu family became the rulers of the Southern Han (918–978) kingdom during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The ruler, Liu Yan, visited the monastery for Rumin's cremation (as Liu often sought Rumin's advice), and met Yunmen.
Abbot of Yunmen monastery
The front of the modern day Yunmen monastery.
Impressed, Liu Yan extended him his patronage and protection, as well as confirming his appointment as the new abbot of the Lingshu monastery. But Yunmen's fame drew a great flow of visitors from all over China and even from Korea. All these visitors proved too distracting for Yunmen's taste, and in 923, he asked the king to aid him in building a new monastery on Mount Yunmen. The king acquiesced, and five years later, at the age of 64, Yunmen began living in and teaching in the monastery on the mountain from which he took the name by which he is best known.
While the king and some of Yunmen's disciples continued to try to give Yunmen more responsibilities and honors, Yunmen refused, and returned to his monastery.
Farewell
One day, when Yunmen was 85 or 86, he composed a farewell letter to his patron, the new king of the Southern Han, and gave a final lecture to his monks, finishing with the statement:
Coming and going is continuous. I must be on my way!
Yunmen then sat in a full lotus posture and died. He would be buried with great honors, and his well-preserved corpse was exhumed several years later, and given a procession. In honor of this, his monastery was given a new name, and two stele erected, which recorded his biography. His corpse would be venerated until the 20th century, when it would disappear during the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.
Yunmen was succeeded as abbot by Dongshan Shouchu (Japanese: Tōzan Shusho; d. 900). Suhotsu became abbot in 990 CE; although at the time, his foremost disciple was accounted Pai-yün Shih-hsing, who had founded his own temple on the nearby Mt. Pai-yün.