Юньмэнь Вэньянь: Таң дәуірінің Чань шебері

Chinese Buddhist philosopher

Yunmen Wenyan (; romaji: Ummon Bun'en; 862 or 864 – 949 CE), was a major Chinese Chan master of the Tang dynasty. He was a dharma heir of Xuefeng Yicun. Yunmen founded the Yunmen school, one of the five major schools of Chán (Chinese Zen). The name is derived from Yunmen monastery of Shaozhou where Yunmen was abbot. The Yunmen school flourished into the early Song Dynasty, with particular influence on the upper classes, and eventually culminating in the compilation and writing of the Blue Cliff Record. The school would eventually be absorbed by the Linji school later in the Song. The lineage still lives on to this day through Chan Master Hsu Yun (1840–1959).

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.

While a boy, Yunmen became a monk under a "Commandment master" named Zhicheng 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 Muzhou Daoming (Chinese: 睦州道明; Pinyin: Mùzhōu Dàomíng), also known as Muzhou Daozong (Chinese: 睦州道蹤; Pinyin: Mùzhōu Dàozōng)refn|group=lower alpha|also known as Bokushu, Reverend Chen, Muzhou Daozong, Ch'en Tsun su, Mu chou Tao tsung, Tao ming, Muzhou Daoming etc. ; Xuefeng Yicun of Mount Xianggu, in Fuzhou in modern day Fujian Province, and become his disciple, as Daoming was by then too old (~100 years old) to further teach Yunmen. After a few years studying with him, Yunmen did so, and received enlightenment after several years.

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 Chan 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 Mount Lingshu. In this Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the Tang 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".). His foremost disciple was accounted Baiyun Zixiang (Chinese: 白云子祥; Pinyin: Báiyún Zixiáng), who had founded his own temple on the nearby Mount Baiyun.

Yunmen is known for apparently meaningless short sharp single word answers, like "Guan!" (literally, "barrier" or "frontier pass") – these were called "Yunmen's One Word Barriers". These one word barriers
were meant to aid practice, to spur insight, and thus to promote realization. Not only his punchy one syllable retorts, but also his more extended conversation and stories came to be used as koan.