Rabbi Avraham ben Yechiel Michel Danzig, known as the Chayei Adam after his work, was born in Danzig in 1748 into a prominent rabbinic family. At fourteen his father sent him to study in Prague, making him promise not to mingle with the "moderns" influenced by Moses Mendelssohn; he studied there four years under Rabbi Yosef Liebermann and the Noda BiYehuda. He married Sarah, daughter of Moshe ben Akiva Segal.

He then settled in Vilna, where for many years he lived from commerce, refusing to earn a living from Torah while serving unofficially as a rabbi. Around 1810, having lost his fortune, he accepted the official post of dayan of Vilna. He deeply admired the Vilna Gaon, whom he called "unique in his generation", and his son Yitzchak married a granddaughter of the Gaon. His son Moshe died at twenty; in his memory he named two of his books Matzevet Moshe and Zichru Torat Moshe.

His Chayei Adam, a clear digest of the daily laws of Orach Chaim, and its sequel, Chochmat Adam, on Yoreh De'ah, were written for working people with no time to study the great codes; he also wrote Binat Adam. They were enormously successful, and Chayei Adam study societies sprang up in many communities. In 1804 he and his family survived a gunpowder explosion in Vilna; he instituted an annual family "Purim" to commemorate their rescue.

He passed away on 4 Tishrei 5581 (1820).