John Lee Pendall is a featured columnist, editor, podcast host, and co-owner of the Tattooed Buddha. He’s also a poet, composer, multi-instrumentalist (He’s recorded five albums so far), an amateur photographer/graphic designer and pen & ink artist, and he has a B.S. in psychology. He currently lives between two cornfields in rural Illinois. His errant knowledge base covers astronomy, theology, philosophy, music theory, and quoting lines from movies.
John Lee practices Chan Buddhism as a Novice Chan Priest. He’s also a lay Buddhologist (Buddhist scholar), and frequently translates and writes commentaries on Buddhist texts.
Feel free to check out John’s Facebook page and his blog, “Salty Dharma.”
Craving and Attachment: The Dopamine Hook
By John Lee Pendall It never gets old because it never began. Hi, I'm John, and I'm a serial unrequited lover. I recommend avoiding this at all costs. I've fallen in love six times in my life, and each one was one-sided. I've never really sat down and explored...
Buddhist Practice Means Getting Up and Getting Out There
By John Lee Pendall Most of us don't have time for Buddhism. I know a close Dharma brother of mine would disagree, but it's honestly true. Most people don't have time to study, meditate, go on retreats or even join a weekly sit. We don't have the time for it...
Six Layers of Emptiness Meditation
By John Lee Pendall Emptiness is one of the central teachings in Mahayana Buddhism, and it's called dependent arising in Theravada, so it's super old. Scholars have found a lot of evidence that sunyata (emptiness) was originally more about the way we know...
I’d Rather Be Real Than Enlightened
By John Lee Pendall "Think!" I said to myself as water spread across the counter and dripped onto the floor. I'd accidentally overfilled the tea maker. I instinctively moved it to the sink, but then I froze. My brain rushed to stop its former mental...
My Grandma’s Got COVID (Not A Political Post)
By John Lee Pendall So, my grandma tested positive for COVID-19. She's at a nursing home a few miles from me. The word on the street is that the staff brought it in. She's asymptomatic for the time being, but, well, ya know how time is. Anything can happen, and...
Caring for Her Gave Me a Sense of Purpose Even as She Fades
By John Lee Pendall Her mouth hangs open and there's nothing in her eyes. She's alive, but she's not living. A prisoner who doesn't even see her cell. My grandma. This article comes after I broke down and sobbed in my pillow. The damn dam finally cracked, and...
What’s the B in TTB? It’s Booty, Isn’t It?
By John Lee Pendall Yes, I write for The Tattooed Booty, and I'm very passionate about it. It's actually a requirement that all TTB writers have a Buddha on their left butt cheek. Okay, I'm totally kidding. And it is...
Skillful Speech in Turbulent Times
By John Lee Pendall THNK is an easy way to remember what skillful speech is. Is it true? is it helpful? Is it necessary? Is it kind? If something doesn't meet one of the first three, then it's probably unskillful speech. If it meets the...
Koan Study: Our True Nature & Yunmen’s Dried Turd
By John Lee Pendall One day, a monk asked Yunmen, “What is the Buddha’s body?”Yunmen said, "A piece of dried shit." Yunmen was a giant in Chinese Zen (Chan). He was such a huge figure that his students decided to create a whole Zen school around his teachings and...
Stuck Inside, Holding Yourself (Back): Right Speech Practice for Reality
By John Lee Pendall There's right speech, and then there's the fantasy self that keeps it. Aren't we a fantasy when we don't speak what's in our hearts and minds? Don't we then create a duality between who we are and how we act? If we...
Overcoming Existential Pain: The Walls We’re Taught to Build
By John Lee Pendall "You're too fat," "You're too skinny," "You're hair's too short, too long, there's too much, too little." "You're too smart," "You're not smart enough." - Society I've left behind most of my hatred and anger, but I'll...
Bashing Buddhist Taboos: Mind Wandering
By John Lee Pendall At some point along the way, I got it in my head that my mind should never wander, but that is a misunderstanding of the teachings. I felt like I was supposed to be, well, present and attentive to my surroundings. That's important,...
Mystical, Religious, Scriptural & Pragmatic Transmission in Zen
By John Lee Pendall Transmission has been a huge part of Zen Buddhism from the beginning. Well, maybe not from the beginning beginning, but since it became its own school of Buddhism. Prior to that, Chan Buddhists were just Southern...
All My Favorite Colors: A Call For Love in Madness
By John Lee Pendall It's hard not to hate. It's hard for me, too. It can be hard to love. Music helps. One of my favorite ways to describe emptiness is to compare reality to a song. We're all instruments, and our lives are the notes we're...
Metta at a Distance: Buddhism for Introverts?
By John Lee Pendall I'm an antisocial, introverted Buddhist, and yet I love metta practice. How does that make any sense at all? I really do wish everyone well. I want all beings to be happy, enlightened, and at peace---just as long as...