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.”
The Life of a Socially Awkward F*cking Weirdo
By John Lee Pendall I'm so socially awkward that I bought a hat that says, "Socially Awkward," on it. I bought it because 1) I thought it was funny, and 2) I thought it'd be helpful to explain myself right off the bat. If I just blatantly...
The Arittha Sutta: The Simple Act of Following the Breath
By John Lee Pendall The Arittha Sutta might be one of the most concise (less than a two minute read) Buddhist meditation guides out there. It pretty much takes you from the first day of practicing to nibbana in 500 words, and it combines...
Dear Teachers: Please Stop Sexually Assaulting Your Students
By John Lee Pendall So, here we go again---another Buddhist teacher accused of sexual assault. William Lloyd Karelis was a teacher at Shambhala in Boulder, CO. He's been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 13-year old girl. He...
How Can There be Rebirth if There is No Self?
By John Lee Pendall Whether you believe in rebirth or not, odds are you’ve either asked this question, or you’ve heard someone else ask it. Rebirth makes sense in Hinduism, since Vedanta claims that there’s a soul or essence somewhere in...
5 Tips for Making and Keeping Your Resolutions
By John Lee Pendall "I'm going to quit smoking, stick to a diet, exercise, cut down on social media, be more outgoing and use the world, 'like,' only when it's, like, absolutely necessary." It's almost the New Year; a time for stocking...
Ikkyu & Mental Illness: Riding the Red Thread
By John Lee PendallI'm far too dynamic (unstable) to practice any kind of stuffy (organized) Buddhism.I'm great at breaking things---a total clutz. Not just with objects like cups, but everything outside and inside. Any view or method I come across...
Don’t Worry, You’ll Still Be Funny After Enlightenment
By John Lee Pendall If we go by the books, enlightened sages aren't the life of the party. When we picture adepts, most of us probably imagine people who are tranquil, wise, and refined. In other words, total bores too #woke for...
Just Like Starting Over: How to Reboot Your Practice
By John Lee Pendall I suck at Buddhism. No matter what I do or how far I go, I always find myself plopped back at square one. Story time: once upon a time, there was a dude named Milarepa. He sought out Marpa---a highly acclaimed...
A Zen Priest Told Me That Nobody Cares
By John Lee Pendall What's wrong with all these dreary old men in robes who think they know it all? With few exceptions, that pretty much sums up my experience with institutional Western Zen. This interaction happened on that most...
Do Buddhists Pray?
By John Lee Pendall I was still an innocent Catholic kid when I first slipped into a meditative absorption... thing. The church was completely silent as we all knelt with the host dissolving on our tongues. That sounds weird. Scratch that---as...
That Time I Met a Bodhisattva at a Cracker Barrel in God’s Country
John Lee Pendall I live in LaSalle County, Illinois. It's a land dominated by cows, cornfields, American Legions and giant churches. There is a bar for every corner, two churches for every bar, and 20 banks for every church. My neighbor's rooster...
Why Don’t Zen Teachers Act Like Mr. Miyagi?
By John Lee Pendall We have this image of the prototypical Zen Master. The first requirement might be that they be Asian. There's no point in lying about it, Zen feels more Zen-like when it's taught by Asians. Second, we probably picture them...
Is Buddhism Supposed to be Fun?
By John Lee Pendall With my cellphone recording the video, I spoke with a British accent while creeping down the aisle. "Welcome to BBC (insert name of the retail giant I work for). I'm John Lee Pendall, and today we're hunting the...
Silent Contemplation: Meditation for Thinkers
By John Lee Pendall I've always thought of my life as a kind of an experiment. My mind and body are laboratories. This might not be healthy, but I'm okay with it. Some of these experiments have been painful---like when I let myself fall...
Big Box Zen: Mindfulness in the Workplace
By John Lee Pendall I just got employee of the month. They gave me a little plaque and everything. My manager called me into the office. I wondered, "Alright, what am I in trouble for? It could be so many different things." Instead, he slid the...