Alex Kakuyo is a Buddhist teacher and breathwork facilitator.A former Marine, he served in both Iraq and Afghanistan before finding the Dharma through a series of happy accidents.Alex has a degree in philosophy from Wabash College and he helps students transform daily activities into spiritual practice.He is the author of Perfectly Ordinary: Buddhist Teachings for Everyday Life.
You can follow him by visiting his blog, The Same Old Zen and on Twitter: @sameoldzen.
How Buddhist Practice is Like Cutting the Grass
By Sensei Alex Kakuyo Many years ago, I dreamed of having a house in the country. I imagined how it would feel to eat food from my garden. I visualized chickens flapping their wings and running around in the coop that I'd built for them, and I strategized ways...
There are Buddhas Everywhere: Why We Need to Get Rid of the American Me-First Mindset
By Sensei Alex Kakuyo In America, we have a culture that is self-centered and individualistic. We believe that each person must look out for their own self-interest, working to earn as much money as possible at the expense of others. Ideas like...
The Desire for Something Else: Adam, Eve & The Buddha
By Sensei Alex Kakuyo One of the first bible stories that I learned involved Adam, Eve, and the garden of Eden. As the story goes, Adam was the first man, created by God from the dust of the earth. And Eve was his wife, created from Adam's rib in order...
A Buddhist “How-to” on Forgiveness
By Sensei Alex Kakuyo As Buddhists, we have an unnatural pressure placed upon us to forgive people who harm us. This is to be expected. After all, humans are social creatures, and they hate conflict. Unfortunately, the quickest way to end conflict is ask the...
In the Midst of Political War, We Sit on Cushions and Pray for Peace
By Sensei Alex Kakuyo Throughout history, the only way for someone to forcibly takeover a country was through intrigue and bloodshed. In fact, some of history's greatest rulers (Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, Shaka Zulu, etc.) were also it's greatest...
Is it Better to Have Never Been Born: Buddhist Thoughts on Suffering and Life
By Sensei Alex Kakuyo David Benatar is the head of philosophy at Cape Town University and the author of Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence. In his book, David argues that bringing new life into the world is an immoral act. In order...
Cardi B a Bodhisattva? Dharma Lessons from Her Latest WAP Video
By Sensei Alex Kakuyo Cardi B is a Bodhisattva who appeared on the VH1 Reality TV series: Love and Hip Hop New York from 2015 to 2017. In June of 2017, Atlantic Records released her first commercial Hip Hop single, Bodak Yellow, which reached number one on the...
A Buddhist View of Dealing with Online Bullies & Trolls
By Sensei Alex Kakuyo The greatest troll of all time was a man named Andy Kaufman. Kaufman was born on January 17, 1949, and he made his living as a performance artist, professional wrestler and self-proclaimed "song and dance"...
Sacred Little Altars Everywhere: My Altar Helps Me Walk the Path
By Sensei Alex Kakuyo When I became a Buddhist I was against the use of altars. In part, this was due to a youth spent in the evangelical Christian church, where we received daily warnings against false idols and eternal damnation. It...
The Most Surprising Lesson from The Gathering II: Buddhist Sangha of Black African Descent
By Sensei Alex Kakuyo Recently, I had the great honor and privilege of participating in The Gathering II: Buddhist Sangha of Black African Descent. The event was a week-long retreat at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where Black Buddhist...
Regular People Doing Regular Things is What Saves the World
By Sensei Alex Kakuyo I live in an apartment complex where everyone shares a trash chute. Several times a week I take my garbage down the hall to the trash room, put it into a hole in the wall, and watch it disappear forever. The hole...
Self Worth is Not About Your Income or Job Title
By Sensei Alex Kakuyo I was perusing Facebook the other day when I came upon the following question, "How do you maintain a sense of intrinsic self-worth within capitalism? This is a deep question, and it's an important one for our time,...
The Amazon Rainforest is Burning
By Sensei Alex Kakuyo The Amazon Rainforest is burning. To be fair, it's been burning in one form or another for a long time. Subsistence farmers in South America have used slash and burn farming practices for centuries, which involve...
How the US Women’s Soccer Team Can Teach Us about Sympathetic Joy
By Sensei Alex Kakuyo I was never very good at soccer. A lack of foot/ eye coordination mixed with my ability to sprint like an asthmatic turtle caused me to hang up my cleats at the ripe old age of 10. However, I never lost my love for...
The Lesson in The Game of Thrones Finale (and Why we Hate it)
By Sensei Alex Kakyuo WARNING! Game of Thrones Spoilers ahead! If you haven't seen the final season yet, you may want to close out this article now. ...