Through a period of intensive field research at Soto Zen commune Green Gulch Farm, I examined the attraction Zen Buddhism holds for Americans, and how communal living situations such as Green Gulch enrich their Buddhist practice. American Zen Buddhist practitioners experience widespread alienation from American culture, specifically its consumer aspects, and are attracted to Zen Buddhism as an alternative lifestyle. The drive to save all beings--expressed through the bodhisattva ideal--is the focus of this alternative lifestyle. This drive to save all beings is culminated through living in community, where American Zen practitioners can feel that they are working to create extensive societal change through the construction of a service commune with a focus on cultural reeducation.
