Date Thesis Awarded
5-2008
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only
Degree Name
Bachelors of Arts (BA)
Department
Religious Studies
Advisor
Kevin Vose
Committee Members
John Morreall
Kathleen E. Jenkins
Abstract
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.
Recommended Citation
Mikles, Natasha, "I'm Not a Monk, but I'm a Bodhisattva: Green Gulch Farm and the Expression of Zen Buddhism in America" (2008). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 802.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/802
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Comments
Thesis is part of Honors ETD pilot project, 2008-2013. Migrated from Dspace in 2016.