Kutsu o nuide kudasai. (Please remove your shoes)

[AsahinaKimi]

靴を脱いでください。


Shoeless in a Buddhist temple in Thailand



This question came up recently, and thought I would share the answer for those of you
who are interested..


Sign in front of a Temple


Why in Buddhism do you remove your shoes before entering Buddhist services?

It's unhygienic to wear shoes indoors. Your shoes bring in a lot of dirt and filth from outside -leaves, insects, dog poop, gum, bacteria from the soil- all kinds of unpleasantness. If everyone wears shoes in the hall, it quickly becomes dirty and it may damage or mark the floor coverings. Buddhists like to have things last for a long time.

Shoes are for outside and in the bathroom. While Buddhists are pretty easy going and will let most things slide, you will simply not be allowed in wearing shoes.

Moreover, Buddhists do a lot of kneeling and sitting in lotus position or cross legged. It's not as easy to do that with shoes on.

As previously noted, it's also a mark of respect and simply a cultural and religious convention of etiquette.

Moreover, it's in the monastic code (the Vinaya) for monks and nuns that they are not allowed to teach Buddhism to anyone wearing shoes. Although this technicality is widely ignored, it has influenced the practices of the devout.

[xchrom]

1. I'm very uncomfortable not wearing shoes in other

Peoples houses.
I'm happy not wearing them in mine.

[WolverineDG]

2. That's actually a good practice

keep your shoes by the door & wear only house shoes or go barefoot while inside. That's how I was raised & my parents weren't Buddhists. ;)

Fast forward to 3 years ago, when I represented some mothers in a huge CPS case, & what are the caseworkers losing their minds over? The fact that they didn't wear shoes inside the house. :gasp:

(but yeah, I don't feel comfortable walking barefoot in someone else's home)

dg

[chillspike]

3. I once knew a Japanese girl who hated feet

What do you do in that case? :)

[AsahinaKimi]

4. A Japanese girl knows not to wear shoes

Inside a Buddhist Temple. If you are referring to your own house, thats a personal thing. In Japan, people do not wear shoes in their homes. There is a place you leave your shoes called a genkan. When a person comes home, they remove their shoes, and put on a pair of slippers, flip flops or wear socks. Usually special slippers are put on go into the bathroom. Once one leaves the bathroom the special shoes are removed before entering the next room.

http://www.tjf.or.jp/eng/content/japaneseculture/02kutsu.htm

But of course, the question was referring to a Buddhist Temple.

[bluerum]

5. SOP in Hawaii. And any martial arts dojo.

[jberryhill]

6. Unhygienic?

A lot of infections can be spread by shoelessness in areas where lots of people go shoeless.

There's a reason why athlete's foot is called that.

[AsahinaKimi]

7. Perhaps you have never seen this...

Buddhist Monks don't spend all day praying.. The Temple is cleaned and washed each day. It is a task all monks have to do. If you have ever been in to a temple you will see how pristine the floors are. Every day, whether people come or not, they are cleaned. Its part of the ritual of being an apprentice and a monk.

[jberryhill]

13. Great, send those guys to my house and I'll have barefoot parties every day

I know homes that wear shoes and homes that don't. Both can be just as hygienic.

If people wore shoes in that place, the floor would still be clean.

[AsahinaKimi]

16. "If people wore shoes in that place, the floor would still be clean." perhaps so

But the reason to go barefoot, is for respect for sacred ground.. and if you ever visit a temple, they will not let you in with shoes, just as it is customary for a man to remove his hat in entering church.

[jberryhill]

20. Yes I know that

But that practice (and I have been to mosques and Hindu and Buddhist temples from Morocco to Thailand and Korea and points between) is as you say, a spritual one and not something that is based on hygiene. I very much enjoyed my visit to a dentist in Thailand whose office was immaculate and shoeless.

In the US, we have such reverence for airport terminals that we remove hats and shoes when we enter them too.

The point being:

1. Public barefoot spaces have certain health risks, particularly in the transmission of fungal infections and certain parasites.

2. Public shoe wearing spaces have certain health risks too.

Neither of these is relevant in a situation where you have a team of monks continually sanitizing the floor in the first place.

Not everyone lives on a farm. There are people whose daily walking experience amounts to going to the garage of their house, driving to an indoor car park, and taking an elevator to an office. Their shoes are cleaner than the feet of someone who wears sandals to do farm chores all day.

Also, people injure their feet. If you have an infected cut or sore on your foot, then it is safer for me to walk barefoot across an indoor basketball court than a tile floor that you've walked on.

I think it is fine to take off shoes in homes. I grew up with Japanese and Korean friends and learned that as a child. But making a religious doctrine out of it is as rational as any other religious doctrine.

[WolverineDG]

18. What's that first guy using?

it looks like a rock. Or is it soap? (asking cuz I've never seen that) :)

dg

[formercia]

8. My boy was infected with Ringworm at Gymnastics.

It was pretty nasty but the cure was quick without even going to the medic: Anti-fungal cream.

The host needs to make sure the facilities are sanitized on a regular basis if they expect guests not to wear shoes.

[Alameda]

9. There are other things to cover the feet if one doesn't wear shoes.

In Islamic countries leather socks are used inside. Slippers and socks can do a good job of keeping feet sanitary. Wearing shoes in the home is not sanitary at all.

[Warren Stupidity]

10. My house has been shoeless for decades.

We all take our shoes off when we come inside. Of course non-family don't get it and walk around with their disgusting shit smeared shoes in our house, but we quietly ignore the insult, it is not intentional. Sometimes a visitor will notice and take their shoes off. That visitor is a keeper.

[Boojatta]

11. "walk around with their disgusting shit smeared shoes in our house"

I would ask a keeper, "What's a nice keeper like you doing in a place like this?"

[jberryhill]

15. Or... Don't befriend people who can't avoid walking in shit.

[Warren Stupidity]

17. it is a metaphorical shit, not a literal shit

although you actually have no idea of the content of the 'shit' your shoes collect.

[jberryhill]

19. Curb your metaphorical dog

I'll give you a metaphorical baggie to pick up after it then.

[Vehl]

12. I dont wear shoes in my home either

And generally ask visitors to take theirs off when they enter the house. Oft when people notice that We take our own shoes off, they follow suit. :)
I consider wearing footwear which was worn outside...through heaven knows what...inside the house as a serious health issue.


btw, shoes are not allowed inside any south Asian temple. Hindu/Buddhist/Jain temples have a place to put/secure ones footwear before entering them. One is also required(not always) to wash one's feet in the feet-washing area right next to the temple before entering.


People without shoes inside a temple


Place for people to wash their legs prior to entering the temple

[jberryhill]

14. It's like the old saying..

...some guys wash their hands after they pee, and some guys learn not to pee on their hands.

The weird thing is that guys are not taught to wash their hands BEFORE they pee. It's their hands which have been out touching things all day (unless you run the IMF or the State of California)