Naked Inhibitions
Shoshin
No one in particularNowhere Special Veteran
This morning I went to the beach for a swim and some vitamin D intake (I go most free mornings, if the weather's good)…The community I live in is pretty laid back, lots of alternative lifestylers, so the beach of choice is a swimsuit free option beach, where most beach goers are the “full Monty” naked, others prefer to wear swimsuits or part there of...(I opt for the former ie. Birthday suit) I don’t see anything immoral about going naked or seeing other naked bodies (Seen one seen them all)...Besides "Form is Emptiness...Emptiness is Form"
I understand that it is not appropriate for monks and nuns to go the full monty...But does it apply to the lay practitioner as well ?
If this is the case then I guess some Jain must have slipped into my practice... 
http://www.buddhisma2z.com/content.php?id=288
Are you comfortable with your body and being naked amongst other naked people... ?
Do you think that it's inappropriate for a practicing Buddhist (lay-person) to skinny dip ? (Immoral)
Or do you think that issues such as nudity are of no importance to the lay practitioner ? “Each to their own”
Comments
We have a huge clothing optional beach in Vancouver.
Somehow I never really think that summer has arrived until I've taken the boys out there for a little fresh air & a bit of sun worship.
Personally I don't mind. I tend to go naked under my clothing most of the time.
Incidentally traditionally some mountain adepts of Tibet who have mastered tumo, go naked but may wear a black cloak to protect the sensibilities of Yak and Yeti. Most just wear thin cotton winter and summer.
I don't think it would bother me, but living in Minnesota, we're usually wearing multiple layers most of the year, and in the summer, there are just some areas you don't want bug bites...lol. I've been skinny dipping and I love it. I love the water and there is nothing like gliding through the water in the dark with nothing between you and the water. I'm kind of jealous you have the opportunity
Though, in MN and being of Finnish family, we sauna naked and then jump in the lake, or the snow pile. Very cleansing experience. Love it. Need to take sauna again soon. Even though you can't see them, the starry night summer nights are filled with people taking saunas and jumping in the lake. You can hear them, clothing or not, and it's a joyful sound.
It's funny you should mention the Finnish tradition of sauna and skinny dipping...I had the good fortune to visit Finland in the early 70s... I met some Finish people when working in a youth hostel in Germany, they invited my friend and I to visit them in Turku..
It was fantastic, they had a summer house out by a lake and we spent most of the time going from sauna to jumping in the lake...It was also the one and only time I water skied and yes I'm quite proud of my 'self' I managed to stay on top of the water (well most of the time)....
This is not an answer to your question, but just a story. My mother and I and a Thai friend had traveled out to the border between Thailand and Laos, on the Thai side. We visited an historic temple that afternoon, and this lovely young lady wanted us to meet the abbot. He was gardening, and to be frank, clearly in the depth of Alzheimer, or some similar malady. The young lady was so polite, as was my mother, and having been in Thailand many times I knew how to act. So we were all being very respectful. He went nutty, and all the time he was screaming his ding dong was hanging out of his robe. After we walked away the young lady was crying and so apologetic.
The seed for this thread was planted last week when at the beach a yachtie came ashore and sat by me with his clothes on...
First he apologised and asked it it would be ok to sit by me, he went on to say that for the last fews days out sailing he had not seen nor spoken to anybody and just felt the need for human company...He then said how embarrassed he felt being clothed and how he admired those of us who could go naked, but he couldn't bring himself to stripe naked and go in for a swim...
I told him that we were all in the same boat and that nobody will bat an eyelid if he got naked and went for a swim.
I had to leave due to having a meeting at work and as I was going up the track I looked back and saw him walk to his dingy (he rowed it to shore) he hesitated for a bit but then took off his top and shorts and quickly entered the water...
It's funny how self-conscious we humans can be...I wonder if he will now make a habit of going naked......
Being a nurse has given me the 'seen one, seen them all' attitude toward naked bodies. But my family wore clothes ALL the time, even in bed, and modesty and horror of nakedness is, I'm afraid, drilled in deep. I don't mind seeing your naked body, I just can't imagine you seeing mine. Completely ridiculous, but there it is. It's a total unnecessary burden I wish I didn't have.
@Shoshin
My partner likes to talk about how we were once at the clothing optional beach after a big storm had past by. The waves were bigger than normal so I was out there body surfing like an enthusiastic little kid. A guess a woman saw me having fun out there, swam out and asked me if I could show her how to do it. We had a pretty good time playing out their until we both ended surfing into shallower water where I stood up.
She looked at me up and down with a bit of disappointment, tuned around without a word and walked into shore.
My wife nearby on the beach was watching and couldn't catch her breath for laughing.
She later said if I watched more "Seinfeld" with her I'd have a better understanding about cold water and shrinkage.
I belonged to a Naturist club for about 7 years. Believe me (those who haven't tried) there is absolutely nothing in a naturist camp that even remotely LOOKS like the Adonis/Venus "Body beautiful"....!
All shapes, colours, nationalities and sizes of thighs, bums, bellies and breasts.
And I knew I'd seen everything when during the building of a new community hall, all the volunteer helper gentlemen were wearing hard-hats, Doc Martins and safety gloves - yet nothing in the world was going to compel them to protect their meat 'n' two veg!!
I'll tell you where people still reflect embarrassment: in public lavatories.
Do we want people to know we're having a dump? My goodness, we do not..... We hate the fact that the sounds give our bodily evacuations away! And I've known this embarrassment persist and exist in naturist clubs!
.> @Hamsaka said:
You're not alone...No doubt there are many in the same boat...Like most things, it's ones conditioning....
Yes. Conditioning. Not programming. We're programmed with human animal instincts. We're conditioned by the influence and prejudices of our peers and social mores.
That, at least, we CAN change.....
I grew up in a very modest family, so I'm not sure where it came from in me. I actually had to learn to check myself, since I have boys, and find the limits of them coming in to talk to me while I was in the bath and so on, lol. I found the separation happened naturally. Though, I still have my hangups. My grandma often makes us sweatshirts and such, and she insists we change in front of her to show her what they look like. For whatever reason, it bugs me to do so. When I was a kid, my great grandma (this grandma's mom) had a sauna at her house. Great grandma had immigrated from Finland, so naked sauna with family was just how things were done. Being a young kid and at the time I'm sure going through all the "good touch, bad touch" stuff in school, I always wanted to remain in my bathing suit, but both great grandma and other grandma always insisted on naked sauna. Their insistence made me uncomfortable so I stopped going, so I think that is where my discomfort with my grandma came from and remains today. But I have no problems taking naked sauna with my mom and my sister, lol. Though, it's very rare for men and women to mix. Usually men sauna separate from women, that's been the tradition. When they mix, they wear bathing suits.
It's interesting, for sure. I think I'd be fine being a nudist, honestly. I'm sure my children would love that
I find clothing to be quite restrictive and binding, even if it's very comfortable. I find it unfortunate we put those walls between us and the natural world.
Naturist clubs of good reputation will actively encourage family membership, or couples, but very rarely happily accept single people, in particular, men. However, even with this openness and welcome, the majoritiy of those conspicuous by their absence are adolescents.
Kids tend to stop coming to club gatherings as a rule, round about the ages of 12 - 14, nd you find they'll re-join the family, in their late teens, early 20's....
I can see that. My middle son is 12, and there is a vast difference from the age of 10ish onward. Very private, which I can't blame them, it takes time to adapt to a changing body. But also I think it is one thing they can control in their lives, and at that age they get to a point (my kids anyhow, and I know I did, too) they feel they have no control in their lives and want whatever they can get, lol.
A picture for the girls, though a last remnant of modesty on the part of the gentlemen won't make our female delight complete...
Remember this one, Federica??
There is a naturist beach near me, but unfortunately it's mainly populated by over-weight middle-aged men who do a good impression of beached seals.
It's enough to put you off your dinner.
Absolutely, it's really about personal preference and culture, and also a bit of sensitivity. I wouldn't join a naturist Buddhist group though!
I've been to a nudist beach once, and that was in Jamaica, the experience was interesting, I don't mind being naked in public, I think it mostly due to how I was raise, naked never been an issue.
I think is fine for lay person to go skinny dipping... it's a way to enjoyed nature and let me tell you, there's nothing better in the world than skinny dipping it's a wonderful feeling.
I definitely see blue and black....
@Shoshin
Hilarious enough to have watched it twice.
That dinner with nudists clip does make me think that the cooks & food venders at Vancouvers clothing optional beach really should be wearing a second hair net.
I grew up with one of the the first UK naturist beach in the UK on my doorstep - Brighton beach... lol... although it held a fascination, it wasn't particularly the most pleasant of sights - belly wobbles, balding fat arses, and I can't talk about it even now
It would seem some are very superficial when it comes to Dharma practice
"Form is Emptiness-Emptiness is Form!"
@Shoshin said:
Are you comfortable with your body and being naked amongst other naked people... ?
-Yes.
_Do you think that it's inappropriate for a practicing Buddhist (lay-person) to skinny dip ? (Immoral) _
-Speaking for myself, no.
Or do you think that issues such as nudity are of no importance to the lay practitioner ? “Each to their own”
-For the most part, but in a given instance also taking into consideration the feelings of those around us...
Yes, definitely a sight to upset children and dogs! I wonder if there is an element of exhibitionism, but then I think "If I looked like that I wouldn't dream of displaying myself in public!"
It's "I look like an anaemic beached whale but i don't give a shit!" attitude....
Have they no shame?!
Nope, seems not..... Like the fellow naturist I once encountered, a few seats down, on a crowded commuter train.
We both knew we knew each other.... just not.... from where.....
So finally, I get up to leave the train at my stop, and he yells, at the top of his voice:
"Oh! Yeah! I didn't recognise you with your clothes on!"
I decided to look at images determined by the search terms 'naked inhibitions' on the net today - wow, some people have no inhibitions at all! it must be a profitable way of acting out your life, or why would some of these people do what they are doing....
Anyhow here's a little selfie:
...\WoW/... I hear you NB ladies say - cute tongue: put it away!
Do people say that to you a lot then?
Nope, just the once.
And believe me that was enough!
This is quite common in the community where I live....