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Environment
Nature and Culture in
Harmonious Balance
To truly appreciate
the environmental wonders of the island, one needs to
understand that Bali's beauty is not merely the result of
faceless natural forces such as the grinding of ocean
plates, the rush of volcanic flows, the pull of the tides or
the sweep of the sea winds. Bali's spectacular natural
bounty is also very much a product of the intimate
relationship the Balinese people have with their
environment. To the Balinese, the natural landscape is a
divine creation marked by spiritually powerful sites.
According to local belief, the environment is not merely a
neutral backdrop for human activity, but is a vital, animate
force with which one must maintain harmonious relationships.
This is expressed in the Balinese concept of Tri Hita
Karana -- the "three sources of life" in the
ancient Sanskrit language -- which holds that God, humanity
and nature are inseparably linked. As in other parts of the
world, in Bali the environment is seen as the source of life
giving nourishment, of food to sustain the body and beauty
to lighten the soul. But in Bali, nature also provides the
organizing principles for almost every aspect of life.
Ritual and economic activities still follow many of the
traditional rhythms of the rice harvest. Myths and legends
take their inspiration from the lush island landscape and
the magical creatures inhabiting it. And the Balinese mark
their orientation in space not by the compass points of
north, south, east and west, but by kaja, toward the
mountains rising from the center of the island, kelod,
toward the sea ringing it, kangin, toward the wind
and the direction of the sunrise, and kauh, toward
the setting sun. The mountains -- especially the sacred
Gunung Agung or "great mountain," a 3,014 meter
high active volcano whose cloud draped peak towers above the
island -- are thought to be the abode of the gods, the
cosmic center from which all power emanates. By contrast,
the sea -- despite the enthusiasm of the surf and sand
worshipping tourists for Bali's beaches -- is considered by
the Balinese to be a dangerous place, inhabited by the
mysterious forces of the unseen world. Everyday life in Bali
follows this sacred topography, with houses built to align
their "pure" areas -- the head of one's bed and
the family temples -- with the sacred mountain and the
"impure" areas -- the bathroom and the garbage
heap -- with the sea.
If mountains and seas give
shape and structure to the Balinese world, water brings it
to life. The rivers which run down from the high mountain
peaks toward the shores branch off into smaller streams and
hand-made irrigation channels, flooding the rice fields with
needed moisture, turning the landscape into shimmering pools
of green and gold grains. And just as water mediates between
mountain and sea, linking them together as it flows, so
water mediates between God and humanity. Although Bali's
belief system is officially classified as Hindu, the
Balinese have their own traditional name for their religion:
Agama Tirtha, or the religion of holy water. The
importance of water in Bali's religious rites can be traced
back to the Bhagavad Gita, the ancient Indic text which
provides direction for Hindu worship. In one passage, the
god Krishna instructs his followers: "If one
disciplined soul proffers to me with love a leaf, a flower,
a fruit, or water, I accept this offering of love from
him." Following this command of the god, water
saturates the spiritual practices of the Balinese. There are
dozens of types of holy water in Bali, collected from
various springs considered to be sacred, and sanctified by
priests in special rites. This water is a necessary part of
all Balinese ritual, from the most elaborate temple ceremony
to the simple daily act of placing offerings to the gods and
ancestors in one's household shrines.
Trees and flowers are also
given an important place in Balinese culture. Traditional
Balinese literature is full of references to the powers of
certain plants to cure illnesses, to inspire love or
spiritual devotion with their beauty, or to attract or repel
spirits. The majestic banyan tree -- called waringin
in Balinese -- is considered to be especially powerful, and
can be seen marking crossroads and temples, its thick
branches and hanging canopy of aerial roots providing a
favorite haunt for invisible beings. In the traditional
Balinese calendar, there is even a special day devoted to
honoring trees, Tumpek Uduh. On this day, many Balinese
dress up the trees in their temples and houseyards with
special cloths and scarves and make offerings to them,
beseeching them to bear fruit. A Balinese will also be
careful to apologize to any spirits that may be gathered
around a particular tree before he cuts down their dwelling
place, and will wait for an auspicious day of the Balinese
calendar before undertaking such a task.
Animals as well are honored
by the Balinese. Although the concept of owning a
"pet" is foreign to the Balinese sensibility --
most Balinese are shocked and amazed at the amount of money
Westerners spend on the care and feeding of their beloved
dogs and cats -- animals are respected for the useful role
they play in human life. Farm animals such as cows and pigs
are honored on the traditional holiday Tumpek Kandang, when
they are bathed, offered special foods, blessed with holy
water, dressed up in gaily colored sarongs and decorated
with elaborately cut and shaped palm leaves. Even Bali's
huge population of dogs, mangy scavengers they might seem,
are respected as providing a useful service to humans. Dogs
clean the streets and houseyards of leftover food and warn
of intruders by sending up an amazing symphony of sound.
Dogs also warn of other more magical visitors as well.
Because dogs' eyes are said not to be "clouded"
like they eyes of humans, dogs are believed able to see the
spirits of the unseen world that their owners cannot. A dog
barking at the shadows cast in the deserted corner of a
houseyard on a moon-filled night will be said to be
conversing with a supernatural guest, notifying the
neighborhood of its ghostly presence.
The deeply held connection
between the Balinese and their environment is also evident
in the most stunning and sacred of traditional art forms:
the offerings, called banten in Balinese, made to
thank the gods and divine ancestors and welcome them down to
earth. There are many kinds of Balinese offerings, from the
simplest palm-leaf baskets holding a few blossoms, grains of
rice and betel that are placed in the household shrines each
evening, to the most elaborate constructions, towering
sculptures that combine fruits, flowers and brightly colored
rice dough for use in elaborate temple ceremonies. Balinese
use organic materials from the environment to create these
spectacular offerings, and then shape them to symbolize
forces in the natural world. Small cones of rice represent
the cosmic mountain, eggs and coconuts represents the
fertility of the earth and its inhabitants, while fruits
evoke the bounty of the land. Despite the wide variations in
form and function of the offerings made for different ritual
occasions in different parts of the island, these offerings
share one common characteristic. They all take the wonders
of nature created by the gods, turn them into spectacular
symbolic representations of the cosmos, and then give them
back to the gods as gifts for their blessings, closing the
circle between humans, their environment and the divine.
The deeply held reverence of
the Balinese for the natural world does not, however, make
them "conservationists" in the typical Western
sense. In Bali, nature is not considered to be an object set
apart from humanity that must be conserved in parks or
preserves removed from human habitation. For the Balinese,
respect for nature means that one must enter into a familiar
relationship with it. By lifting flower petals up to the
gods in prayer, by cleansing one's soul with pure spring
water made holy in ritual, by shaping nature’s bounty into
stunning works of spiritual art, and by thanking the gods
for the gifts of one's trees and animals and asking
permission to use them for one's one purposes, the Balinese
express their close relationship with the natural beauty of
their island home.
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