TRI HITA KARANA (THREE ASPECT FOR HARMONIOUS AND HAPPY LIFE IN BALINESSE TRADITION).

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“TRI HITA KARANA”

(THREE ASPECT FOR HARMONIOUS AND HAPPY LIFE IN BALINESSE TRADITION)

By I Wayan Redig

PROGAM STUDI ARKEOLOGI FAKULTAS SASTRA DAN BUDAYA

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PREFACE

The topic of this article is “Tri Hita Karana” (Three Aspects for Harmonious and

Happy Life in Balinese Tradition). This article would actually presented in an

International seminar. However the seminar cancelled. The article is now to be collection

of the Department of Archeology.

It would not have been possible for me to present the article in its present form,

without receiving valuable help from different quarters.

My grateful thanks are due to any staffs of the library of Udayana University and

Department of Archeology, as they provided me numerous books and journal with were

not available to me

I beg to be excused for the error which may have persisted in this work in spite of

my efforts and utmost care.

Denpasar, November 21st₂₀₁₅

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

We have never encountered the word of “Tri Hita Karana” (THR) written in any

scriptures of Hinduism despite the fact it has become a topic of discussion amongst

scholars as reflected in various articles. Just to mention a few of them are as follow.

a. “Kehidupan Adat dan Agama dalam Pembangunan” by Kepala Insp. Bimas

Hindu dan Budha Propinsi Bali Published by Dep. Agama Propinsi Bali,

Denpasar, 1975.

b. “Tri Hita Karana and Subak” (In Search for Alternative Concept of Sustainable

Irrigated Rice Culture) by Nyoman Sutawan. Publiser: INWEPF/SY, 2004. c. Badung Regency Cultural Heritage Conservation by I Wayan Geriya, cs.

Publised by Dinas Kebudyaan Kabupaten Badung: 2012.

d. “Tri Hita Karana and Natural Resources” (Exploring a Way How This Nature is

Preserved and Protected in Bali and Lombok Island) by I Ketut Warta. Published

in Delhi Business Review Vol. 13, No. 2 (July-Desember 2012).

e. Mediation of Tri Hita Karana Organizational Culture in Efect of Spiritual

Intelligence and Asta Brata Leadership On Employee Performance” by Ida

Bagus Agung Dharmanegara, et.al. Publised in Interdisciplinary Journal of

Contemporary Research in Busines. Vol. 5, No. 6 October 2013.

f. “The Accountability in the Dimension of Tri Hita Karana (THK)” (An

Ethnographic Study on the Organization of Kuta Traditional Vilage) by Gde Ary

Wirajaya, et.al. published in Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ), Volume II, Issue

VIII, August 2014.

Going through these articles mentioned above, the authors are of opinion that

THK consists of three elements for obtaining prosperous life or welfare of human beings.

The three elements are (a) Pahriangan, keeping harmonious relation with god; (b)

Pawongan, keeping harmonious relation among human being; and (c) Palemahan,

keeping harmonious relation with natural and environment. However they are not

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Even though we are now not going to talk it in detail, this paper attempts to discuss the

problems as formulated below.

(a) How does Balinese engagement deal with to the cosmology/spirituality of

sustainability?

(b) What does the form of the cosmology/spirituality of THK in relation to the

Balinese wisdom and teachings of Hinduism? (c) Does THK and WTO share a comment notion?

CHAPTER II RESULT OF ANALYSIS

2.1. Balinese Engagement in the Cosmology/Spirituality of Sustainability

Talking about both cosmology and spirituality of sustainability, the ideology of

THK is worth to be mentioned first.THK is a principle concept in the life of Balinase

people for obtaining prosperous, welfare and happy life. It consists of three inseparable

domains, viz. Parhyangan, Pawongan and Palemahan. To obtain welfare and happy life,

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human beings, according to this tradition, should be able to keep realizing the

relationships to (1) God/gods/ancestor, (2) other human beings, and (3) environments.

Keeping harmonious relationship to the God/ancestor, people practice his teachings,

building temples, shrines, etc. Thousand of temples are available in Bali as forms of his

faith in the existence of Supreme Reality. Every house compound, village, regency, has

its own temple. Similarly many clans have its own temples. In addition to it, some

professional groups like farmer, trader, artist, etc have their own temple. Looking it from

its function, thus, there are at least four group of temples available in Bali namely:

(1) Family temple, it is sacred place for worshipping God for a family or clan.

(2) Village temple, it is sacred place for worshipping the aspects of the God, Viz.

Brahma (God as creator---Utpathi), Visnu (God as maintainer---Sthiti ), and

Isvara (God as destroyer---Pralina) --- altogether known as Tri Murti by

members of village

(3) Public temples, it is sacred place for worshiping nine manifestations of the

Almighty God, respectively as a guardians of nine directions according to

Ballinese cosmology. One of these temples is the mother temple of Besakih.

Everyone can worship in here.

(4) Functional temples, it is sacred place for worshipping gods by professional

group like farmer, trader and so forth

To sum up, we may see that these temples are built for worshiping and glorifying

God, gods and ancestor. For this action, ritual and festival are performed as forms of

religious faith and expressions to the Almighty. By this way, we may see that spirituality

of sustainability come to be well maintained.

We are now going to talk about the action that concerns with the cosmology of

sustainability or maintaining the nature or environment in which man live in. Man can

not live without nature; he take a lot from nature. For a theist he believes that the nature

including its content was created by the God. The nature and all its heterogeneities belong

to the God. Even according to the teaching of Hinduism, the Almighty exist in any of His

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woods, beach, lake, sea, etc., are as manifestations of Him; He pervades all. They are,

hence, respected and honored by the Hindu Balinese. Its believed each of them have their

owns guardian respectively that can cause inconvenient, uncomfortable, even danger to

the mankind if they are not properly used or exploited.

There is in Bali an irrigation association called Subak which physically concerns

to the cosmology of sustainability, particularly to sustain natural resources like water

resources for irrigation. The farmers in Bali do their best to maintain the natural

resources. Otherwise, when it is overused due to under controlled desires of man, the

natural resources can be exhausted even causing natural calamities. They are in a join

cooperation cultivate land, arrange water distributions and maintaining natural resources

in proper condition. They keep harmonious relationship with one and another, with the

nature or environment and with the God as it is described in the concept of THK. All

these imply to the cosmology of sustainability and constitute to welfare of human being.

2.2. Cosmology/Spirituality of THK In relation to the Local Wisdom and Hindu Teaching.

As mentioned before, we have never found in so far the word of THK written in

any scriptures of Hinduism. Bhagavadgita a holy scripture, only mention that the

universe as a creation of the God was a love-based creation and it must be well preserved

and protected from destruction (Warta, 2012: 92). However, in this book does not

mention any conditions that how the universe must be preserved and protected. Balinese

people, however, as it is based on THK, has preserved and protected the nature in

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interpolated with Hinduism. Similarly, the cosmology or spirituality of THK is also the

combination of Balinese and Hinduism. They become a harmonious blend of concept.

Talking about cosmology of THK, since THK interpolated with Hinduism, we

may refer to the symbolical cosmic of Samudramantana related the shrine called

Padmasana and Meru. Padmasana is a shrine dedicated to the God Siva or Surya, while

the Meru dedicated to any gods or ancestors that depend on to the worshippers, i.e which

gods or ancestors they believe in. Padmasana actually means “lotus seat” and Meru

“mountain”. Their forms are unique. Padmasana look like a throne but very high in

measurement. The structure symbolizing cosmos is topped with throne like chair and the

structure is sported by cosmic turtle below which is flanked with two serpents (nagas).

The body of the turtle is twisted by the tails of the two nagas.

The cosmic turtle is named Bedawangnala, that is, spouting fire from its nose

(Patra, 2012: 80). It is, thus, the turtle twisted by the tails of the two nagas representing

magma wrapped by earth and waters. In this case, the two nagas named Anantaboga and

Vasuki represent respectively earth and waters (Redig, 2012: 45).

Symbolically, Padmasana share a common meaning with that of Meru. Meru

(pagoda) is a shrine with terraces roof wich is odd in number (commonly three up to

eleven roofs). Both Padmasana and Meru represent univerce. Part of their bottom share a

common feature. However, Meru is in particular related to mountain. The word Meru is

derived from Mahameru, the highest mountain of the world namely mount everest in

India.

Mountain, according to the legend of Samudramantana, is about the story of the

stirring of Milk Ocean described in the book of Adiparwa, stirring stick to churn the

ocean. The book says that the milk ocean contained Amrta (elixir). Gods and demons

intended to protect themselves from death, and worked together to get the elixir. By using

the stirring stick of Mandaragiri (cosmic mountain) they churned the ocean again and

again. By this action, the elixer come out. That is all in short. Thus, Meru is to be

representation of the story. It implies the men have to cultivate the land where they live to

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Turn back to the issues of the Balinese engagement in the cosmology and

spirituality of sustainability. The Padmasana and Meru those are respected become the

sustainable cosmology in the form of symbol. The other question arises what Balinase do

naturally for cosmology of sustainability.

To solve the last question we may refer to the some rituals concerning to the flora

and fauna. For the rituals, amongst them, there are Tumpek Uduh/wariga (flora day

ceremony) and Tumpek Kandang/Uye (fauna day ceremony) (Suda, 2010: 19-20). In

addition to it, there are rituals of Nyepi, Galungan, Nangluk Merana and temple

festivals.

a. Nyepi Day is a major feast carried out once a year. In the day people stop all

activities along the day with the rules of catur bratha penyepian (four fasts of

silence day). Parts of catur bratha penyepian are:

• Amati Geni, which means, it should not turn on any kind of fire or light.

• Amati Karya that is not allowed to work or do the work. So in Nyepi Day

should stay at home without working.

• Amati Lelanguan, people should not entertain themselves like watching

TV, watching art performance, gambling, etc.

• Amati Lelungan, means not travel. So in this day we should not traveling

or moving from one place to another anywhere and keep silent at home.

b. Galungan Day, another great feast carried out twice a year when the ancestral

spirits come down to earth to dwell again in the homes of their descendants.

Worth to mention that on all the roads, at the gate of every home, tall Penjors

were erected. Penjor is decorated bamboo enhanced with young coconut leaf and

land farm production like sweet potato, cassava, paddy, and fruits. This feature is

likely representing fertilized mountain where the gods dwell. The Penjor

dismantle after one month.

c. Nangluk Merana, a kind of ritual to protect flora and fauna from pest attack. This

ritual is usually carrid out in a village. The same ritual but biger than this even the

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needs to be performed in the mother temple of Besakih. Need to mention there is

held in Besakih temple great periodic rituals, like Panca Walikrama and Ekadasa

Rudra, both are forms of bhuta yadnya (sacrife to nature/elemental principles)

and dewa yajna. Ekadasa Rudra is only held at Besakih, whereas Panca

Walikrama is not only in Besakih (Stuart-Fox, 2002: 321) it can be in some other

big temples. The ritual both of small and big need various plants and animals for

offering is not intended to wipe out all animal from the world but to prevail their

life (Adnyana, 2012: 30). Since such ritual is done frequently plants and animals

have to be well-preserved. These are all in consonant with cocmology/spirituality

of sustainability. It implies to sustain fertility and prosperity.

To sum up, any action and performance like temple building (to build Padmasana

and Meru), ceremony of flora and fauna, Nyepi, Galungan, and Nangluk Merana

ceremony, are pointed to the cosmology/spirituality of THK.

2.3. The THK and Western Notion of WTO

WTO (world trade organization) is international trade organization established in

1994. It aims to role wall trade system previously, before the establishment WTO there

was agreements on tariffs and trade called GATT (General Agreements on Tariffs and

Trade) in 1947. It is likely disagreement of GATT adopted by WTO. This organization is

very much concern to the natural environment of sustainability, as mention in the article

20 GATT. This agreement shall be construed to prevent the adoption or enforcement by

any contracting party of measures:

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(g) relating to the conservation of exhaustible natural resources if such measures

are made effective in conjunction with restrictions on domestic production or

consumption;…”

(http://sharingilmupajak.blogspot.com/2013/11/ukum-lingkungan-internasional-dalam.html).

Need to mention that the commitment of WTO members to sustainable

development and the environment can also be seen in WTO rules. “In general terms the

rules, with their fundamental principles of non-discrimination, transparency and

predictability, help set the framework for members to design and implement measures to

addres environmental concerns” (http://www.imf.org/external/index.htm). Thus, the

notion of WTO has much in common with that of THK, namely to sustain human being ,

animals, and environments.

CHAPTER III: CONCLUSION

From the discussion above it can be summarized as follows:

a. Tri Hita Karana is three element of obtaining prosperity or welfare. The

prosperity may be available when the three run well. They are as the following.

• Parhyangan, it is keeping harmonious relation with god.

• Pawongan, it is keeping harmonious relation amongst human being.

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b. Balinese engages in the spirituality of sustainability. By temple building,

worshipping gods and ancestors and conducting ritual of festival, we see that

spirituality of sustainability come to be well maintained. Meanwhile, the

cosmology of sustainability is seen from the any action done by the irrigation

association called Subak. The Subak’s members (farmers) do their best to

maintain the natural resources. Otherwise, the natural resources can be exhausted.

c. The cosmology of THK is depicted as a rule milk ocean containing elixir. To

obtain the milk, the ocean should be stirred and the mountain called Mandaragiri

to be the stirred called Padmasana and Meru. So any action and performance like

building shrines like Padmasana and Meru including ritual and festival are

pointed to the cosmology/spirituality of THK.

d. The WTO’s roles is likely in consonance with the goal of THK, namely

cosmology of sustainability. Thus it would be better if IMF provides any funding

to revitalized and develop the agriculture in Bali.

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