Religion
Over ninety percent of the Balinese are ostensibility Hindu. But for the Balinese, his religion is far more than Hinduism: it is an admixture of Hinduism and Buddhism, ancestor worship and animism, and it is not simply a religion, but way of life. It is as inseparable from everyday existence as is, say, economics. To the Balinese the universe is shaped by order and not simply a formless chaos; therefore it is the task of man to arrange his life in Harmony with this ordained pattern so as to have some control over the supernatural forces which dominate his existence. This order is reflected in the temple architecture, in the significance of direction, particularly in relation to the mountains and sea, and in colours.There is a legend which says that the island was originally flat and barren, but that when Java embraced Islam, the Gods of the Hindu pantheon moved to Bali, where they created mountains in order that they should have suitably elevated ground on which to live. Of these mountains the highest, Gunung Agung, was the most sacred and the Balinese regarded it as the ancient Greeks did Delphi, as the navel of the earth. Since the mountains were the home of the Gods, as well as the source of water which ensured the fertility of their land, everything about them and about height in general, was good, and cosmic order again conversely, their obverse, the depths of the sea, was the home of the evil spirits. Everything, therefore, must be orientated towards the mountains and away from the sea, high rather than low. Only thus can some kind of control over destiny be maintained.
Life being a fundamental and perpetual struggle between the forces of good and the forces of evil, the wisest way of dealing with the problem is clearly to make constant contact with the former to seek the blessing of their protection, and at the same time to appease and mollify the latter toward of their influence. Thus the everyday
Posted in Blog by Putu Widiasa on 06/21/2008 | 0 Comments
