Building a Balinese traditional house or structure is not a simple matter, not just simply taking natural materials – wood, grass, and stone – and shaping them to fit human needs. Instead, it seeks balance and propriety, in a Hindu sense, between the occupant and the structure, and structure and cosmos.

Man’s body is considered in Hindu thought to be a microcosm or miniature of the universe at large. It is only natural, therefore, that the Balinese should regard their house compounds as extension of same concept of balance between body and environment.

There is a set of traditional rules known as Asta Kosala Kosali that have to be observed in building a Balinese traditional structure. A Balinese traditional structure that is built in accordance with The Asta Kosala Kosali will express a harmony between human body and environment.

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Balinese believe that good and evil, right and left, gods and demons are banded into two opposing faction, constantly at war but depend on each other as a unity. To counterbalance the healthy influence of the gods who produce cleanliness, luck and fertility, there are evil spirits responsible for all illness and misfortune. If there is no demon, the god will also ceased to exist; there is nothing that can be called ‘good’ if there is no ‘evil’. This concept of duality in unity (rwa bhineda) is applied in almost every part of Balinese daily life, man and woman, day and night, happy and sad, etc.

Balinese believe that their action will be reciprocated, an eye for an eye. When a Balinese help someone he believes that someday someone will help him. Another example is the cremation ceremony. There is a compulsion to help other in the time of death since some day our turn and of that our family members will come and we want other to help us in a same compulsion. A breech in this reciprocated cycle is heavily punished by the society. The worst punishment for this breech is expelled from society, for Balinese this punishment is a living hell, worst than dead.

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