Out of more than 20,000 thousand temples in Bali, Pura Dalem Jawa in Bunutin village, in Bangli regency has its unique characteristic that cannot be found in any other temples in Bali. Not just Hindu devotees pay homage in this temple but also Muslim which happen to live or on vacation in Bali.

This temple is situated on the outskirt of Bangli’s capital town. A yellow sign on the side of the road will give you the direction to the temple. Pura Dalem Jawa is surrounded by a pond filled with water lilies and colorful fish. Seeing from outside the temple, this temple is just like any other temple in Bali but if we step our feet on the inner courtyard of the temple, we can find a unique structure which differentiate this temple from the rest of the temples in Bali. This structure is a shrine in form of a langgar (a small version of mosque). This structure is not function as a mosque but as matter of fact a Hindu shrine in form of Muslim praying place.

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Here is another good articles on climate change by Balinese high priest Sri Bhagawan Dwija Warsa Nawa Sandi from Buleleng regency who has great concern on environment and climate change without further ado here is the words of Bhagawan Dwija.

TRIHITAKARANA for UNFCCC

The relevancy to the world climate change anticipation
By : Bhagawan Dwija

Introduction
Mpu Kuturan who came to Bali at 11 AD by request of King Udayana and Gunapriadharmapatni, not only succeed to unite various existing Hinduism sects at that time under Trimurti belief system, but also have placed social religious life foundation in the form of Desa Pakraman. Desa Pakraman as Hindu-Bali community, is developed with Trimurti belief where God with his manifestation as Brahma, Siwa, and Wisnu are placed at Pura Desa for Brahma, Pura Dalem for Siwa, and Pura Segara or Pura Puseh for Wisnu. These three Puras, known as Trikahyangan. Based on that, concept of Trihitakarana also developed, with human as central or determinant for kindliness and prosperity. Trihitakarana means three things needed to make kindliness and prosperity happen, i.e Parhyangan (well-balanced and harmonious relation between human with God); Pawongan (well-balanced and harmonious relation between human with each others); and Palemahan (well-balanced and harmonious relation between human with environment).

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Silence day, a holy to celebrate the Balinese New Year will be held on Friday, 3/7/08, on this day silent will reign supreme all over the island. In most areas in Bali, silence day is observed once a year, but as any other things in Bali, there are always some exceptions including for the observation of silence day. The old villages in Karangasem regency such as Ababi, Tenganan and Ulakan have their own silence day, but for this occasion I will focus only on the observance of silence day in Ababi village.

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Paying homage and praying to a temple is not just an act of devotion to God for Balinese, it is more than just a religious activity. In socio-political context praying in a temple for a Balinese is also an act to justify his positions in the society, his position in a clan, his position in a village, etc in short praying to the temple is an act of justifying his identity.

Taman Ayun Temple

Justifying identity through worshipping in a temple is possible since most temple membership in Bali is exclusive, that is, only those who are member may worship there. One cannot as in Islam and Christianity, stop in at any temple and pray; for this privilege, in Bali someone must in some sense regular member of the congregation of the temple. From more 20,000 temples in Bali not more than five percents are public temple, where everybody can pray and pay homage and the rest of them are members only. (There are five types of temple in Bali: public temple, territorial temple, functional temple and clan temple).

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Yesterday, 7/2/2007, a sacred, joyful Mendak Bagia Pulakerti (picking up the core of peace and happiness) ceremony was held in my village, Sibanggede, in Badung Regency. This ceremony was held as a part of Medudus Agung, a rare once-every-30-year ceremony. The main activity of this ceremony is a journey to pick up the sacred Bagia Pulakerti (core of peace and happiness) offerings from the oldest temple of the surrounding area and bring them to the temple where the Medudus Agung Ceremony is held.

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Thousands of temples that scattered all over the island of Bali are not just built for a single purpose. The function of a temple can be determined by the characteristics of the temple that totally depend on the bond that bind the temple congregations to the temple. The bond may be a social, political, economical, or genealogical bond.

The social bond can be in the form of territorial bond, and teacher – student bond. The political bond is created base on the need of the king to unite his people and territory. The economical bond is created based on the similarity of the profession, for example farmer, trader, fisherman, etc. Genealogical bond is established based on kinship or clan.

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