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Lingsar Temple

Friday, September 5th, 2008 by Sidarta Wijaya

lingsar temple

Lingsar temple, at first glance, resembles any other Hindu temple in Bali and Lombok but if we take a closer look and find some information in relation with this temple, we will find that Lingsar temple is very unique and becomes the symbol of unity of Hindu and Islam faith in Lombok.

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Through the Eyes of Balinese High Priest:Trihitakarana for UNFCCC

Friday, June 27th, 2008 by Sidarta Wijaya

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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Balinese Student Outside Bali

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 by Rina-Editor

Many Balinese students after they graduate from Senior High school go outside Bali to continue their study instead of studying in Bali. As a result from Bali has only one state university and it has only limited majors to choose. They usually go to the west, to the big cities in Java, which serve many better and famous colleges and more majors to choose. They got better study, and yet how about their religious and cultural activities that they always did in Bali?

Actually, there, outside of Bali, are Pura (hindus’s temple) moreover there is Banjar (the smallest society organization in Bali) like in Surabaya. I Made Kris Adi Astra, one of Balinese who is studying in Jakarta complained about there is no Pura in his campus. He must ride a motorbike to reach pura Amerta Sari in bintaro. “But I prefer praying in my room. If my mood is good I will go to Pura in Cinere” he added.

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Representative Shrine: Replica of Mountain and Lake

Tuesday, December 18th, 2007 by Sidarta Wijaya

Yesterday, I accidentally visit the Pura Sadha (Sadha temple) in Kapal village, Badung regency. A feature in this temple quickly arouse my curiosity, this temple has replicas of sacred mountains in form of multi-tiered-roofs shrines known as meru that can be found in the north and east part of inner courtyard of the temple.

As a matter of fact the replica of mountains and lakes in the form of multi-tiered-roofs shrines (meru) are standard features of South Bali temples, but only when I visited Sadha Temple I realized their significant and function. The main purpose of placing replicas of mountains and lakes in temple is to save the time and effort needed to actually visit them since in the yester centuries pilgrimage to the mountains and lakes need a great deal preparation and time. These replicas serve as representative shrines for the gods who resides in the mountains or lakes all over Bali.

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On Balinese Village

Friday, March 30th, 2007 by Sidarta Wijaya

As all things Balinese, Balinese villages are peculiar, complicated, and extraordinarily diverse. There is no simple uniformity of social structure to be found over the whole of the small, crowded countryside, no straightforward form of village organization easily pictured in terms of single typological construction, no “average” village, a description of which may well stand for the whole.

Rather, there is a set of marvelously complex social systems, no one of which is quite like any other, no one of which fails to show some marked peculiarity of form. Even contiguous villages may be quite differently organized; formal elements–such as caste or kinship–of central importance in one village may be of marginal significance in another; neither simplicity nor uniformity is Balinese virtue.

village1

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The Disappearance of Environmental Conscious Architecture in Balinese Temple

Wednesday, January 10th, 2007 by ablteam

Pura (temple), the sanctuary of Hinduism in Bali now undergoes a serious drawback on architectural diversity and environmental conscious architecture. The renovation and restoration of Pura (temple) all over Bali show an annoying uniformity in architecture and building material. The Pura (temple) from Karangasem on the east to Jembrana on the west, from Buleleng on the north to Badung on the south imitate the architectural design of The Besakih temple (the mother temple of Bali) which used black lava stone from mount Agung as a main building material.

besakih temple

It is understandable that the culture is changing from time to time, and the architecture of Pura (temple) cannot escape from this change. But an important Balinese value, Desa, Kala, Patra (place, time and circumstance) is missing in midst of this architectural uniformity. The Balinese culture has a great diversity based on the Desa, Kala, Patra (place, time and circumstance) concept, each village has its own way and interpretation in implementing the Hinduism and Balinese culture, frankly speaking each village has its own culture that is different from the others. This diversity is also found in temple and building architecture, each Pura (temple) in Bali represents the characteristic of that particular area. The Bukit area is well known for its limestone, this stone is used as a main material for temples around the Bukit.

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