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Bali:
A Glimpse Into Another World
Adapted
from "Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui"
by Karen Kingston
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Published
in the UK & Commonwealth by Piatkus Books and in the
USA by Broadway Books
Ó Karen Kingston, 1996
The Seen and
The Unseen
For the last 24 years I have
really been living two parallel existences. Part of me
is firmly based in the material, seen world — and I am
one of the most down-to-earth, practical people you will
ever meet — and the other half of me lives in the
metaphysical, unseen world of energy and vibration.
One of the reasons I love
spending so much time in Bali is that the Balinese all
live in these two worlds too. They call them sekala (the
seen world) and niskala (the unseen), and they
understand very well that everything manifest in the
physical world has its origin and counterpart in the
unseen realms of energy. I feel tremendous empathy with
the Balinese people, and their beautiful island is the
only place I know where there are three million people
living a totally integrated, vibrant, spiritual way of
life. Bali is one place in the world where I don’t
need to explain myself. The people understand exactly
what I’m doing in my life.
My book, "Creating Sacred
Space with Feng Shui", includes a lot of material
from Bali because it is the living example of so much of
what I teach – a culture where Feng Shui and Space
Clearing are already a complete way of life. The
Balinese may not have the material possessions that we
have in the West, but they have a richness of spirit
that shines out of them. There is much we can learn from
their remarkable culture to enhance the quality of our
own lives.
The Ceremonial Way of Life
In the West we differentiate
between our material and our spiritual life. Not so in
Bali. Their religion pulsates through every aspect of
their lives. They have developed a uniquely theatrical
form of Hinduism which incorporates animism and ancestor
worship. This is no stodgy, serious affair — religion
in Bali is immensely good fun, which accounts for the
enthusiastic participation of young and old alike.
There is nothing the Balinese
like more than a 3-day temple ceremony, which is both a
religious and a social event. They will spend days
beforehand preparing elaborate offerings of food and
flowers for the Gods, and then, being practical people,
several more days consuming the food after the Gods have
availed themselves of the essence of it! Since each
village has three temples, and each temple has a major
festival approximately twice a year, there is always a
ceremony happening somewhere on Bali. It is estimated
that there are more than 20,000 temples on the island,
which is astonishing when you consider that it is no
more than 50 miles from North to South and 90 miles from
East to West!
The Balinese believe that they
live in a paradise on Earth, and they honour and respect
the land they live on. Every dwelling has its own
shrine, and offerings of flowers, incense and holy water
are made to the Gods three times every day, at dawn, at
midday, and at dusk. They truly live in perfect harmony
with their environment.
One of my favourite stories
illustrates this relationship perfectly. There are very
few things in Bali that can give you a serious bite, but
one these is a centipede which grows up to several
inches long. Its bite isn’t fatal, but it is
incredibly painful. One night I got bitten by one in my
home while I was asleep. It hurt so much I wondered if I
might be dying. Its fangs left two bruised puncture
holes in two places on my torso, and I was in agony for
hours. The next morning all our Balinese neighbours came
to ask what all the rumpus in the night had been about.
We explained what had happened, and they immediately
wanted to examine the bites. Having looked at them, off
they went.
"Don’t I get any
sympathy?" I exclaimed to Rai. He shook his head,
smiled and gently explained that the Balinese view of
why I had been bitten was that I had done something to
offend the earth spirits. What our neighbours had gone
to do was to put extra offerings on the ground outside
their homes so they wouldn’t get bitten too! He said
that we should do likewise to avert further visitations.
We did so and were never troubled again.
Feng Shui in Bali
One reason why Bali is such a
paradise island is because the art of Feng Shui is so
highly developed there that it is as if the buildings
seem to grow out of the very ground itself. They fit so
snugly into their surroundings that it looks for all the
world as if they have grown from seed and put down roots
into the earth. This is why virtually every view looks
like such a perfect picture postcard.
Rather than this skill being
confined to a few skilled professionals, each Balinese
person has a strongly developed natural sense of
harmony, which extends to their relationship with each
other, their surroundings and the greater cosmos. I have
never met a Balinese person who didn’t have a natural
aptitude for Feng Shui and I often marvel at how they
can create such immense beauty so effortlessly. They don’t
raze the vegetation to the ground and build sterile
concrete little boxes as we do. They sculpt the
dwellings into the natural contours of the land,
accentuating and enhancing every detail. They do not
arrange things in neat rows or try to make houses look
the same. Their homes are an extension of themselves,
and an expression of their spiritual values and
individual creativity.
The Balinese live very close to
the land. They like to smell the earth, hear the sounds
of nature, be woken by the sound of cocks crowing and
lulled to sleep by the sounds crickets or frogs. Even in
urban areas, they utilize every element of earth, air,
fire and water to create a deep sense of connection to
the place in which they live.
Life in Bali is constantly
moving. This is reflected in the fact that there are no
past or future tenses in the language — they simply
live in the Now. The people have an innate creativity
and do not resist change in the way that western people
do. This is one reason why their traditional way of life
has survived, because they easily adapt and incorporate
new influences arriving from the West into their own
culture. One wonderful example of this is a ceremony
called Tumpek Landep, which is held every 210
days. Traditionally offerings are made on this day to
metal weapons of war. Now their warring days are over,
the Balinese have adapted the ceremony to current times
and they now take their cars, motorbikes and trucks to
the local temple to be blessed! The radiator grills and
wing mirrors are all adorned with intricate offerings
made from plaited coconut leaves, which flap in the wind
until finally they blow away. Offerings are also made to
other pieces of ‘iron’ equipment such as computers.
Building a New House in Bali
Houses in Bali are
traditionally built according to the body measurements
of the head of the household, to be sure of creating an
environment that is totally harmonious for that family.
Can you imagine what it must feel like to live in a
house that has been designed according to your own
personal body measurements?! It must feel incredible,
like putting on a comfortable overcoat that has been
tailored by experts to a perfect fit.
The process begins by
consulting an expert about the most auspicious day to
begin planning the new home. The Balinese have two
calendars running alongside the Gregorian calendar —
the Saka lunar calendar, and the Pawukon
210-day calendar. A fascinating aspect of this calendar
is that the passing of years are not numbered. The cycle
just repeats itself again and again forever. It contains
within it a 1-day week, a 2-day week, a 3-day week, and
so on up to a 10-day week. Auspicious days for different
activities are determined by when these weeks intersect,
the most important generally being the 3-, 5- and 7-day
weeks. It is the 8-day week that is used to determine
matters relating to building.
The traditional principles of
architecture in Bali are called Asta Kosala Kosali
and a traditional architect is called an undagi.
While all Balinese people know what ‘feels’ right,
if they can afford to they will employ one of these
architects to calculate the exact mathematical
proportions and oversee the building works.
On the first visit by the head
of the household to see an undagi, dozens of
measurements will be taken from his body. The length of
fingers, feet, arms, and so on are added together and
multiplied up to determine the size of the entrance
gate, the compound walls, the upright posts, and so on.
As an example, one unit of measurement is the depa,
which is the distance between a person’s finger
tips when their arms are outstretched to either side at
shoulder height as far as they will go. Added to these
basic measurements is a fascinating extra something
called a urip, which in the case of the depa
is the width of the fist. Urip literally
translates as ‘something which triggers life’, and
by adding this extra something, the building becomes
more than just the materials it is made of.
In the West we generally build
anywhere we please, with no thought for the earth
spirits which may inhabit any particular plot of land.
In Bali, sites are very carefully selected so that
harmony is maintained between humans and unseen beings
which coexist in the space. If there are resident earth
spirits who cannot be coaxed to ‘relocate’, building
will not proceed on that site. Another spot will be
chosen. There is no question of buildings being erected
out of economic necessity in Bali, because no-one would
dare to live in such a house.
Building Ceremonies
A number of different
ceremonies are held throughout the building process,
commencing with a foundation ceremony. Each Balinese
village has its own particular customs, so foundation
ceremonies vary enormously in different parts of the
island. One version of the ceremony for important
buildings and temples is that offerings of five
different metals (gold, silver, bronze, copper and iron)
and a yellow coconut with five different colours of
thread wrapped around it are placed in the ground. For
humbler dwellings, some bricks simply wrapped in a piece
of white cloth are sufficient. Holy water, flowers,
incense, mantras and prayers for the building work to
proceed harmoniously are added to complete either
ceremony.
For sacred buildings, wood has
to come from a living tree, and offerings must be made
to the tree before taking the timber. For general
building purposes the rules are more relaxed, although
it is still very important that timber uprights are
positioned in the same direction the wood grew in as a
tree.
Another ceremony is held at the
time when the buildings materials start being joined
together, and when the work is finally complete, an
auspicious day is chosen to perform a big consecration
ceremony called pamelaspasan. Until this has been
done, no-one may sleep in the building, no fire may be
lit and no lights may be turned on.
The purpose of the consecration
ceremony is to ensure the safety and harmony of the
inhabitants and also to bring the building to life. No
Balinese person would ever want to live or work in a
building which was ‘dead.’ They consider that in the
process of building, all the building materials have
been killed. The stones have been killed as they were
taken from the earth, the trees have been killed as they
were felled, the grasses have been killed as they were
cut, and so on. The cost of this vital consecration
ceremony is so substantial that banks are familiar with
making provision for it in the amount of any loan for
building work.
Microcosms and Macrocosms
In the Christian Bible, it
says, ‘Man is built in the image of God.’ The
Balinese take this one step further. They build their
buildings in the image of man! On many different levels,
they create small microcosms which mirror the greater
macrocosm.
They have a concept known as Tri
Angga, meaning three components or parts. The human
body is seen to be composed of a head, a torso, and the
legs and feet. The head is considered to be sacred, the
middle neutral, and the legs and feet profane.
In designing a house, the
household shrine will be placed in the ‘head’
position, the general living quarters in the ‘torso’
area, and the animals and rubbish pits will be located
in the ‘feet’ area. Temples are constructed with
three courtyards, so that the highest shrines are in the
‘head’, more general ceremonies take place in the
middle, and everyday activities happen in the outer
courtyard. Not only this, but whole villages will be
designed according to the same principle. Each village
contains three separate temples, the most sacred being
in the ‘head’ position, where the highest ceremonies
are held; the middle temple is for more general
ceremonies; and the lower temple is called the ‘Temple
of the Dead’ and is adjacent to the local cemetery
where bodies are placed awaiting cremation.
Orientation
On an even grander scale, the
whole of Bali is seen by the Balinese in terms of these
three divisions. The sacred mountains which form a ridge
from East to West through the centre of the island are
high, the middle area is where most of the Balinese
live, and the sea is low.
The Balinese Hindus (95% of
Bali’s population) believe that the Gods live in these
mountains, the tallest and most sacred of which is Mount
Agung. All Balinese homes are built so that the most
sacred part of the home (the temple) is pointing towards
Mount Agung, and all beds are aligned so that the people
sleep with their heads pointing towards it too. If for
any reason this is impossible, the next most sacred
directions are towards another nearer mountain, or
towards the East.
Anthropologists have been
trying for decades to explain Bali’s amazing
resilience to the ravages of tourism, but have never
thought to examine this aspect. Anyone who has ever done
a group meditation where everyone lies down with their
heads to the centre knows how powerful it can be. It is
as if something extra comes to join the group, over and
above the sum total of the individuals present. The
effect of the Balinese people aligning themselves to
their religious purpose every night of their lives in
this way is immense. No matter how many tourists come
and go, this practice continues. Every night as they
sleep they reinforce their joint spiritual purpose and
their incredible community spirit. They are creating
sacred space on a national scale!
Balinese people become
physically disorientated if they don’t sleep aligned
in his way. It is as if their bodies become magnetized
to the volcanoes. In fact it is said that you can take a
Balinese person, blindfold them, spin them round, and
then ask them which way the mountains are, and they will
be able to tell you. I had great fun testing this theory
on some willing volunteers and was impressed by their
accuracy!
If you go to Bali hoping to
experience this, you will find that some tourist
accommodation is built according to these principles,
but the Balinese have long since realized that tourists
don’t give a jot about this so they are increasingly
building hotels with no regard for placement of beds.
From time to time I leave my home and go travelling
around the island, and if I take a room where the bed
needs moving, there are always delighted smiles that I
know and care about such things and many willing hands
to help me move it.
Other Forms of Consecration in
Bali
The Balinese consecrate not
only buildings but also cars, musical instruments, and
sacred objects such as dance masks and priests’ bells.
Having been consecrated, offerings are then made on a
regular basis to keep the energy vibration high. I
always joke that my car in Bali needs three things to
keep it going: Fuel in the petrol tank, water in the
radiator and flowers on the dashboard!
Space Clearing in Bali
What happens in Bali is that
they space clear the whole island on a daily basis,
which means that low level energies are swept away. This
is another reason why, in spite of the huge increase in
tourism, the spiritual culture has stayed intact. Even
to this day, rape is virtually unheard of on the island,
incest is non-existent, and theft rare, except in some
tourist areas. Bali is also one island (perhaps the only
one?) in the world where none of the women work as
prostitutes. They simply will not do it. There are many
prostitutes on the island, but they come from Java or
other Indonesian islands, never from Bali itself. You
really could call Bali the purification centre of the
planet.
Nyepi
No description of Bali would be
complete without including its extraordinary annual
Space Clearing ceremony called Nyepi, which takes place
each March and marks the beginning of the Balinese New
Year. In the weeks leading up to this day, children are
allowed to let off firecrackers all over the place to
frighten off evil spirits, and in many parts of the
island giant paper maché demons called ogoh-ogoh are
created in each of the villages. On the night before
Nyepi, they have fabulous parades of these demons
through the streets carried on bamboo frames by the
young men of the villages, and accompanied by crashing
cymbals and mobile gamelan orchestras playing at full
volume. The idea is to make as much noise as possible
and it is an unforgettable audio-visual experience.
At midnight, the ogoh-ogoh
effigies are set down at cross-roads throughout the
island, together with copious offerings to the bhuta
kala (evil or angry spirits) which they represent.
After a grand ceremony, the ogoh-ogoh are set
fire to. The Balinese understand that cross-roads are
intersections for energy as well as traffic, and they
believe that the reason accidents so commonly happen at
crossroads is because of the angry spirits which
congregate there. By making these offerings and setting
fire to the effigies, their intention is to placate the
spirits. Many people stay up throughout the night making
as much noise as possible until dawn, when stillness
reigns throughout the land.
Nyepi day in Bali is
incredible. It is the only place on earth where for one
day of the year everything comes to a complete
standstill throughout the land. No-one is allowed to
go out on the roads, either on foot or by transport.
Until recently no planes were allowed to land but this
caused such havoc with international airline schedules
that the Balinese government has now conceded that
planes may land, but new arrivals are escorted by police
directly to hotels, where they must stay put for the
rest of the day. Apart from a few essential services,
no-one is allowed to work. No equipment may be operated
or lights turned on. No fires may be lit, so no-one may
cook (the Balinese have devised ingenious ways of
keeping cooked food fresh overnight without
refrigeration). There is no playing of music, no
watching television, no listening to the radio (all the
local stations are closed for the day in any case) and
no using the telephone. In some areas of Bali, the
electricity supplies are actually turned off for 24
hours to enforce the law. Smoking, gambling and drinking
alcohol are not allowed, and talking is only in hushed
tones. Even the dogs stop barking and the chickens stop
clucking! The lush tropical silence envelops you like a
warm, sweet dream.
For one whole day, there is
nowhere you have to be and nothing you have to do. What
happens is that all your internal organs come to rest
and C-O-M-P-L-E-T-E-L-Y R-E-L-A-X. It is the most
amazing experience. It is a time for meditating and
dwelling on your life, and focusing on what you want to
happen in the following year. After nightfall, the
effect is even more profound as you sit surrounded by
complete darkness and complete silence in the mellow
companionship of those you love. It feels like it could
go on forever, and you wish it would.
The next day, everything is
back to normal. With the first rays of dawn, the roads
fill with people, bikes, cars, trucks and buses, and
Nyepi feels like it really was a dream... until next
year.
Karen Kingston is one of the
world's top Feng Shui teachers and consultants, and has
pioneered the western development of Space Clearing, the
art of clearing and consecrating buildings. Her first
book, ‘Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui’,
immediately became Amazon.com’s best selling interior
design title of 1998 and established her as a world
authority on Space Clearing. Born and raised in England,
her home since 1990 has been in Bali, where she spends
half of each year. She currently teaches her workshops
in Bali, the USA, the UK, and around the world.
Visit Karen at her website at www.spaceclearing.com.
Karen's Book Titles:
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