Tri Hita Karana · Dharma — 6 Keywords to Unlock Bali Hindu

Before entering the detailed rituals, temples, and festivals of Bali Hindu (Part 3), six keywords let every later article read in context. Tri Hita Karana (three causes of happiness), Dharma & Karma (duty & consequence), Rwa Bineda (duality), Tat Twam Asi (unity), Tri Mandala (three zones), Sekala-Niskala (seen & unseen) — these six words are the skeleton of the Balinese worldview. For a foreigner to grasp Bali Hindu beyond "interesting rituals", these keywords are the starting point.

A. Tri Hita Karana — Three Causes of Happiness

Translation: Tri (three) + Hita (happiness, prosperity) + Karana (cause)

The highest principle of Bali Hindu philosophy. True happiness arises from the balance of three relationships:

1. Parahyangan — relationship with the divine (temples, ritual, canang sari)
2. Pawongan — relationship with people (family, Banjar, community)
3. Palemahan — relationship with nature (rice fields, water, animals, environment)

When the three lose balance, Karma is disordered and individual, society, and nature alike fall sick. All Balinese ritual, architecture, and daily life is built as a continuous calibration of these three relationships.

Modern application:

• UNESCO Subak listing (5.2.2) cites Tri Hita Karana as a living embodiment
• Foreigner-villa conflict with the Banjar → Pawongan violation
• Converting rice paddies to villas → Palemahan violation
• Skipping Banjar dues and rituals → both Parahyangan and Pawongan violations

This single concept lets a foreigner understand why a Balinese is angered by what at first seems like a small thing.

Sources: Tri Hita Karana · UNESCO Subak listing materials

B. Dharma & Karma — Duty and Consequence

Dharma — right duty, morality, cosmic law. Sanskrit, from Indian Hinduism. In Bali, each role carries its own Dharma:

• Raja Dharma — the king's duty (the basis for the 1906 Puputan)
• Stri Dharma — woman's duty
• Sannyasa Dharma — priest's duty
• Vyavahara Dharma — the ordinary citizen's duty

Karma — the law of cause and effect. Actions affect the present and the next life. Under Bali Hindu's view of reincarnation, ancestral karma reaches descendants. Family-temple rituals (3.2.3) work to purify ancestral karma.

The two run as a pair — practicing Dharma = good Karma, violating Dharma = bad Karma.

Sources: Dharma · Karma

C. Rwa Bineda — Two, Yet One

Translation: Rwa (two) + Bineda (divided, different)

Bali Hindu's dual cosmology. Everything exists in pairs, and balance is made out of their contrast:

• Day ↔ Night
• Male ↔ Female
• Kaja (mountain, sacred) ↔ Kelod (sea, spirits)
• Good ↔ Evil — yet both part of the cosmos
• Dewa (gods) ↔ Bhuta Kala (spirits, demons)

The key distinction — Indian Hinduism casts good vs. evil as opposites; Bali Hindu sees both as necessary. Even Bhuta Kala must be appeased through offering (Banten Mecaru). The separate, low-placed offering set beside the daily canang sari is for Bhuta Kala (see 3.4.2).

The Barong–Rangda dance is Rwa Bineda made ritual — good Barong and evil Rangda fight eternally, with neither side winning. The endless motion of harmony is the essence of the Balinese cosmos.

Sources: Rwa Bhineda · Barong (mythology)

D. Tat Twam Asi — Thou Art That

One of the four Great Sayings (mahāvākyas) of the Chandogya Upanishad (6.8.7). In Bali Hindu it is constantly invoked as the foundation of ethics.

Meaning: "You are that" — self, other, nature, and god are essentially one. The differences are only surface form.

Balinese application:

• Bhuana Agung (macrocosm) = a reflection of Bhuana Alit (microcosm, the human)
• Harming another person, animal, or god is, in the end, harming oneself
• The ethical ground of Adat dispute resolution
• The spiritual basis of environmental movements (Bali Bersih and others) (see 7.3)

When a foreigner meets the gentleness and peace-orientation of the Balinese, the root is this Tat Twam Asi — not a mere personality trait, but the result of a worldview.

Sources: Tat Tvam Asi · Howe L., The Changing World of Bali (2005)

E. Tri Mandala — Three Zones of Space

Mandala = zone, area. Tri Mandala = three zones. A universal principle of Balinese spatial composition.

Three zones:

1. Utama Mandala — the most sacred zone (toward the mountain, Kaja)
2. Madya Mandala — the middle zone (human activity)
3. Nista Mandala — the outer zone (toward the sea & spirits, Kelod)

Applications:

• A Pura (temple) has three courtyards — Jaba (outer), Jaba Tengah (middle), Jeroan (inner) (3.2.4)
• A Balinese house — shrine (Kaja) → living quarters (middle) → kitchen & livestock (Kelod) (6.5)
• The island as a whole — mountains (Kaja, sacred) → plains (human) → coast (Kelod, spirits)
• The body — head (Utama) → torso (Madya) → feet (Nista)

When a foreigner villa violates Balinese architectural code (Asta Kosala Kosali, 6.5), what is really meant is that the Tri Mandala hierarchy has been broken.

Sources: Tri Mandala · Asta Kosala Kosali

F. Sekala-Niskala — Seen and Unseen

The two dimensions of the Balinese cosmos:

• Sekala — the seen world. Humans, animals, nature. Accessed via the five senses.
• Niskala — the unseen world. Gods, spirits, ancestors, Karma. Accessed via ritual, dreams, meditation.

Key point — both are equally real. Every Balinese ritual is an act of communication between Sekala and Niskala. Canang sari = a signal sent to the gods and spirits of Niskala.

When a foreigner steps on or ignores a canang sari, the shock of a Balinese arises because that handful of flowers and rice in Sekala is a direct communication line to a god in Niskala. Ignoring the form = ignoring the world.

When the Sekala-Niskala balance breaks:

• Epidemics or natural disasters — signs of divine anger
• Household misfortune — insufficient ancestor ritual
• Social conflict — accumulated Karma

The remedy is ritual purification (Penyucian): Melasti (sea purification), Tawur (appeasing spirits the night before Nyepi), Caru (great offerings).

Sources: Sekala and Niskala · Eiseman F. B., Bali: Sekala and Niskala (Periplus, 1989)

G. The Six Keywords Integrated — Skeleton of the Balinese Cosmos

Putting all six together as one picture:

• Tat Twam Asi — all beings are essentially one
• Rwa Bineda — yet they appear as two on the surface
• Tri Hita Karana — the balance of three relationships is the source of happiness
• Tri Mandala — space is layered as three zones
• Dharma & Karma — the flow of action and consequence
• Sekala-Niskala — communication between seen and unseen dimensions

Every Balinese ritual, festival, temple, and art form operates on this skeleton. Before reading the 17 articles of Part 3 (Bali Hindu), simply remembering these six words already provides half the answer to why canang sari, why Nyepi, why Ngaben.

Sources: Hauser-Schäublin B., Bali: Cosmos and Earth (Phaidon, 1991); Eiseman F. B., Bali: Sekala and Niskala (Periplus, 1989)

Quick Summary

Sources / References

• Wiki — Tri Hita Karana · Dharma · Karma · Tat Tvam Asi · Balinese Hinduism · Barong (mythology)
• Official — PHDI (Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia) · UNESCO — Cultural Landscape of Bali Province (Subak) — Tri Hita Karana cited
• News — The Jakarta Post — Tri Hita Karana environmental policy · Bali Post (local) — ritual commentary
• Academic — Hauser-Schäublin B., Bali: Cosmos and Earth (Phaidon, 1991); Eiseman F. B. Jr., Bali: Sekala and Niskala — Essays on Religion, Ritual, and Art (2 vols., Periplus, 1989-90); Howe L., The Changing World of Bali (Routledge, 2005); Pedersen L., Religious Pluralism in Indonesia (Sussex Academic, 2006)