the way of the dark clouds

[boudhinette]

we rented the bikes for a week, so we can go around more freely. balinese people have heir own cars or bikes and there is very little public trnsport, it's a hassle to go around depending on them.
going west we went to the village of Pejeng where we stopped at a temple where they keep a very sacred barong mask. it is well  kept by familiar protectors, namely our friend mahakala 

look at the huge skull cup, skull head ornement and snake bracelets...
this mask is considered as very powerfull and obviously it requires some heavy protection!
Sam in his traditional ear gazing at this indonesian Mahakala

we met a female priest (yes    ) who told us the mask was not there , they had moved it to another temple where a big festival was held. so we went and met the "barong" exposed and worshiped fully, tehy bring it out once a year! another good connection
the barong belongs to the protector family, i want to go to a research center for balinese culture to find out more about it. for sure it has some chinese influence because it looks very much as a dragon. it is feared and worshiped, offerings given to him are meat and rotten things... as one of the dark side

the temple festival is going to last a full week with every night some performance being held. they are meant to entertain the gods who afre brought down to earth for this occasion, common mortal and tourist also enjoy of course!
for a odalan, or temple festival, the compound is fully adorned and women come with loads of offerings on their heads, beautifully dressed they truly become offering goddesses.

this is the main seat where the supreme god is called down for the time of the festival. Sanghyang widi wasa is a non personnal god somehow near to the atman concept but because one is in bali and nothing is simple it paradoxically has a form
pavillions are full of offerings, which are going to be blessed by the priests and later brought home to share. the same concept as the tsog offering in the tibetan tradition, or the prasad in hinduism
this is a huge construction made up of meat and with even a pig's head sticking out of it, probably an offering to the dark forces

while this one is made of colored rice and offered to the goddess of rice dewi shri.

ot was quiet since it was mid day and hot but tonight it's going to be full of village people, strolling, flriting, enjoying the social gathering as well as praying and turning their mind to spiritual concerns.
in Bali the whole social organisation is communitary, and spirituality  is really part of everyday life

[boudhinette]

hinduism in Bali was actually codified in the 50ies when young nation Indonesia and central power of java was threatening the polytheist worshiping of balinese people, they felt than they could be forced to abjure their faith into one of the monotheist accepted religions ; islam, catholicism and protestantism. they asked help from mother India who was sympathetic to their cause and gave funds to  some balinese priests and scholars to study in India. then together with the help of indian priest they formulated their religon into a monotheistic faith ( the supreme god being Sanghyang widi wasa) from whom the trimurthi emerged ie: brhama, visnu and shiva. shiva being the highest 
under which the many fold gods local spirits and ancestors all came forth.
 
it is interesting to know that Bali had direct link with India prior to the 'colonization" of the majapahit kingdom when java fell under the islamic rule. all the places we are visiting theses days date back to the 9th and 10th century, chen the javaneses hindu kings came to Bali in the 15th century only. in those early times, hinduism and buddhism were closely related and that's why balinese hinduism has a lot to do with tibetan vajrayana, or the tantric buddhist way.
today as we came back to the temple festival, we saw that the piles of offerings had been taken home for sharing, some piles made of rice cakes and organic decoration were being arrayed by the men

one of the altars been worshipped was, as we learned, a 3rd century bronze gong made from meteorit metal, quite an impressive thing

the island is said to be a mandala (of course  )
the center being the next temple we stopped, a few hundred meters away.
this is actually the very old statue of the navel of Bali, note the hole at the navel chakra!

at he festival a priest , noticing our posture asked us if we did some meditation, as we talked a bit he told us about a place a few km away, so there we went along rice fields an idyllic landscapes.
another of this megalithic stairway leading down to an amazing place.

a spring sprouting from a tree to refresh ourselves

and two meditation caves where we did mahakala puja.

 the caretaker of the place was an old balinese    of incredible beauty with a sweet smile and joyful ways. really the embodiment of age old Bali endowed with the grace of eternal youth> or maybe the special power of this place to bring tradition and modern life together.
for example balinese dress and act in a very up to date wya, but then they put on the traditional outfits and they become the archetype figures of gods and goddesses of beginingless times

[boudhinette]

today friday 13th we found ourselves doing Mahakala puja in  the pura dalem ( the temple of the deads) where the Barong mask is kept
 
the barong is actually the archetype foe of Rangda the nasty witch of Bali.

he represents the never ending fight of the righteous agaist the evil, in Bali the battle always ends by a standstill, no one wins and it will star all over again.
the barong is indeed a kind of 'balinese' mahakala, it is said to originate from totemic cult prior to hinduism and seems to me influenced b y chinese traditons as well

starting the ritual we clarified our intentions, namely that Mahakala is understood as the emobdiment of all protectors, through this ritual we wish all obstacles for Bali to clear away, especially obstacles to the environement and to adat (tradtion) caused by modernism and mass tourism. for the west we wish that it could take a lesson from Bali concerning the way it integrates modernsim with tradition and especially respect and understanding of the environment
of course doing a tibetan ritual of the wrathful deities in a balinese temple of the deads is a bit of a challenge. the temple proest was a little worried
for them the text we use as well as the instruments, the chanting and the mudras could easily b e misunderstood as black magic. so we took time to explain a bit about it and everything was smooth

[LIPO]

  thanks for sharing your trip,
it makes me travel inside 
I associate the barong with the monster of tne time from indian iconographie
this open mouth....

[boudhinette]

yes it's kala which means at the same time black and time, often depicted eating the moon at the time of eclipse

last night i had a dream in which we should go towards south and pay respect to another pura dalem the temple of the deads, there was a great banyan tree and a cementary.
so this morning we went south 
a very clear day where mount Agung, the great volcano and seat of the highest deity of Bali was very present between trees ans rice fields.

arriving at Mas they were mounting a stage  in the public field for a Rock concert tonight! this means that the social role of he temples are still very alive, the public field is the gathering place for football, fairs and... rock concerts. i visited the temple and found a big banyan so we asked around for the pura dalem and ... how amazing, it was the one i saw in dreams

OK they all look alike  but there was the huge banyan
and in front the cementery, black she dog roaming, the temple guarded by witches and demons...
the whole scene
so we did pay respect and made the traditional balinese offerings 

[boudhinette]

a walk in the rice fields
rice being the main crop in Bali, most of the island is carved in beautiful rice terrace. there are three crops a year, around ubud rice is growing but not so young. waling in rice fields is a peaceful, meditative experience.
we started in the end of a hot afternoon

a nice path with coconut trees on the side. land being scarce here, every square inch is used : banana trees, soja beans and also coffe tree vanilla papaya etc

this is a lumbung, an old rice barn, not so used now for keeping rice since the new strands can't be kept so long 

many houses still bear the traditional thatched roof, this is an entrance gate.

balinese house is a compound with a gate and the spacial architecture is based on sacred orientation, the north east corner towards the volcano which are the seat of the higher deities is the place for the family temple which is often larger than the actual living quarters
here is a family temple where the highest seat is again north east and dedicated to the all pervasive god sanghang widi was

along the path are many magical places like deep gorges where they bathe naked, small rice temples or just peaces of art for the sake of beauty. here a sculpture by the sideway

the walk went on and on, sometimes we got half lost but there are many people in the fields so one always find his way back. just that this particular walk is very near ubud so the people tend to try to sell you anything on the way 
it ended up with a gorgeous sunset just when we reached an organic farmmaking (beside vegetables) its own wine!

after the sunset it gets dark in 10 mn, no one wants to be stranded in the dark out in the rice fields in Bali!

[boudhinette]

this morning we went up and up an up from Ubud to the edge of the big caldeira that surrounds lake batur. we started very early so by 10 AM we were contemplating this amazing landscape the reword of 4 hours of steep biking up

mount Batur is not that high but is pretty active and its last outblast destroyed the village at its foot. in fact the lava stopped right in front of the temple's main gate 
look at the lava path in the green slope!

but it was still not enough! we went a bit further up to the temple ulun danau which is the main temple for water in Bali, all springs and rivers are said to originate from lake batur and when the temple dedicated to the lake was damaged by the volcano, the people moved on the ridge of the caldeira. so this temple is overlooking the whole lake, see the top of mount agung behind (3200m)

we came here to worship the place with the special prayer that water may not become scarce or  exhausted in this overpopulated planet

this temple is made up of many compounds, some of them are clans temples where only the people of a certain clan come together to worship at certain occasions. this was certainly the case in this lovely compound right at the edge of the cliff

look at the old man in his best outfit, and a western style vest!


as always there was a local gamelan playing and an epic poem being recited through a loud speaker. a very colorful event as always.
then we turned our bikes downwards and glided down the 35 km in a bit more than an hour, certainly easier that the over way round

[boudhinette]

this is galungan eve, a special holiday in bali.
now i should talk a minimum about this amazing calendar system they have. just to make it extra short, they use
the hindu saka calendar, lunar which has 365 days and we are now 1431
the islamic calendar which is the offical one
the gregorian calendar for international use
and then the wuku balinese calendar. it's a cycle of 210 days , a balinese year" but they are not added, one can't tell when it all started
 
then they have 10 system of weeks from one to ten days , the major ones being used is the 3 days "week' and the five days week. every intersection of two system makes a special day
you follow? if you don't, no worry, they have it all marked in their balinese calendar. 


for ex the kajeng day and the kliwong day of 3days week and 5 days week , when they fall together it's called kajeng kliwong (who would guess  ) and it's a fearfull days when one should make offerings to the demons and protectors>>
so every 210 days it's a balinese new year or >>.galungan 
they have been preparing for a few days and today is the last day. so much work, time and money involved! 
'at home" where we stay since we arrived ten days ago, they are making delicate young coconut offerigns like everywhere in town, look at thsi beautifull decoration hanging by the orchids

another of the galungan activity which is for the men to get involved with is the making and decorating of the penjor. it's a long bamboo well adorned with organic deco, fresh rice bouquets hanging and all sorts of loops and designs. here is the collective work of "our" compound where the extended family of our host leaves.

they started a few days ago by cutting a fresh bamboo from one of the dep ravines around and then carrying it back with theri motorbike, it's around 5m long! a dangerous ride. then all the guys decorated it and the young boys did a small one for learning
this morning they started cooking at 3 o clock in the morning, one could hear their chopping from the kitchen compound. you know balinese households are a cluster of bungalows>> at 7 our host gave us the traditional lawar bali as breakfast; brochettes, rice, veggies with pork fat and coconut, and some buf meat. no way to say no, this was an honor to be treated as an host, not as a tourist!
today they erected penjors everywhere, this one in front of the internet shop.

penjor symbolizes the mountain they told us, it's also an antenna to call the gods home, the straight part symbolizes righteousness and the bent part shows paying homage to the coming gods. most of the shops and warungs to eat are closed!
no problem they brought us some more food on the evening 
tomorrow will be a festival at each family temple ie they are going to call the gods to come down, to seat in their throne and entertain them with offerings, decoration music even dances and so on... it will last for ten daysbut the main day is tomorrow.
the streets look really nice now! i would like to try to do a smaller one at our placem after all we have a bamboo grove nearbye 

another of the galugnan activity are the barong's stroll. you know this protector figure which looks like a chinese dragon a bit. either kids go around a barong of their own creation and ask for coins or sweet ( a bit like treats or trick of halloween) either priest and a small portative gamelan accompany the temple barong

[boudhinette]

this morning we were invited in the family temple. all the altars have been highly decorated

the grand mother was looking after the sanggah, the household temple space and having an eye that everything was been doing in the correct way. she was also burning some wood incense to call down the family gods

the smoke was heavy and fragrant and put me in a special state...  a clean buzz 
here Sam and grand ma fixing a umbrella, theses sacred umbrella are very much used in all asia, also the tibetans use them above the outside shrines or in processions

here are all the offerings of the extended family, lots of cakes and fruits


then they invited us to join them at the village temple. it was the pura dalem the temple of Shiva of course 
we joined the crowd and receive the blessings together. it is not that often than westerners do actually take ppart of the very core of the ceremonies, they are usually there taking picks 
it's like an honor and the balinese we talk with told us it was because ' you have lived in India, you practice buddhism  and you know and understand our things, then you can sit with us and receive blessings'
it was a very special moment of sharing and indeed a very strong blessing
i've been high all day!

here beside the huge tree of this temple!
again the family treated us with a meal, for sure today all shops and restaurant are closed, unless the very high class restaurant and some supermarkets 
today is also the day to pay respect and say thank you to all these modern machines that make our lives so comfortable, like cars motorbikes even tv and fridges! balinese include all aspects in their understanding

later in the day we did a walk enjoying all the street decorations around like this very long one depicting dewi sri

she is the goddess of rice but also the wife of Vishnu, that is to say laxmi, bringing food and material wealth.
I've noticed there are hardly any pests in Bali, there are no moskito, no flies hadly any mice, no bugs in the gardens... i wonder if it's not the reslut of harmonious attitude towadrs the environment

[boudhinette]

a trip to the mother temple of bali
we rented a car together with thierry and his girlfriend dewi they came to pick us up in Ubud and shortly after midday we went north for Besakih; Un fortunately, we had some obstacles on the way; the car broke down and we had to wait for a new one to come from Kuta; when we finally started again it was late afternoon; we reached the edge of Batur lake and then turned east to go around the volcano and arrive at Besakih from the mountain path, an amazing landscape; we found accomodation in besakih and then as dusk settled we went in the temple; this is the min one of bali, the mother temple; it's a cluster of many temples the main one being for the trimurti, the three main gods;
today is the start of a major ceremony that is being held every 10 years and is going to go for a month; unfortunately the mount agung we wanted to climb is the seat of the many deities invited for this huge ceremony; so it is closed for the whle month
  the young balinese who explained it all to us was rather sarcastic and sais that it's not  a place to go for pleasur but for worship; i agree with taht, and it's fine for me not to go up
we received the holy water from an older balinese priestress, very serene, then we stopped at one of the temple, and it happened to be dedicated to a deity "like kuan yin" they explained us, a bouddhist place; the priest was very friendly; we did the vocal mahakala ritual and then later into the night we meditated in the panca dhatu temple : the temple of the 5 elements, a tantric compound where, they say, people come from all over the world to practice; i'm not surprized it' a powerfull place;
the connecion is very slow, cqn't upload pics, i'll try later
some picks of Besakih, the great temple of Bali, these were taken in the early morning
main complex with Agung (3 140m) behind

the entrance stairways, totally decorated for this major ceremony, one month long held every ten years

the balinese gates look definitively like a gateway to heaven 
like in India, these huge comlex  have something to do with maya temples...

it was cold in early morning, Sam wearing his himalayan blanket for the first time since many weeks; look at the crazy statues guarding this compound

later in the morning we went with tyssun and dewi, the smart and cute Sulawesi girl to the pura gelap, the dark temple all black claded and isolated, overlooking the whole island; the entrance gate:

and the dragon pound

bye bye Besakih 

dewi at the sacred cave of goa garbah were we did an afternoon ritual and nap 

together with tyssun at the megalithic stariway of this special spot

[boudhinette]

ze last party
after the Besakih trip we went down to a secret location in central Bali where an elfic gathering was to be held 
the house in the middle of the jungle (a bit mushroom influenced don't u think so)

an organic achitecture definitively psychedelic

the jungle around the house,

that is a  gorge diving deep into a bubling stream, note the reptile bank for a rest overlooking the ravine

a lizzard shelter in the garden

the dj's hang about, superior quality of sound all brought down by hand 

the dance floor 

the cosmic dj who played 18 hours non stop, so high that he became trance-parent 

this is babaji  a maya connected goa freaks playing energetic colourful pshyche, a bit dark at times 
ze swiming pool in the jungle, with thierry having a bath

yes! a superior party with the balinese elfs,, opned by a mighty ritual shamanistic hindo buddhist with instruments from all other the world in the cave temple
 
 and a few days later, bye bye Bali

looking forward to meet the land and the people soon