Tri Hita Karana is a traditional philosophy for life on the island of
Bali,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. The literal translation is roughly the "three causes of well-being" or "three reasons for prosperity."
The three causes referred to in the principle are:
# Harmony with God
# Harmony among people
# Harmony with nature or environment
It is derived from the
Balinese spiritualism and beliefs, which promotes harmony among fellow human beings through communal cooperation and promoting compassion; harmony towards God, manifested in numerous rituals and offerings to appease deities; and harmony with their environment, which strive to conserve the nature and promote the sustainability and balance of the environment. Tri Hita Karana is credited for the island's prosperity as a whole, its relatively stable record of development, environmental practices, and the overall quality of life for its residents.
The principle of Tri Hita Karana guides many aspects of Balinese life, from daily rituals, communal ''gotong-royong'' cooperation practice, to spatial organization in
Balinese architecture
Balinese architecture is a vernacular architecture tradition of Balinese people that inhabits volcanic island of Bali, Indonesia. The Balinese architecture is a centuries-old architectural tradition influenced by Balinese culture developed from ...
. It is also reflected in the natural irrigation system on the island known as
subak
Subak () is an ancient martial art that originated in Korea and uses bare hand techniques. The term was also used in Korea to refer to any fighting style that used bare hands. It is a different fighting style from Soo Bahk Do, which is a moder ...
, which consists of cooperatively managed
weirs
A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...
and
canals
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
that draw from a single water source. Former President of Indonesia,
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, even invoked it in his address to the International Conference on Sustainable Development during APEC 2013, which was held in Bali.
[Global Travel Industry News]
Bali’s Tri Hita Karana life philosophy recommended for APEC Sustainable Economic Development
9 October 2013
References
{{reflist
Balinese culture
Harmony
Philosophy of life