Il Novissimo Ramusio

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Mario Bussagli
 MUSEO DELLE CIVILTÀ

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L’eredità umana e scientifica

di Mario Bussagli

a cura di Marco Bussagli, Paola D’Amore, Pierfrancesco Fedi,

Laura Giuliano, Massimiliano A. Polichetti, Filippo Salviati

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 INDICE

Prefazione di Adriano V. Rossi .................................................................. IX

Introduzione del Comitato Organizzatore ................................................... 1

Mario Bussagli – Biografia di un umanista fra Oriente e Occidente ........ 11

LA LEZIONE UMANA E SCIENTIFICA DI MARIO BUSSAGLI

Mc. Bussagli, Mario Bussagli, mio padre ................................................. 27

D. Mazzeo, La mia esperienza di allieva del professor Mario Bussagli ... 37
C. Strinati, Ricordi accademici .................................................................. 47
F. Scialpi, Dalla Cultura classica all’Umanesimo asiatico. Incontri di Ci-
viltà nell’opera di Mario Bussagli ....................................................... 51

LE PORTE D’ORIENTE: DAL NILO AL SISTAN

G. Lombardo, Relations between Nomads and Sedentary People in the

Bronze and Iron I Ages in Southern Tajikistan (3rd-1st millennium BC) 75
P. D’Amore, Four Western Iran Roundels from the Legacy of Francesca
Bonardi Tucci ....................................................................................... 85
P. Callieri, Il centro artistico di Kuh-e Khwaja (Sistan, Iran) tra ellenismo
e iranismo ............................................................................................. 95
L. Del Francia Barocas, Tessuti in seta da Akhmim-Panopolis con immagini
di cavalieri e di sovrani: problemi di identificazione e interpretazione 105

INDIA, GANDHĀRA E ASIA CENTRALE TRA ARTE E STORIA

F. Maniscalco, Arachosiaca I: the Rule of Arachosia and the Role of Mega-

sthenes, Seleucus’ Ambassador to Pāṭaliputra, from the Achaemenid De-
feat to the Pact between Seleucus Nicator and Chandragupta Maurya 121
VI

L. Giuliano, Studies in Early Śaiva Iconography (II): Oēšo-Śiva and the

King ...................................................................................................... 161
A. Di Castro, Kashgar – influenze kuṣāṇa, eftalite e sogdiane lungo le vie
della seta ............................................................................................... 197
P. Cannata, Gli Uighur e la conversione al Manicheismo ......................... 213
T. Lorenzetti, Nāyaka Sculptural and Temple Innovation in Seventeenth
Century India: a Political Dimension in Indian Art ............................. 225
R.M. Cimino, Eloji il ‘dio del sesso’ garante della felicità coniugale ....... 237

LA VIA DEL BUDDHA: TRA INDIA, GANDHĀRA E ASIA CENTRALE

M. Spagnoli, Note sui cosiddetti Buddha kapardin di Mathurā ................ 245

A. Santoro, Śrīvatsa: un mahāpuruṣa-lakṣaṇa sul corpo del Buddha ........ 253
L.M. Olivieri, Architetture cultuali urbane kuṣāṇo-sasanidi a Barikot, Swāt 271
A. Lavagnino, Dunhuang cinquant’anni dopo .......................................... 281

LA VIA DEL BUDDHA: IL TIBET TRA PASSATO E PRESENTE

P. Mortari Vergara Caffarelli, Persistenza nel Tibet Buddhista di riti e

costruzioni del periodo animistico e sciamanico ................................. 295
M. Di Mattia, Some Reflections on the Historical and Religious Context
of the A.lci chos.’khor .......................................................................... 309
E. De Rossi Filibeck, Nostalgia del passato: voci e immagini del Tibet
contemporaneo ..................................................................................... 339

DAL ‘PAESE DI MEZZO’ A QUELLO DEL ‘SOL LEVANTE’

F. Salviati, La Cina imperiale delle origini: Osservazioni sui contatti ar-

tistici con l’Occidente e il mondo nomadico nell’arte delle dinastie Qin
e Han .................................................................................................... 353
L. Chandra, N. Sharma, Echoes of the Gupta Idiom in Chinese Art .......... 365
D. Failla, Chinese and Japanese Archaistic Bronzes in the ‘Edoardo Chios-
sone’ Museum of Oriental Art, Genoa .................................................. 383
A. Tamburello, La produzione artistica giapponese come arte di recezione
e sintesi ................................................................................................. 403

EURASIA: ORIENTE E OCCIDENTE DAL MONDO ANTICO

ALLE SOGLIE DEL MONDO MODERNO

M.A. Polichetti, Hints on Religious Symbology ........................................ 423

 VII

M.G. Chiappori, La frontiera mobile: il confronto culturale tra l’Occidente

e i nomadi nel Mondo Antico ............................................................... 431
F. Cardini, La luna, la mezzaluna, il quarto (o la falce) di luna ............... 449
V. Serino, Mario Bussagli e il labirinto iniziatico della Cattedrale di Siena 461
H. Tanaka, Leonardo da Vinci e l’Estremo Oriente ................................... 469

EURASIA: IMMAGINI, SCRITTI E IDEE A COLLOQUIO

Mc. Bussagli, Jheronimus Bosch e l’Oriente. Un interesse di padre in figlio 479

M. Del Nunzio, L’Oriente visto da Roma: le vetrate di Guillaume de
Marcillat ............................................................................................... 495
C. Cieri Via, Leonardo da Vinci e la pittura vivente. Immagine e scrittura
fra Oriente e Occidente ........................................................................ 515
P. Fedi, Raffigurazione e modalità di utilizzazione del cristogramma IHS
dal trigramma ‘bernardiniano’ all’emblema della Compagnia di Gesù
in Asia, con particolare riferimento alla produzione giapponese nanban
tra i secoli XVI e XVII ........................................................................... 525
A. Mastroianni, Athanasius Kircher, il Museo del Collegio Romano e l’in-
flusso della cultura orientale nella Roma del ‘600 ............................... 545

Tavole ......................................................................................................... 559

 MASSIMILIANO A. POLICHETTI

Hints on Religious Symbology

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muß man schweigen.1

Selfish Replicators and Fuzzy Logic

All the great spiritual traditions2 agree in attributing the highest place within
nature to humans, at least in terms of potentialities waiting to be expressed. The
recognition of a special dignity in man can also be attributed to the uniquely human
capability of making himself understood, of knowing how to communicate in an
expansive, intelligible manner. These same religions provide narrations—through
ritual acts and ethical suppositions—on the ultimate meaning and visions of the
world by the use of symbols and indirect metaphors alluding, also and especially,
to ways of identifying with what is divine.3 These ways are pragmatically directed
to the conscious use of the described portion—coherent with the spiritualistic as-
sumptions of those disciplines—making up the intangible aspect of the ‘person,’
the essential compound of the body and of the soul. The phenomena belonging to
especially subtle categories of consciousness are interpreted, in fact, by the sapien-
tial paths as being independent of the neurocerebral structure, irreducible from it.
In saying this, however, we are not affirming that is possible to ‘designate’ a certain
psychological event defining it as a ‘soul.’ The noetic act is conceived as a multi-
faceted matrix of events held together by an articulated relationship of function
and meaning. Some of man’s inner events are indeed produced by matter, that is
to say, by the brain. But in contrast, at the far end of this multi-coloured spectrum,
other phenomena can be shown to have characteristics that, in terms of causal re-
lationships, are not directly attributable to the body. In this sense, the transcen-
dence4 of man’s spiritual component with respect to his material part is asserted.

1
“Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.” (Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus
logico-philosophicus, Sats VII, 1921).
2
It is never futile to reaffirm that the different paths of knowledge should always be ana-
lysed on a level of equal dignity, verifying how the obvious multiplicities for approaching the
sacred are rendered necessary by the most huge series of causes one could imagine: the inter-
action of a complex self-aware being, such as man, with the extremely complex environment
that contains him, the world.
3
Cf. ‘In the same way the justs become so when they attain justice, the wise become wise
when they attain wisdom, it therefore follows that gods will be such when they attain divinity.’
(Severino Boezio, Consolatio Philosophiae, L-III, 10); on the theme of the ‘indiamento’ or the-
osis, cf. Polichetti (2015).
424 Massimiliano A. Polichetti

In more than one tradition, this spiritualistic position assigns no slight role to
the aesthetic experience. This can be conceived as a sort of oasis amongst the com-
plexities of daily life, a stable platform from which to move to higher ground.
Thus, its function is not insignificant: on the contrary, its formal aspect could
emerge as pre-eminent, before confidently abandoning itself to its own spontaneity,
to the informal. For this reason, stylistic canons of artistic expression are at the
same time both form and content, sign and reason of its own efficacy. It is by means
of the canons, the stylistic elements, the settings, the poses codified by tradition
and handed down by the various schools that the executor can legitimately portray
the divine to an audience that attributes and obtains values in the event by being
witness to it.
But in the human mind, the elaboration of that truly enormous mass of data
dealing with reality does not occur, as for the computer, through mere combinations
of binary opposites: on/off, yes/no, one/zero, etc. Rather, it is based on ‘fuzzy
logic,’5 a logic set that precludes being able to give precisely detailed descriptions,
using any type of language,6 of a phenomenon that grows in complexity from itself
or in relation to a superior order of reality.7 Symbolic consciousness, that is, what
one uses to interpret a symbol, is in fact itself the ‘symbol;’ literally, ‘that which
draws together.’8 According to the very appropriate definition by the great episte-
mologist Bateson, it is nothing other than ‘the structure which connects’ (cf. Bateson
1972; 1979) and consequently, the symbol is what keeps the relationship between
signifier and signified in tension. The practical application of a system of symbolic
interpretation, the choice of a real deciphering process amongst the many possibil-

4
‘Transcendence,’ that is, what is beyond or higher than a definite limit—the overcoming
of the common experience—here is intended differently than ‘transcendental,’ a term which in
Medieval scholasticism meant that which the phenomena have in common over and beyond
their differences; for Kant, who initiated the modern sense of ‘transcendental,’ it indicates instead
a methodology of knowledge that is not dependent on experience—thus in opposition to ‘em-
pirical’—but is only related to itself.
5
The term ‘fuzzy logic’ was first used in 1962 by L. Zadeh in the engineering journal Pro-
ceedings of the IRE.
6
‘The variety of language models is acknowledged by positions taken by the contemporary
cognitive sciences; briefly summarising, one side believes in the hypothesis of the existence of
a language of thought (an innate and universal medium in which the cognitive processes of
human beings are implemented), a theory of the concepts that implicate an extreme form of na-
tivism (expressed by provocative slogans such as: the concept of ‘chair’ is innate); while the
other professes a modular model of the mind (according to which the mind contains information
elaboration devices that work autonomously and uninfluenced by the global level of the system);
and a position of synthesis between the two interpretations, the fusion between representational
theory and computational theory of the mind, according to which the mind is a system of in-
formation elaboration, equipped with representative content, that manipulates formal symbols.’
Adapted from Di Francesco 2001.
7
Regarding the theoretical value of natural questions, in relation to research about godhead,
cf. “To go into spiritual research with a strictly empirical and inconsistent attitude, if not futile,
is like asking how many layers are in an onion or how many seeds in a pomegranate.” (Al Ghazali,
The Incoherence of the Philosophers).
8
For the plural meanings of ‘symbol,’ cf. Eco (2002: 152-171).
 Hints on Religious Symbology 425

ities, is related to fundamental options—metaphysical, logical, ethical—that can

historically change.
Thus macro phenomena such as the ‘migration’ of symbols across the face of
the planet stimulate research into the reasons for the permanence and the success
of some figurative motifs rather than others. Precisely with this intention, recent
research has brought about the re-evaluation of the concept of ‘memes.’ The term
was coined by the zoologist-evolutionist, Richard Dawkins (1976) for its assonance
with the Greek mimema (also: mimeme) and the word ‘gene.’ A ‘meme’ indicates
and describes the individual data that are components in a process of cultural trans-
mission as ‘imitation units.’9 Concrete examples of memes are the transmission
of technical procedures resulting in the construction of an object, musical arias,
catch-phrases, ideologies, religious faith, iconic depictions. The parallel between
the ‘meme’ and the ‘gene’ is even more explicit when Dawkins describes the pro-
cess of dissemination of these memes as propagation from one human mind to the
next through imitation, just as genes propagate themselves from body to body by
means of the sperm and egg. At the centre of Dawkins’ work is the theory of how
evolution proceeds exclusively for the benefit, or direct interest, of ‘selfish repli-
cators’—the genes—and not for the welfare of the group or the individual. Suc-
cessful genes propagate, the others do not. Everything that normally comes under
the title ‘history of man’ would therefore be dependent on a very simple survival
mechanism put in place by the ‘selfish gene.’ This analysis runs throughout Daw-
kins’ book dealing with codified information in DNA that is realised through pro-
tein synthesis. At the end of the book, the author puts forth a consciously
provocative hypothesis on the existence of another selfish replicator, the meme.
Centred exclusively on being able to survive and disseminate, the universe of
ideas—called ‘memosphere’—will not necessarily be populated by ideas, and by
behaviours consequent to ideas, ‘good’ or ‘bad;’ in the end, the ‘good’ meme will
only be the one to succeed in its main purpose: survival. Dawkins concludes that
in this struggle for survival, memes, just like genes, tend to structure themselves
into strategic groups of mutually-assisting memes.10
The structures taken on by the iconic signs—forming the specific object of
semiological analysis—initially will be perceived at a level that is not normally
revealed, and only in a second moment will they reach logical-chronological elab-
oration. The dialectic-conversational self moves towards the object of the senses
in such a way that it seems to branch off from an inner principle. But thought is in
itself an object of cognition, it is ‘thinkable,’ only if it is informed by the contents

9
‘A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted ver-
bally or by repeated action from one mind to another; etymology: shortening (modeled on gene)
of mimeme, from Greek mimma, something imitated, from mimeisthai, to imitate.’ (The Ameri-
can Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 2000).
10
To this last thought, we must also add an observation on the importance of historically
and socially functional cultural mediations, specifically those between the ideal archetype and
the needs of the patron/purchaser, as well as the learning/knowledge traditions and the concrete
support given to them by commerce or by political systems.
426 Massimiliano A. Polichetti

offered by the senses. At a merely nominal but still articulable level, the basis for
the self-determination of thought is offered, if through nothing else, than by
contrast with the external, the senses contributing to it in a decisive manner: nihil
est in intellectu quod non prius fuerit in sensu (“there is nothing in the mind that
was not first in the senses”). Since it is not possible to transmit any sense without
a recipient, every perceived phenomenon is such because it manifests an inner
sign, that is, a mental sign, the basic archetype, which by pulling the invisible to
itself, codifies the form. In semeiology, the evocatory value of the iconic sign that
allows for the primordial intuition of the phenomenal in the universe of forms, is
called ‘valence.’ The sign renders the world interpretable, while at the same time,
the world uses the sign in order to manifest itself.

Liberating Oneself from Hallucination

Thus, the object, the sign, the interpreter stand out. It is the latter who guaran-
tees the communicative validity of the sign, the sharer of its comprehensibility.
With regard to the finished work of art, one starts at the verification of its ideo-
logical content, moving by degrees to the description of the medium, the identifi-
cation of the style and the structural configuration, the description of the technical
ability, culminating with the final finishing touches to the formal creativity; cre-
ativity that nonetheless requires definite and shared rules. The supersession of one
code, in fact, tends to lead to the resolution of a new code and not to the complete
annihilation of the utility of a structure, especially when faced with the incontro-
vertible need to mediate vast fields of meaning: from complex to simple, from ob-
jective to subjective, from specific to universal, from realistic to iconic.
The sacred icon, ‘visible image of the invisible,’11 as an expression of an in-
expressible spiritual force as well as an act of adoration—of the patron, of the art-
ist—, at this point can be compared to a source of heat that never depletes its inner
temperature even though it gives off warmth. The subjective interpretation of the
sacredness, which can never be entirely superimposed on a precise institutionalised
language, will not weaken the powerful charge of the image through which the di-
vine is expressed. Here, we would propose that traditionally understood depictions
of sacred art do not exhaust their function due to different readings—necessarily
diverse even though informed by an identical interpretative code; on the contrary,
by means of supports for analytical consciousness, they implement emotional and
aesthetic values, almost as if they were a sort of semantic storage battery.
Further, in order for sacred art to reach full fruition the observer needs to put
himself in contact with the depths of his own nature, with his own consciousness
along with everything else that is manifest in it. The mind, which is able to obtain
the ultimate perception of itself by contemplating these works of art, comes to the
awareness of a spiritualised being. Thus sacred art constitutes a unique bridge, an

11
“In veritate et manifeste imagines sunt visibilia invisibilium” (Pope Adrian I).
 Hints on Religious Symbology 427

essential bond between what ‘seems to be’ and that which ‘truly is.’ There is per-
haps no greater challenge to the consciousness of the common man whose ego,
clinging to his limited perception of reality, inevitably becomes alarmed when
faced with such a merciless adversary as the perception of the true measure of the
existence of the phenomena. This way of existing must be decisive, ultimate; in
fact, in art as in philosophical thought, it establishes itself in constant defiance of
every attempt to conceptualise, classify, diminish the mystery of the being by de-
basing it in already-known, limited, interpretive references patterns. Representa-
tions of sacred art transmit therefore to man the message of infinite possibility: in
their radiant appearance they open up consciousness to the not so comfortable feel-
ing of being able to transcend all limits.12
At this point, it is important to underscore that a distinction exists between
two different visions of reality: in one, the world is interpreted as simply a more
or less arranged series of apparitions, a tenuous procession of phantoms for which
one can take an aggressive, avid, or neutral attitude; in the other, realised by the
contemplative individual, reality is considered to be the domain of wisdom and of
beauty. The normal individual, characterised by still-undisciplined vision, con-
siders manifestation of the phenomenal world as if it were endowed with value
and intrinsic meaning, closed within itself. Instead, the purpose of every possible
technical, iconological, and aesthetic indication that can come about through the
contemplation of sacred art is to open up the possibility of accepting a vision of
the world suited to the liberation of the mentalities limited to appearance, and at
the same time, to utilize that vision giving it all the attention its existence deserves.
In this way, man is able to escape from the dualism that makes him see the goal
and the path for getting there as two separate moments. The relationship between
the formal characteristics of the subjects depicted and the level of consciousness
of the observer remain highly differentiated, at least during the initial phases of
apperception of the visual datum. Initially it is more the psychological experience
acquired personally—chronologically—that determines the subsequent logical pro-
cesses rather than the symbolic values by which a given depiction was formalised
as a way to stimulate the refinement of awareness as an outcome of contemplation.
Consciousness will read sacred forms without ever being able to exhaust ex-
pressive methods, and neither can its own interpretation of those forms ever ex-
haust the metaphysical contents, just as the execution of a musical score does not
lead to the collapse of the codified conventional signs, but conversely, it brings
about its own perpetuation over time in a specific melody. A language articulated
in this fashion will have among its purposes that of unceasingly inducing ordinary
individuals to reflect on the always less-evident modalities of the being, thus forc-
ing him to see what he normally refuses to want to see. He can interrupt the dia-
logue momentarily, but this uncomfortable remnant of his deep-seated nature will
never let itself forget him, forcing him to renew this disquieting relationship with

12
The spiritual approach manages to imitate the worthiness of this ability: “Man is a crea-
ture that has received the order to become god” (St Basil the Great).
428 Massimiliano A. Polichetti

his own metatemporal essence, urging him to liberate himself from that which he
otherwise would never be willing to separate from, in the final analysis, from his
own hallucinated vision of the phenomenal world.13

Concluding Remarks

The person who wants to fully develop his own potential, in resolving the
identity linking the individual self and the cosmos, must prepare for the sacrifice
of this individual segment that holds him back from being the incommensurable
order of consciousness. Consequently, palingenesis is preceded by the mystic mac-
tatio of the ‘small self.’14 In this sense, askesis15 becomes the complexity of
methods required to obtain the death of the ailing self. The description of holy
nuptials between god and the soul—in the Christian interpretation, between God
and his Church—inevitably go back to the use of sexual symbolism in the spiritual
sphere, a different and broader context laden with possible comparisons, which
are as interesting as they are problematic. It is, nonetheless, necessary to compare
afferent concepts of dissimilar religious traditions when faced with the opportunity
to plunge fresh roots into one’s own the culture. This nurtures the outward expan-
sion of one’s own branches with the hopes of bearing more fruit; the first of these
branches being a better understanding of one’s culture of origin, which at times
lends itself to excessively superficial readings due to over-familiarity. The aim is
to essentially offer as many ‘other’ shores of critical/comparative reflection as
possible, putting less restriction on generally accepted or axiomatic categories, and
in the process, to allow oneself a momentary pause for reflection, in productive
suspension between history and fable, practice and philosophy, relativism and ab-
solutism, politic and ethic, nation and cosmos, law and mysticism.
Approaching to the end of this small contribution of mine to the memory of
Mario Bussagli (to which I owe good part of my method of analysis), I would hope
that all this considerations might help us all come to a deeper understanding of
this great theme and attempt to show its implications and interconnections with
the mysteries of being and of consciousness. I would imagine we could all be en-
riched by a sharing of the spiritual riches of each Tradition, a spiritual symbol
being an object pointing toward our inner subject, our inner being. As the physical

13
‘ ‘The greatest wizard,’ Novalis writes in his memorable manner, ‘is the one who conjures
until the point of mistaking his own phantasmagoria as autonomous apparitions. Isn’t this our
case?’ I believe so. We (the undivided divinity that operates in us) have dreamed the world. We
dreamt it as resistant, mysterious, visible, ubiquitous in space and stable in time; but into its
tenuous and eternal architecture we have let in interstices of absurdity to know what is false.’
Borges (2002: 130), but just a few pages earlier, with regard to ‘Zeno’s paradox’ Borges asks
himself how opportune is it ‘to touch-up our conception of the universe for that small bit of
Greek darkness.’ (2002: 114).
14
Cf. the evangelic exhortation (John 12:24): ‘[…] unless a kernel of wheat falls to the
ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.’
15
Defined by moral theology: ‘positive pursuit of discomfort.’
 Hints on Religious Symbology 429

universe is made by matter, in the same way the mind is builted up by symbols,
and the significance and power of the symbols are awakened in accordance with
our own understanding of their deep significance.16

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bateson, G. (1972) Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psy-

chiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology. Chicago.
Bateson, G. (1979) Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity. New York.
Borges, J.L. (2002) Discussione. Milano.
Dawkins, R. (1976) The Selfish Gene. Oxford.
Di Francesco, M. (2001) Dare linguaggio al pensiero. Il Sole 24 ore, 24 June 2001, Milano.
Eco, U. (2002) Sulla letteratura. Milano.
Fedi, P., M. Paolillo, eds. (2015) Arte dal Mediterraneo al Mar della Cina. Genesi ed in-
contri di scuole e stili. Scritti in onore di Paola Mortari Caffarelli. Palermo.
Merton, T. (1979) Symbolism: Communication or Communion? In Merton, T. Love and
Living. New York.
Polichetti, M.A. (2015) Art and Theosis in Tibetan Buddhism. In Fedi, Paolillo: 327-332.

Summary

Religions give an important role to the aesthetic experience. Through encoded

canons, the performer can represent the divine before an audience that concurrently
can draw and attribute values to the event. Choosing a representation code is re-
lated to fundamental options that can historically change. Macro phenomena such
as the ‘migration’ of symbols—in Central Asia, along the ‘Silk Road’—are urging
the search for motivations for the permanence and success of some figurative mo-
tifs. The representations of sacred art do not deplete their function because of the
various readings; consciousness supposedly reads the shapes taken by the sacred
in the same way the execution of a musical score does not lead to the disintegration
of the code, but on the contrary to the perpetuation of a melody.

16
“Often the symbols of different religions may have more in common than have the ab-
stractly formulated official doctrines […] The true symbol does not merely point to something
else. It contains in itself a structure which awakens our consciousness to a new awareness of
the inner meaning of life and of reality itself. A true symbol takes us to the center of the circle,
not to another point on the circumference. It is by symbolism that man enters effectively and
consciously into contact with his own deepest self, with other people, and with God.” (Merton
1979: 79).