|
Grover A. Zinn, Jr.
MANDALA SYMBOLISM
AND
USE IN THEMYSTICISM OF HUGH
OF ST. VICTOR
( "History of Religions", 1973, v. 12 )
Studies relating Western mysticism to the wider cross-cultural context of
Eastern mystical traditions have tended to concentrate on the conceptual
framework and/or literary expressions of the mystic way. One result has been
a drawing of parallels from selected classic texts with emphasis on language
and concepts with much interest in epistemology, theology, and to a lesser
degree psychology. In addition to limits in emphasis there has been a rather
narrow selection within the corpus of Western mystical writings. One thinks
immediately of Rudolf Otto's major study of Meister Eckhart and Shankara,
and ofD. T. Suzuki's comparative studies of Zen
Buddhism and the mysticism of Eckhart.1 Likewise, William
Johnston's recent perceptive study, The Still Point, continues to restrict
the evidence from Christian mystics, for his major sources are late-medieval
and Post-Tridentine mystics.2 Eckhart is hardly a "typical"
Christian mystic. Restricting the study of Christian mysticism to the later
Middle Ages and times
------------------------
This is a substantially revised version of a paper read at the Conference on
Medieval Studies sponsored by the Medieval Institute, Western Michigan
University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 1971.
1 R. Otto, Mysticism: East and West (London, 1932); D. T. Suzuki, Mysticism:
Christian and Buddhist (London, 1957).
2 William Johnston, The Still Point: Reflections on Zen and Christian
Mysticism (New York, 1971).
317
following neglects major mystics, especially Cistercians,
Franciscans, and Victormes. To neglect men from these
traditions is to pass by particularly profound uses of
symbols in the exposition and communication of the
contemplative quest. This paper proposes to study a
drawing described and used by Hugh of St. Victor in two
of his mystical writings, De arca
Noe moraliand De arca
Noe mystica.
3 The drawing will be examined with
particular reference to the theory and use of mandalas
in Tibetan Buddhism and the functions of mandalic
structures as elucidated by Carl Jung. Our purpose is to
show that in structure, function, and "content" the
Victorine drawing has many significant parallels with
Tibetan mandalas. On the basis of this cross-cultural
consideration of a particular symbolic structure it is
hoped that a fresh approach to the study of Western
mysticism can be realized, especially with respect to
the use of symbols and symbolic structures in
explicating the mystic way. One of the less thoroughly
examined aspects of medieval Western mysticism is the
way in which novices were first introduced to the
contemplative life and then led through the stages in
which the love of God becomes an increasing reality,
with final culmination in the unitive experience. What
needs greater appreciation is the use of symbols as
primary bearers of meaning and agents of transformation.
Symbols are not simply intellectual constructs which
augment or ornament arguments essentially rational in
process and conclusion. They form a level of meaning and
communication which cannot be neglected. Symbols and
symbolic structures not only express insight; they often
guide the initiate along the subtle path of ascetic
renunciation and contemplative fruition. Symbols live
within a particular environment; they are not abstract
elements. Careful consideration must therefore be given
to the special situation and the particular climate in
which a given set of symbols has vitality. In the
Western medieval period the mystic tradition was
generally nurtured within the framework of a rather
complex theological matrix and a disciplined ascetic
life-style. Within the framework, certain symbols had an
initia-
------------------
3 Texts in PL 176:617-80 and 681-704. English translation of De arca
Noe morali in Hugh of St. Victor: Selected Spiritual Writings, translated by
a Religious of C.S.M.V., with an introduction by Aelred Squire, O.P. (London,
1962). The division into chapters in the translation differs from Migne and
has been adopted in this paper. The treatise is cited as A. mor., the
translation as C.S.M.V., and De area Noe mystica as A. myst. Texts of
several passages missing in Migne but included in the translation are found
in C. C. Mierow, "A Description of Manuscript Garret Deposit 1450, Princeton
University Library, Together with a Collation of the First Work Contained in
It, the De Area Noe of Hugo de Sancto Victore," Transactions of the American
Library Institute, for 1917 (Chicago, 1918), pp. 27-55.
318
tory value, for they possessed the potential for revealing to the novice a
theological vision and guiding him through the levels of experience germane
to the life of contemplative asceticism. The use of symbols is grounded in
the mystic experience and the path thereto. William James, Dean Inge, and W.
T. Stace, among others, have pointed out in their separate ways the
ineffable nature of the mystic experience.4 It lies beyond
the level of conscious thought and outside the bounds of the conceptual
range of human language. Yet the mystic persists in the attempt to speak of
his experience and to communicate some understanding of the experience and
the pattern of discipline leading to it. He often has recourse to symbolic
language in this struggle to express the unexpressible, perhaps constructing
a set of interlocking symbols to convey his insight insofar as possible.
While not directing his comment to the situation of the mystic, Paul Tillich
has an observation which is appropriate: "The object of theology is found in
the symbols of religious experience. . . . Theology, then, is the conceptual
interpretation, explanation, and criticism of the symbols in which a special
encounter between man and God has found expression." 5
Such an attitude is fundamental to the thought of Hugh of St. Victor. He
speaks of symbolica demonstratio and stresses the necessity for symbols in
theology: "It is impossible to represent [demonstrari} invisible things
except by means of those which are visible. Therefore all theology of
necessity has recourse to visible representations in order to make known the
invisible."6
------------------------------
4 William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (New York,
1902); William Ralph Inge, Christian Mysticism, The Bampton Lectures, 1899
(London, 1899), esp. lecture 1; W. T. Stace, Mysticism and Philosophy (New
York,'1960). See also Evelyn Underbill, Mysticism (New York, 1955), esp. pp.
328-57.
5 Paul Tillich, "Theology and Symbolism," in Religious Symbolism, ed.
F. E. Johnson (New York, 1955), p. 108; also see Tillich, Systematic
Theology (Chicago, 1951), 1:132-33, 196-97, 265 ff. The relation between
religious awareness and symbolic expression, in this case the language of
conceptual thought, is considered in F. J. Strong, Emptiness: A Study in
Religious Meaning (Nashville, Term., 1967). On symbols, experience, and
expression, see E. Cassirer, The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, trans. R.
Manheim (New Haven, Conn., 1953), and Language and Myth, trans. S. K. Langer
(New York, 1946).
6 Hugh of St. Victor, In hierarchiam coelestem, 1, i, PL 175:926D. On
symbolica demonstratio, see ibid., II, col. 941C (referred to hereafter as
IHC). Hugh's use of symbols is also tied to his apophaticism in considering
God; God is beyond man's experience of either the external world of objects
or the internal world of the mind. He is absolutely transcendent. He is "unknowable"
or "unthinkable" (incogitabilis). Men use the word "Deus" to speak of God,
says Hugh, but they err if they think that the concept accompanying this
word corresponds to God as he is (see IHC, III, PL 175:976D-978C; also De
sacramentis christianae fidei, I, x, 2, PL 176:328CD, trans. Deferrari, p.
166). The same holds for "Creator." Man has only symbols with which to speak
of God, and as Hugh observes, "the image is far from the truth" (IHC, iii,
PL 175:977A). Yet the image and the symbol have value, as the citation in
the text shows.
319
Hugh's brilliance as a subtle allegorist in expounding
Scripture has been appreciated; the intimate connection
of his symbolist frame of mind with his understanding of
initiation into the mystic way has not been so readily
grasped.7 The major contribution of
the Victorine mystics, Hugh and Richard, has often been
found in their critical analysis and systematic
exposition of the accumulated tradition of contemplative
teaching gathered in the writings of the fathers through
the centuries.8 The Victorines made
contemplation a discipline, in the sense that they made
it something to be taught and handed on. They also made
it more systematic in a theological sense and added to
the understanding of the psychological dimensions of the
contemplative life. Their systematic and rational
approach reflects a concern found also in concurrent
twelfth-century developments in theology, canon law,
exegesis, and the liberal arts. Yet ultimately, for all
of their systematic intent and rational reflection, the
Victorines turned to the vehicle of symbolic structures
to convey their completed teaching on the mystic life.
Richard chose the tabernacle of Moses.9
Hugh selected the ark of Noah.10
Hugh associates two major iconographic elements with the
ark of Noah in the drawing which we shall study. These
two elements are a symbolic cosmos which surrounds the
ark and a figure of Christ embracing the cosmos. Thus we
have a drawing in which Christ embraces a circular
symbolic cosmos which surrounds a highly schematized ark
of Noah. The drawing no longer exists. It is described
in detail in the second ark treatise, De arca
Noe
--------------------
7 On Hugh as an allegorist, see M.-D. Chenu, La theologie au douzieme
siede, Etudes de philosophic medievale, vol. 45 (Paris, 1957), pp. 191-209;
also pp. 159-90 on "La mentalite symbolique."
8 See Patrick J. Healy, "The Mysticism of the School of St. Victor,"
Church History 1 (1932): 211-21. The "speculative" dimension of Victorine
mysticism, as well as the "speculative" mysticism of Bernard, has been
stressed by E. Gilson, History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages (New
York, 1954), pp. 164-71.
9 See Richard of St. Victor, Benjamin Major, in PL 196; English
translation, Clare Kirchberger, Richard of St.-Victor: Selected Writings on
Contemplation (London, 1957), pp. 131-212 (selections), with substantial
introduction and bibliography.
10 In addition to the use of the ark theme in the two treatises
considered here, the theme reappears in De vanitate mundi, II, PL
176:711-20, trans. C.S.M.V., pp. 171-82. The most recent and complete study
of Hugh's thought is by the late Abbe R. Baron, Science et sagesse chez
Hugues de Saint-Victor (Paris, 1957), with an extensive bibliography. A very
useful work is H. R.. Schlette, Die Nichtigkeit der Welt (Miinchen, 1961).
See also the brief but penetrating introduction by A. Squire, in C.S.M.V.
For a review of Vicfcorine scholarship, see J. Chatillon, "De Guillaume de
Champeaux a Thomas Gallus: Chronique d'histoire litteraire et doctrinale de
1'Ecole de Saint-Victor," Revue du moyen age latin 8 (1952): 139-62, 247-73.
320
mystica, written about 1129-30.11 From
the account in this work the complex structure and
symbolism of the drawing can be reconstructed in detail.
The account gives a step-by-step description of the
process of constructing the iconograph, beginning with
fixing the center of the drawing and sketching the
central square and concluding with the description of
the surrounding Christ-figure. De arca
Noe morali,
the earlier of the treatises (ca. 1125), is Hugh's most
thorough exposition of his theology of the mystic way.12
It combines an analysis of the doctrinal setting of the
mystic life, Hugh's theology of creation and restoration,
his understanding of the significance of history for the
Christian faith, and his teaching on the contemplative
life. All of these various threads of thought receive
visual presentation in the drawing, which is repeatedly
assumed in the exposition of the mystic way
in De arca Noe morali. In
vivid images the iconograph conveys Hugh's theology and
his conception of the theory and practice of the
contemplative life.
Hugh assumes that the ark of Noah is a truncated pyramid
with an area one cubit square at the peak and a
central column reaching from base to summit. The form of
the Ark is thus homologizable with the shape of a
mountain, an association which Hugh makes in terms of
two significant mountains: Mount Sinai and Moses' ascent
of the same as a paradigm of the mystic's ascent into
the cloud of darkness; Mount Zion and the return of all
nations to the cosmic center where mankind is reunified
and united in the eschatological celebration of the
celestial liturgy.13 Since the shape
of the ark is of primary importance in Hugh's
explication of its symbolic significance, he draws it to
display the three-dimensional
--------------
11 On the date, see Damien van den Eynde, Essai sur la
succession et la date dea writs de Hugues de Saint-Victor, Spicilegium
pontificii athenaei antoniana, vol. 13 (Rome, 1960), p. 80. On all matters
of date, van den Eynde is to be preferred to R. Baron.
12 The only treatise which approaches A. mor. is De arrha
animae, written near the end of Hugh's career. It fails to have the sweep of
the earlier treatise, although the later work is much more effective in
presenting the theme of love and the dialectic of amor mundi and amor Dei.
13 For the use of Mount Sinai, see A. myst., VII, PL
176:694D-695B. The theme goes back to Philo and is found in Gregory of Nyssa
and Dionysius the pseudo-Areopagite (see L. Bouyer, La spirituality de
Nouveau Testament et des Peres, Histoire de la spiritualite chretienne, vol.
1 [Paris, I960], pp. 48-56, 355 ff.). For the use of Mount Zion, see A. mor.,
II, 9, PL 640D ff., C.S.M.V., pp. 83 ff., where Hugh begins by referring to
the spiritual ark in the following manner: "This is the mountain of the
house of the Lord established in the top of the mountain, unto which all
nations flow, and go up from the ark's four corners, as from the four
quarters of the earth." The biblical allusion is to Isaiah 14:13. On the
idea that the Fall dispersed men over the earth and fragmented humanity, see
A. myst., IV, PL 176:686AB.
321
form.14 Therefore the ark is shown as if viewed from above.
The result is a series of nesting rectangles, three in number, one for each
of the three stories of the ark, with a square in the center representing
both the central column upon which the upper edges of the inward-sloping
sides of the vessel rest, and the cubit at the apex of the ark. In Hugh's
spiritual interpretation of the ark this square with its twofold
significance is a key element. The cubit at the summit of the ark represents
the "simple oneness, that true simplicity, and everlasting changelessness,
that is in God."15 The column in the center of the ark,
reaching from the base to the summit, is symbolic of Christ the Incarnate
Word.16 The corners of the rectangles are connected by
lines which extend from the base of the vessel to the summit. Along these
lines twelve ladders are drawn, linking the three stories of the ark at each
of the four corners. Again we have a structural detail of significance for
the spiritual interpretation of the ark. Each of the twelve ladders
represents a degree of advancement in the mystic life; each series of three
ladders represents one of the four stages into which Hugh divides the
contemplative quest.17 Alongside each ladder Hugh
Table1
The Mystic Quest
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stage
Christ
Degrees
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Awakening. . . .
Book chides
Fear, sorrow, love
Purgation ....
Tree shades
Patience, mercy, compunction
Illumination . . .
.. Book illumines
Thinking, meditation, contemplation
Union................. Tree feeds
Temperance, prudence, fortitude
__________________________________________________________________
draws the personification of the virtue associated with
that ladder; hence each of the triangles created by the
diagonal lines of ladders contains three figures
personifying levels of spiritual perfection.
--------------------------
14 "We have depicted this form [truncated pyramid] in preference to
the other, because wewere unable to show the height of
the walls in a flat drawing. For in this plan the
ascending beams are gradually brought together until
they meet in the measure of a single cubit" (A. mor., I,
13, PL 176:629D, C.S.M.V., p. 63). In connection with
this passage the English translation has a note which is
absolutely inaccurate concerning the relationship of
this ark with the drawing mentioned in ibid., 7, col.
622BC, p. 52; the note claims the two ark drawings are
not the same. In fact, they are the same.
15 See A. mor., IV, 4, PL 176:666BC, C.S.M.V., pp. 126-27; also -De
vanitate mundi, II, PL 714AB, C.S.M.V., pp. 175-76.
16 A. mor., II, 8, PL 176:640CD, C.S.M.V., p. 82; see our discussion
of this below.
17 For a description of these ladders and personified virtues, see A.
myst., VII-X, PL 176:692B-698D; the four stages, or
"steps of the ascents," are discussed in A. mor., II,
9-10, PL 176:640D-642C, C.S.M.V., pp. 83-86 (see table
1).
322
The keel of the ark is prominently indicated by a line
running from the bow to the stern. Along this line Hugh
inscribes the human genealogy of Christ, beginning with
Adam, and the spiritual filiation of the Bishops of
Rome, beginning with Peter and ending with Honorius II.
Christ is represented by the small square which rests in
the center of the drawing and consequently at the
mid-point of the timeline. Thus the passage of time from
the Creation to the present (and into the future to the
eschaton) is marked on the keel of the ark.18
The twelve patriarchs and twelve apostles are singled
out for special recognition; each group of twelve men is
portrayed by a line of twelve small "icons," as Hugh
calls them, extended across the width of the ark. Here
the focus is clearly eschatological; Hugh describes
their appearance as being "like the senate (senatus) of
the city of God."19
The cosmos which surrounds the ark is divided into three
concentric circular bands, or regions. The innermost is
the earth, the middle the aer, and the outermost the
aether.20 The earth is shown as a map,
a feature which stresses the significance of history as
opposed to the simple presentation of the elemental
nature of the earth as such in other symbolic cosmi.
Hugh holds that divine providence has so ordered events
in sacred history that time and place are coordinated,
with the locus of significant events moving westward as
time progresses onward. The correlation of events on the
time-line keel of the ark with places on the map of the
world gives visual expression to this fundamental
Victorine concept.21
The bow of the ark is placed in the eastern region of
the map. The aer contains personifications of the four
seasons, with one season in each of the quadrants of the
aer, spring being uppermost and oriented so that it
corresponds to East on the map of the world. A geometric
device of eight lines displays the interplay of the four
-----------------------
18 "If the Ark signifies the Church, it remains true that the length
of the Ark symbolizes the length of the Church. However, the length of the
Church is to be found in the duration of the times .... The length of it
consists in the increase of times, which extend from the past, through the
present, into the future" (A. myst.. Ill, MPL 176:685AB). On the importance
of Hugh's consciousness of history, see Chenu, pp. 62 ff.
19 A. myst., IV, PL 176:868D. Similar devices are found in the Hortus
deliciarum of Herrade of Landesberg; see E. Male, The Gothic Image, trans.
Dora Nussey (New York, 1958), p. 380, fig. 184 (the genealogy of Christ).
20 A. myst., XIV-XV, PL 176:700C-701D. On the nature of symbolic
cosmi in the twelfth century, see the important work by M.-Th. d'Alvemy,'
'Le cosmos symbolique de XII® siecle," Archives d'histoire doctrinale et
litteraire du moyen age 20 (1953): 31-81.
21 See A. mor., IV, 18, PL 176:677D,
C.S.M.V., p. 174. On Hugh's attitude toward history, see the older but
useful work by W. A. Schneider, Oeschichte und Geschichtsphilosophie bei
Hugo von St. Victor: Ein Beitrag zur Geistesgeschichte des 12. Jahrhunderts,
Miinstersche Beitrage zur Geschichtsforschung, Folge 3, Heft ii (Miinster,
1933).
323
humors (cold, hot, wet, dry) in the sequence of the
seasons and indicates the harmonious relationship of
difference and sameness between successive seasons
(spring: wet-hot; summer: hot-dry; autumn: dry-cold;
winter: cold-wet). This was a traditional medieval
"harmony"; Hugh likens it to the musical harmony of the
"octochordium."22 The aether continues
the presentation of cosmic relationships and cycles, for
it contains representations of the twelve winds and the
twelve signs of the zodiac, along with personifications
of the twelve months. In so depicting the cosmos, Hugh
gives a visual representation of the fabric of the
seasons, continually revolving in their yearly cycle of
decay and renewal.
The Christ-figure who embraces the cosmos is
described as "Christ seated in majesty" and is
accompanied by two six-winged seraphim, in accord with
Isaiah's temple vision. That Christ is seated in majesty
must be inferred in the drawing, for the cosmic disk
covers Christ's body; only his head, hands, and feet are
visible.23 A series of vivid
iconographical devices serves to relate this figure of
Christ to the cosmos and the ark. He is shown as
Creative Word, Providential Orderer, Final Judge, and
Object of Contemplation for the angelic hosts. From the
mouth of Christ six linked disks extend downward into
the eastern area of the map of the world and terminate
at the bow of the ark. These six disks represent the six
days of creation, culminating in a scene of paradise.
With this set of symbols, Christ is represented as the
Creative Word, for the created cosmic order is a "word"
expressed by the
--------------------
22 On the medieval concept of the harmonious or musical universe, see
E. Male, Uart religieux du XII" siecle en France, 3d ed. rev. and corrected
(Paris, 1928), pp. 316 ff., citing Boethius, -De musica, PL 63:1171, where
the latter speaks of mundana musica, i.e., the harmony of the celestial
spheres, the seasons, and the elements. A decisive influence on medieval
ideas of the harmonious universe was registered by Augustine in De musica;
see Otto von Simson, The Gothic Cathedral, Bollingsn Series, no. 48 (New
York, 1955), pp. 21-58. See also Hugh's Didascalicon, II, 12, ed. Buttimer,
pp. 32 f., trans. Taylor, p. 69, where music is discussed.
23 This is clear from A. myst., XV, PL 176:701D-702A, and A. mor., I,
10, PL 176:625CD, C.S.M.V., p. 58. The figure of Christ embracing the
universe is similar in form (but not precisely in content—the point needs
explication elsewhere) to Hildegard of Bingen's conception of Nbus embracing
the cosmos and pervaded by the Godhead. See C. Singer, "The Scientific Views
and Visions of Saint Hildegard (1098-1180)," in Studies in the History and
Method of Science, ed. C. Singer (Oxford, 1917), for a reproduction of the
miniature and comment on the iconography. On Hildegard, see H. Liebeschutz,
dos allegorische Weltbild der Heiligen Hildegard von Bingen, Studien der
Bibliothek Warburg, vol. 16 (Leipzig-Berlin, 1930). The similarity of form
should not obscure a significant divergence in concern and content;
Hildegard is oriented toward cosmology and the macrocosm/microcosm
correlation; Hugh is oriented toward history and spirituality. For a study
of the literary and iconographic theme of Christ embracing the universe, see
A. C. Esmeijer, "La macchina deU'universo," in Album discimdorum J. 0. van
Odder (Utrecht. 1963), pp. 5-15.
324
divine Wisdom.24 As Providential Orderer Christ is shown
embracing the cosmos, for, as Hugh explains in De arca
Noe morali, "the fact that the arms of the Lord embrace all things on every
side means that all things are under his control and that no man can escape
either the reward of His right hand or the punishment of his left."25
In his right hand he holds a throne; in his left, a scepter. These extend to
his feet where, at the western extremity of the map and the stern of the
vessel, a scene of the Last Judgment is depicted.26 There
the elect are welcomed to heaven, the damned are dragged to hell, to the
accompaniment of the appropriate phrases from Matthew 28, very much in the
manner of the contemporary tympanum of Abbot Suger's church at the Abbey of
Saint Denis. Here we see Christ the Last Judge. Finally, Christ is shown as
the Object of Angelic Contemplation. On either side of the Christ-figure
choirs of angels, arranged in the hierarchical order typical of medieval
angelology, gaze in rapt wonder at the unveiled face of the Lord of the
Cosmos.27
The mandalic forms with which we intend to compare
Hugh's drawing are those of Tibetan tantric Buddhism. Because of the great
variety of mandalas, any generalized description is difficult. The word "mandala"
means literally "circle"; it may also be rendered as "center" or "that which
surrounds."28 Gusieppe Tucci has proposed a rather
straightforward geometric/symbolic description of a general structure for
mandalas. I have chosen to follow him here. The Tibetan mandala has "an
outer enclosure and one or more concentric circles which in their turn,
enclose figures of squares cut by transversal lines. These start from the
centre and
-----------------------
24 Iconography described in A. myst., XV, PL 176:702BC. On Christ as
the Wisdom of God who "expresses" the world as a "word," see Hugh's comments
on the three words (the word of man; the Creation as word; the divine Word
Himself) in A. mor., II, 13, PL 176:645BC, C.S.M.V., p. 91. There the world
is called "a work of God," and "since it is visible, is called an outward
word of His, as being that which issues from His mouth."
25 A. mor., I, 10, col. 626A, p. 58.
26 See A. myst., XIV, PL 176:700D for the judgment scene; the scepter
and throne are described, with the citations from Matthew 28, in ibid., XV,
col. 702A. For the very interesting allegory which explains the significance
of the throne in relation to the saints, elect, and angels, see A. mor., I,
8, PL 176:622D-623C, C.S.M.V., pp. 52-54. The relation of Christ to the
cosmos is incorrectly described by Squire in his introduction to C.S.M.V.
(p. 32), where Christ is said to hold the cosmos in his hand.
27 See A. myst., XV, PL 176:702CD. For the significance of the face
of Christ unveiled by the seraphim (in contrast to the biblical
description), see A mor I, 10, PL 176:624D-625B, C.S.M.V., pp. 56-57. Hugh's
interpretation of the significance of the unveiling seems to be a new
departure on his part. He is conscious that his drawing is a departure from
the usual consideration of the vision of Isaiah.
28 See M. Eliade, Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, trans. W. B. Trask,
Bollingen Series, no. 56 (New York, 1958), p. 219.
325
reach to the four corners so that the surface is divided into four
triangles." 29 The center of the mandala has a medallion
containing one of several figures: the supreme god; the god and his shakti;
or the abstract form of the dorje, the thunderbolt which symbolizes the
totality of divine forces, both creative and-destructive, and also
reintegration. Each triangular quarter of the central square contains the
image of a god or an abstract symbol or emblem of the divinity. The gods are
meant to exemplify various aspects of samsara, or karmic reality, as
perceived by the individual. They mirror the pattern of cosmic evolution and
involution, providing the initiate with visualization of the multiplicity of
present existence and of the way back to primal unity.. A superb example of
this type of mandala is that of rDorjec'an.30
The function of mandalas is never primarily
that of conveying knowledge, although it ought to be realized that this is
one aspect of their purpose. Above all the mandala exists as the
presentation of a way to achieve unity of consciousness and ultimate
detachment from the world. The aim is practical and experimental, not
theoretical or metaphysical.31 Nevertheless, despite the
Buddhist intention to get beyond the consideration of metaphysical
assumptions, there does seem to be a value in accepting as an analytical
tool Tucci's presentation of a cosmogrammic as well as a psycho-cosmogrammic
function for mandalas.
As a cosmogram the mandala represents "a geometric
projection of the world reduced to an essential pattern."32
It is "the whole universe in its essential plan, in its process of emanation
and of reabsorption. The universe not only in its inert spatial expanse, but
as temporal revolution and both as vital process which develops from an
essential Principle and rotates round a central axis."
33 This cosmology intends to show the fragmentation of
experience and the cosmos, while providing insight into the ultimate ground
of this very process of multiplicity in the Absolute—or, as one of the
Tibetan sources cited by Guenther puts it, "samsara is nirvana."
34 This oosmographic aspect of mandalic symbolism is
expressed by the deities of the inner square, who show "in images,
pictorially,
---------------
29 Gusieppe Tucci, The Theory and Practice of the Mandala, trans. A.
H. Broderick (New York, 1970), p. 39.
30 See ibid., plate 1.
31 See A. Bharati, The Tantric Tradition (London, 1966), chap. 1; and
M. Eliade, Patanjali and Yoga, trans. C. L. Markmarm (New York, 1969), pp.
157-81.
32 Tucci, p. 25.
33 Ibid., p. 23.
34 See Herbert V. Guenther, Tibetan Buddhism without Mystification (Leiden,
1966), pp. 122-24.
326
the successive phases by which the One . . . splits into the multiplicity of
things, or is darkened and clouded in the subconscious.35
The mandala is also, and primarily, a psychocosmogram, which presents in
symbolic fashion not only the disintegration from the One to the many, but
also the reintegration from the many to the One. It makes possible the way
by which the initiate attains "that Absolute Consciousness, entire and
luminous, which Yoga causes to shine once more in the depths of our being."36
The gods of the mandala are visualizations of levels of existence which the
meditator realizes to be but psychic manifestations which he must apprehend
as such and overcome. By internalizing states of the cosmos as present in
the gods, the meditator gradually detaches himself from the cosmos, material
and psychic, and realizes experientially that nirvana and samsara are one
and the same.37 In so doing he penetrates to the inner
center of the mandala. In Tucci's words, "Transfiguration from the plane of
samsara to that of nirvana occurs in successive phases, by degrees; just as
on the cosmic mountain and around the axis mundi are disposed, rank after
rank, one above the other, the Gods ever purer. Little by little one rises
towards the peak and beyond the peak right up to that summit of all that
becomes and has form, where takes place the passage to the other plane."38
By reducing the Victorine drawing to simplified
geometric elements, we can see the striking parallels with Tibetan tantric
mandalas. The Victorine drawing has a series of concentric circles—a set of
nesting quadrilaterals divided into four triangles by diagonal lines—and a
central square which represents both the peace, unity, and stability of the
divine and the Christ who, as Incarnate Word, is mediator between God and
man as well as the way and the goal of the mystic quest. The triangles
contain personifications of the levels of the mystic's quest in the figures
of the virtues; they correspond to the images of the gods in the Tibetan
mandalas. At the center of the drawing the square symbolizes the absolute
divine, the center of the cosmos, the center of history, and the true center
of the personal psyche.39 This square, representing both
the column and the cubit, is the point of breakthrough between the
material/mental world of space-time and the level of
---------------------
36 Tucci, p. 21.
36 Ibid., p. 25.
37 A point made forcefully by Bharati, chap. 1, esp. p. 18 (see
Guenther, pp.67-73).
38 Tucci, p. 29.
39 See our discussion of these themes
below.
327
absolute reality with its calm, peace, and stability. It forms, according to
the typology of Eliade, an axis mundi for macrocosm and microcosm.40
Two divergences of the drawing from mandalas
deserve mention. The first involves Hugh's use of rectangles, not squares,
in the drawing. This is due to two factors. First, Hugh remains faithful to
the biblical text, wherein the ark is described as six times longer than
wide.41 A second and more important factor is
Hugh's insistence upon the significance of history and its linearness. The
length of the rectangles expresses the directionality of history and its
fundamental place in the Christian religion, especially in the manner of
man's redemption and the fruition of the mystic quest.42
Distortion from a true square is necessary for expression of the essence of
Hugh's vision, insofar as it is shaped by a consciousness of history.
The second divergence involves the
relation of cosmic evolution/involution to the mystic path. For the Tibetan
meditator, the process of cosmic evolution and involution provides the
archetypical pattern for reintegration of the psyche and transition from the
many to the One. The mandala provides in the same symbols and in the same
structure a cosmogram and a psychocosmogram. In the Victorine drawing the
themes and patterns of cosmic order and mystic quest are both present but
receive separate iconographic expression. The Victorine analogs of evolution
and involution are Creation and Restoration, two aspects of divine purpose
and human experience intimately related yet carefully distinguished. God
has "two works" which comprise aril his activity:
the work of creation (opus creationis) is the creation ex nihilio of the
cosmos and all being in it; the work of restoration [opus restaurationis) is
the "Incarnation of the Word with all its sacraments, both those which have
gone before from the beginning of time, and those which come after, even to
the end of the world."43 The contem-
------------
40 See M. Eliade, Patterns in Comparative Religion (Cleveland, 1963),
chap. 10; and Images and Symbols, trans. P. Mairet (New York, 1961), chap.
1.
41 See Gen. 6:15 and A. myst., 1, PL 176:682BC.
42 A. myst., Ill, col. 685AB; also, A. mor., I, 14, PL 629D-630A,
C.S.M.V., p. 64. The significance of history and a sense of time for Hugh's
theology has been admirably elucidated by Chenu, "Conscience de 1'histoire
et theologie," in La theologie, pp. 62-84.
43 De sacramentis christianae fidei, I, prol, ii, PL 176:183-84,
trans. Deferrari, p. 3. The Hugonian sense of sacrament includes not only
the seven liturgical sacraments (baptism, eucharist, etc.); it also
comprehends the great typological loci of sacred history; see De sacramentis,
II, vi, 8, PL 176:454 ff., trans. Defarrari, pp. 295 ff., where the
"sacraments of the neophytes" refers to instruction in the deeper
significance of the "sacraments of salvation which preceded for the
preparation and for the sign of the redemption which was completed in the
death of Christ." Included are Noah and the ark, Abraham and Isaac, the
Exodus, Jerusalem, David, the Exile, etc. In A. mor. the later and more
sophisticated use of "sacraments" found in De sacramentis is missing; Hugh
says that the works of Restoration are "the Incarnation of the Word and all
those things which since the beginning, preceded the Incarnation either to
foreshadow or foretell it, together with those that came after it until the
end of the world, with a view to preaching or believing in it" (IV, 6, PL
176:667B, C.S.M.V., p. 128). Most important for understanding Hugh's
sacramental thought are the works by H. Weisweiler, Die Wirksamkeit der
Sakramente nach Hugo von St. Viktor (Freiburg, 1932), and "Sakrament als
Symbol und Teilhabe," Scholastik 27 (1952): 321-43; see also the recent
article by H. R. Schlette, "Die Eucharistielehre Hugos von St. Viktor,"
Zeitschrift fur katholische Theologie 81 (1959): 67-100, 163-210.
328
plative, as Hugh points out, "mounts up from the works of creation [the
cosmos and beings], by means of those of restoration [the Incarnate Word and
His sacraments], to the Author of creation and of restoration."44
The structure of the drawing reflects this| distinction. The concentric
circles of the symbolic cosmos, with regions of aether, aer, and earth,
present the work of creation. This cosmos is embraced by the "cosmic" Christ
who is depicted, as indicated earlier, as Creative Word, Providential
Orderer, Final Judge, and Object of Contemplation. The
work of restoration is found in the symbolic structure of the ark of Noah,
where the redemptive process of history and the stages of the contemplative
quest are depicted. These are also related to Christ, this time Christ the
Mediator and Incarnate Word. In Hugh's theology, the world and the present
time provide the setting for man's restoration.45
Likewise, in the drawing, the cosmos and Christ embracing the cosmos provide
the setting for the drama of redemption present in the ark of Noah.
Redemption is effected in the space-time matrix of human existence as the
pattern of salvation history unfolds along the keel of the ark and as the
inner quest of the individual for contemplative union is realized according
to the stages sketched by the ladders of virtues leading up the sides of the
ark.46
For Hugh as for the Tibetan meditator the mystic
quest is a return to a state of original integrity, a recovery of a primal
sense of unified being. Yet the differences of conception and expression
between the two traditions reflect fundamental differences in understanding
the locus and nature of the basic disorientation and fragmentation of human
life and the relation of that situation to the world and Absolute Reality.
Questions of ultimate reference have been bracketed in this analysis ;
yet it seems appropriate to note that both traditions are exceedingly
conscious of the fragmentation of existence and the alienation of man from
the true
-----------------------
44 A. mor., IV, 12, PL 176:672CD, C.S.M.V., p. 138.
46 See De sacramentis, 1, viii, 1, PL 176:305CD, trans. Deferrari,
pp. 414-15.
46 See below for consideration of the relationship of history and
contemplation.
329
source of meaning. The differential arises in conceiving
the nature of fragmentation and alienation and the way
to overcome them. For the Tibetan, the root problem is
epistemological, and the need is for insight and wisdom.47
For the Victorine mystic, the situation involves
ontologyand a volitional
dimension as well as epistemology. The restoration of
man is a retracing and overcoming of the stages of the
"fall": pride, concupiscence, and ignorance.48
The mystic path becomes one of acquiring virtues; the
contemplative advances on a journey which neither
mirrors nor "overcomes" the cosmos; he advances "by
means of steps within the heart, which go from strength
to strength [de virtute in virtutem]."
49 The world
has a different value and status in each tradition as
well. The Tibetan detaches himself to annihilate the
world; Hugh would be detached yet remain in a very real
world, a world which again manifests the Creator through
his creation which is a "book" whose symbols man can
read if he be renewed.50
The deeper significance of the symbolism of the ark
brings us to a second set of comparisons to be made
between Hugh's drawing and Tibetan mandalas. Not only
are there certain structural and iconographic
similarities and distinctions. If we examine the
function of Hugh's drawing within the Victorine climate
and the function of the mandalas in the tantric
tradition, we find certain crucial correlations. I have
chosen to consider the function of the Victorine
iconograph from two perspectives: instruction and
initiation. It is clear that Hugh conceived of these two
levels of use for his drawing, although in good
conscience he could sanction only the second use,
initiation.
As an instructive device the Victorine drawing presents
to the initiate a particular conception of the cosmos,
making clear man's place in the great rhythm of creation
and restoration. This use of the Victorine construct has
more than passing similarity to Tucci's cosmogrammic
function of the mandala, for in the mandala there is a
presentation of the world and the place of the
individual "in" it. One must not read too much
metaphysic or theology into the Buddhist cosmogram,
however. The Tibetan mandala has, as we have noted, a
practical and experimental aim. In the West, however,
the articulation of a clear metaphysic and theology has
been one of the chief concerns of the religious
tradition, mystic or not.
-------------
47 See Bharati, chaps. 1 and 10.
48 See A. mor., H, 10, PL 176:642AC, C.S.M.V., pp. 86-86; also, A.
myst., X, PL 176:697CD.
49 A. myst., IV, 12, col. 672D, p. 138.
50 See below, n. 77.
330
For Hugh's novice and the Tibetan initiate
this instructional level may be called "revelatory." The neophyte—or the
accomplished contemplative for that matter—is confronted in the mandala by a
sacred world. The mandala reveals a vision of the cosmos as sacred. It has a
center, order, and a mode of access to that which is absolutely real. As
Eliade points out in numerous connections, this process of establishing a
center and a point of access to the transcendent or "other" world of
spiritual realities is a major concern of "religious man."51
Yet this initial manifestation of a sacred world is still instruction. A
question remains: What will be done with that which has been perceived ?
Will the initiate enter the sacred world of the mandala, making it his own,
and conversely, will he construct that world within himself? When the
movement of quest begins, when the novice begins his approach to the center
of the mandala, then the initiatory dimension has been entered. The
meditator begins to pass through ever-increasing stages of interiorization,
"theophanic presence," and detachment.
Here in the initiatory dimension of Hugh's drawing
we find the correlate of Tucci's psychocosmogrammic mandalic function. As an
instructive device Hugh's drawing presents the essential elements of the
Victorine world view and a schematic of the stages of the contemplative life
in a compact, though complex, visual image. At a time when a great premium
was still placed upon memory because writing materials were neither
plentiful nor
inexpensive, a visual device might well serve to "sum up" a system of
thought.52 Beyond this rather pragmatic concern, however,
we may see another force at work. Symbols are capable of conveying insight
and levels of meaning in a way scarcely approached by the way of linear
prose. On the level of instruction the drawing functions as a summary
theological statement, presenting concepts to be grasped by the intellect.
It leads to what Hugh calls, in De arca Noe morali,
right {recta) thought. Right thought is knowledge of the good and the true.
But it is to some degree "external" to the individual who remains
existentially unengaged:
If, therefore, I have begun
to love to meditate upon the Scriptures, and have always been ready to
ponder the virtues of the saints, and the works of God, and whatever else
there is that serves to improve my conduct and stimulate my spirit, then I
have already begun to be in the first storey of the ark [interpreted as
"right thought" in this passage]. But if I neglect to
--------------------------
51 See particularly Images and Symbols, chap. 1.
52 On medieval "arts of memory" and the use
of visual images and figures, see Frances A. Yates, The
Art of Memory (Chicago, 1966), esp. chaps. 3 and 4. I
have in preparation a short study, "The Art of Memory in
Hugh of St. Victor."
331
imitate the good I know, then I can say that my thought is right but
unprofitable [recta et unutilis].
For it is good that I should think what I do think and
know what I know about others, but it profits me nothing
if I do not take it to myself as a pattern of living.53
Hugh knows of men who seek knowledge merely for the sake
of possessing it. They take great pride in their
knowledge, but they give no thought to its implications
and imperatives for virtuous living. Men of that stripe
are to be pitied.54 Our Victorine
canon presses beyond merely acquiring knowledge of the
true and the good; knowledge which is truly worthy of
the name must effectively transform life.
The rectangles of the ark and the circles of the
cosmos abound with iconographic devices. Vivid colors
attract the eye; gold glitters in the central square
with its golden cross and angus Dei, personified virtues
and vices are disposed along the ladders; on the keel
the genealogy of Christ and the succession of popes mark
the passing of time; personified seasons keep their
proper place in the aer of the cosmos. Inscriptions
frequently indicate the deeper meaning of the symbols.
Upon prolonged study and reflection one is struck by the
unity of vision which animates the complex structure and
brings cohesion to the proliferation of symbolic forms
and didactic elements in the drawing. Each iconographic
element is there for a purpose. That purpose is the
initiation of novices into the contemplative-ascetic
life of a Canon Regular of St. Victor.
The drawing and its explication are Hugh's response to a
request that he teach his fellow canons a "skill or
practice of some discipline" with which they might
overcome the unstable movements of the human heart as it
seeks fulfillment in the partial and fleeting goods of
this life.55 Hugh begins his task with
a thoroughly Augustinian analysis of the cause of and
cure for man's unstable condition. The cause of
instability and division in man's desires is love of the
world (amor mundi); the cure for this is love of God {amor
Dei}56 As Hugh points out immediately,
however, it is of little or no use merely to know the
cause and the cure. Such knowledge must be put to the
work of remedying the human condition. The brethren are
to seek the way in which "we may attain to the love of
God. For without this it would be of little or no profit
to
------------
53 A. mor., H, 8, PL 176:639D, C.S.M.V., p.
81.
54 Didascalicon, I, 10, trans. Taylor, pp. 133-34.
55 A. mor., 1, 1, PL 176:617/618, C.S.M.V.,
p. 45.
56 Ibid., cols. 617/618-619/620, C.S.M.V., pp. 25-47; see Schlette,
Die Nichtigkeit, pp. 105 ff. On Augustine's teaching, see John Bumaby, Amor
Dei. A Study of the Religion of St. Augustine (London, 1938). Augustine
presents a summary of the antithesis in De doctrina Christiana, lib. 1.
332
know all of the rest [i.e., the cause and the cure]."57
Theory is useless, even misguiding, unless it is placed
immediately in the service of practice and virtue.
Blending theological analysis, practical comment, and
spiritual guidance, Hugh proceeds to set forth his
understanding of the way to attain the love of God. For
Hugh this means becoming a contemplative.
In the treatises and the drawing Hugh clearly
teaches a system of thought. With equal emphasis he is
teaching a way of life and a systematic method for
advancement in the life of contemplative asceticism.
What can be grasped only with difficulty through the
medium of a written text is placed before the eyes of
the novices and brothers in a single symbolic structure
juxtaposing and coordinating diverse elements of meaning
and perspective. The ark, cosmos, and Christ effect a
synthesis difficult if not impossible to achieve in
linear prose. Even when
reading the description of the Victorine drawing in De
arca Noe mystica the thrust of
the symbolism is not fully apparent until the complete
image has been built up in the mind of the reader. What
Lama Angarika Govinda says of inner visualization in
Tibetan mandalic practice applies here equally: "To
impart this knowledge on the various places of
experience is the aim of all Tantric methods of inner
visualization. The actual coexistence and
interpenetration of these places and the
simultaneousness of their functions is converted by the
intellect into something that exists in different
dimensions or as a sequence in time, which therefore can
only be experienced and expressed piecemeal and in
separate phases."58
As noted earlier, mandalas are primarily
psychocosmograms; that is, they are basically devices
for initiation into a tradition of meditation and for
realizing stages of contemplative experience. The
external mandala becomes internalized; the sacred
reality which the structure creates becomes a reality
within the initiate. As a Tibetan Lamistic rimpoche,
Lingdam Gomchen, pointed out to C. Jung, the mandalas in
monasteries and temples are only external
representations of limited significance. The true
mandala is "a mental image which can be built up only by
a fully instructed lama through the power of
imagination. . . . The true mandala is always an inner
image."59 However, before he is
capable of building up a personal "inner mandala" the
novice must be initiated. At this point in the Tibetan
tradition we find the use of mandalas to
------------------
57 A. mor., I, 2, PL 176:619/20 (fin),
C.S.M.V., p. 47.
58 Angarika Govinda, Foundations of Tibetan
Mysticism (London, 1960), p. 107.
59 "The Symbolism of the Mandala," in
Psychology and Alchemy, vol. 12, The Collected Works of C. 0. Jung,
Bollingen Series, no. 20 (New York, 1968), p. 92.
333
transform.The mandala is drawn on a smooth area
of ground with the aid of strings and colored chalk, following a carefully
prescribed ritual. The master then takes the initiate through a complex
series of ritual actions which effect a penetration of the mandalic
structure and a movement toward the center, both physically and mentally.
60Although we have no set of liturgical
acts of precisely the same nature associated with the Victorine drawing, the
following portion of our study will show the importance of the transfer of
the external figure to an interior image and vision which shape the
individual's person and perception. We shall also see the close connection
between the Victorine drawing and the liturgy of the Abbey. Furthermore, it
is interesting and significant to note that in the treatise De arca
Noe mystica Hugh does not simply describe the ark drawing; he goes through
the process of constructing the image, beginning with the central square of
the structure and concluding with the Christ embracing the cosmos.61
Even in the literary text the image is progressively built up as an interior
vision. And finally, the important fact remains that Hugh placed the drawing
of the ark before his brethren as an object for meditation, leading to
interiorization, reformation, and contemplative realization. In the
initiatory use of the drawing the full range of symbolic meanings for the
various iconographic devices becomes apparent. After introducing the idea
that the contemplative quest is like building a house, a dwelling place for
God, in the human heart, Hugh indicates that the visible figure of that
spiritual dwelling is the ark of Noah: "Now the figure of this spiritual
building which I am going to present to you is Noah's ark. This your eye
shall see outwardly, so that your soul may be fashioned to its likeness
inwardly. You will see there certain colours, shapes, and figures which will
be pleasant to behold. But you must understand that these are put there,
that from them you may learn wisdom, instruction, and virtue, to adorn your
soul."62 The theme of transformation introduced by Hugh is
expressed more strongly in the lines which conclude the moral treatise on
the ark. There Hugh speaks of transferring the pattern of the ark so that it
shapes the heart: "And now, then, as we promised, we must put before you
------------------
60 On the ritual use ofmandalas, see Tucci, pp. 37 ff., 85 ff.; and
Eliade, Yoga, 219-27.
61 The treatise begins: "First I find the centre of the flat surface
where I mean to draw the ark. There, having fixed the point, I draw round it
a small square to the measure of that cubit, in which the ark was completed"
(A. my St., I, PL 176:681A; trans. in B. SmaUey, The Study of the Bible in
the Middle Ages, 2d ed. rev. [Oxford, 1952], p. 96).
62 A. mor., I, 7, PL 176:622BC, C.S.M.V., p. 52.
334
the pattern of our ark. Thus you may learn from an external form, which we
have visibly depicted, what you ought to do interiorly, and when you have
impressed the form of this pattern on your heart, you may rejoice that the
house of God has been built in you."63 Through meditation
on the drawing and the realities present there, the initiate is reformed and
transformed. He enters into the ark, and, conversely, the ark is built in
his heart. He becomes a house of God; his heart, the chamber for the mystic
wedding with the Bridegroom, Christ.64 The iconography of
the drawing and the spiritual counsel of the treatises gradually initiate
the novice into a world of spiritual realities and realized states of
contemplative experience.He can say that the ark
has been built in his heart; then he has entered into a new mode of
existence which represents calm in the midst of chaos, unity in the presence
of diversity, and love in the face of division and alienation.
In its deeper meaning, the ark forms a stable
ground of existence, an antithesis to the flux of temporality.
The ark—or the Victorine mandala, if we may be permitted use of the term
now— creates and makes present to the initiate another world:
There [in the
Ark] another world is found, over against this passing, transitory one;
because the things that go through different times in this world exist in
that one simultaneously, as in a condition of eternity. . . . For there is
another world, whose "fashion" does not pass, nor does its form change, nor
its appearance wither, nor its beauty fail. . . . Eyes of the flesh see this
world, the eyes of the heart behold that world after an inward manner. ...
In that world men are occupied with inner silence, and the pure in heart
rejoice in the sight of the truth.
65
--------------------
63 Ibid., IV, 21, C.S.M.V., p. 153. The Latin text of this is not in
the Migne edition. It is found in C. C. Mierow (n. 3 above).
64 In the ark treatises Hugh distinguishes three "houses" and God's
relation to them: the house of the world, and God as the ruler of his
kingdom; the house of the Church, and God as the head of the family in his
own home; the house of the soul, and God as the bridegroom in the wedding
chamber. See A. mor., I, 4, PL 176:621A, C.S.M.V., p. 49; for more use of
the bride-bridegroom imagery from the Song of Songs, see ibid., IV, 9, cols.
669B-670C, pp. 132-34, and Hugh's late mystical treatise De arrha animae, PL
176:951-970. The themes of "house" and "house building" have their own
resonances in the study of comparative religious phenomena, including
mandalas, and these deserve further explication elsewhere in connection with
the ark. F. L. Battles has pointed out that Hugh's use of the house-building
motif in relation to contemplation draws on patristic sources and also sets
the stage for later uses of the idea ("Hugo of Saint-Victor as a Moral
Allegorist," Church History 18 [1949]: 220-40).
65 A. mor., IV, 21, PL 176:680BD, C.S.M.V.,
p. 152. See ibid., 12, col. 672D, p. 138: "So let us understand that there
are two worlds, the seen and the unseen, the former being this whole scheme
of things which we see with our bodily eyes, and the latter the heart of
man, which we cannot see."
335
This ark is built in man's heart with
"pure thoughts" or "ordered, steady, and peaceful thoughts."66
This process involves both an interiorization of consciousness and the
fixation of attention. "If then, we have begun to live persistently in our
own heart through the practice of meditation, we have already in a manner
ceased to belong to time; and, having become dead as it were to the world,
we are living inwardly with God. . . . Our heart is there fixed where we are
not subject to change, where we neither seek to have again things past, nor
look for those to come, where we neither desire the pleasant things of this
life, nor fear things contrary."67
Hugh identifies three possible lines of action for
fixing attention and cultivating peaceful thoughts.68 A
person may divide his attention between a number of things, he may
concentrate on one thing to the exclusion of all else, or he may change
within certain limits. The first of these alternatives Hugh rejects
immediately, for it is merely the present state of mankind with desires
divided and thoughts distracted. The second possibility, that of giving
undivided attention to one thing only, recalls the yogic techniques of
Indian meditation and the concentration taught by Zen masters.69
An echo of this approach sounds in the spiritual advice of Orthodox
hesychasts and in some later medieval manuals in the West.70
Hugh rejects this idea of strict concentration with the argument that it is
presently impossible for man. One path remains. The true contemplative
adopts a life of change within limits. This is the practice which Hugh
intends to establish as the life-style at Saint Victor. Through disciplined
limitation, "a soul. . . may gradually form the habit of withdrawing itself
from the distraction of this world, to the intent that it may rise up
strengthened to that supreme stability, the contemplation of God."71
--------------------------
66 See ibid., 1, col. 665A, p. 124: "It is clear, therefore, that
wisdom builds herself a house in the heart of man out of reasonable
thoughts." For ordered, etc., thoughts, see ibid., 4, col. 666A, p. 126.
67 Ibid., II, 1, col. 635B, p. 73. 68 Ibid., IV, 4, col. 666A, p.
126.
69 See Eliade, Yoga, chap. 2, esp. p. 47: "The point of departure of
Yoga meditation is concentration on a single object." The Zen approach is
presented well by Johnston (see n. 2), chaps. 1 and 3.
70 On Hesychasm, see John Meyendorff, A Study of Gregory Palamas
(London, 1964), pp. 134-49; and Louis Bouyer, "Byzantine Spirituality," in
Jean Leclercq et al., The Spirituality of the Middle Ages, A History of
Christian Spirituality, vol. 2 (New York, 1968), esp. pp. 576-88. For an
example of concentration in late medieval manuals, see C. Wolters, trans.
The Cloud of Unknowing (Baltimore, 1961), chap. 7, p. 61.
71 A. mor., IV, 6, PL 176:667A, C.S.M.V., p. 128.
336
The shape of the ark mirrors this unification. The
broad base of the vessel rests upon the swirling floodwaters while the walls
draw ever more into a unity as they rise. Our Victorine canon finds in this
a symbol of gathering together and a narrowing down.72
Experience becomes a penetration within as the initiate seeks a single point
of unity where, as we have seen, he experiences the "inner silence" of
another world and joins with those who "rejoice in the sight of the truth."
The drawing provides a variety of foci for
meditation, yielding a field of vision which has limitation yet change. The
same may be said for the liturgical celebrations which formed an important
aspect of Victorine life.73 Change and limitation occur in
the rhythm of the daily, seasonal, and yearly cycles of the liturgy. The
iconograph draws strength from its association with liturgical regularity
while the canons' celebrations receive focus and coherence from the
historical, cosmic, and contemplative vision of the drawing mandala.
The four stages of Hugh's mystic way represent a
Victorine transformation of the stages defined by Dionysius the
pseudo-Areopagite.74 To Dionysius's three stages of
purgation, illumination, and union, Hugh adds an initial stage of awakening.
He also divides each stage into three degrees, giving each specific
Victorine nuances. We should note again that the personified virtues
representing the twelve degrees are homologizable in structural position and
function with the gods of the Tibetan mandalas. Both figures are within the
triangles formed by lines cutting the inner quadrilaterals of the drawings,
and they represent interior states of consciousness to be attained in the
course of one's contemplative ascent.75
The inner square is most important in Hugh's
mandala. On the one hand, as the cubit at the peak of the ark it symbolizes
the peace, unity, and simplicity of divine life, forming an absolute
----------------------
72 See ibid., 4, col. 666BC, pp. 126-27: "Let us picture to ourselves
a human soul rising out of this world towards God and, as it rises,
gathering itself ever more and more into a unity. Then we shall be able to
see in a spiritual manner the form of our ark, which was broad at the
bottom, and narrowed gradually as it rose, till at the peak it came to
measure a single cubit only. . . . We are gradually drawn toward a unity,
until we attain even to that simple oneness, that true simplicity and
everlasting changelessness, that is in God."
73 See comments by G. Dumeige, Richard de Saint- Victor et Video
chretienne de r amour (Paris, 1952), p. 19; and Jean Chatillon, "La culture
de 1'ecole de Saint-Victor," in Entretiens sur la renaissance du 12e siecle,
sous la direction de M. de Gandillac et E. Jeauneau (Paris, 1968), pp.
150-54 and the discussion on pp. 165-68.
74 On the four stages and their relation to Dionysius, see my article
"-De gradibus ascensionum: The Stages of Contemplative Ascent in Two
Treatises on Noah's Ark by Hugh of St. Victor," to appear in Studies in
Medieval Culture, vol. 5 (Kalamazoo, Mich.).
75 See above.
337
pole of a basic dichotomy in the Victorine world view and representing the
goal of the mystic's quest. On the other hand, as the column in the center
of the ark, the square symbolizes Christ the Incarnate Word.
The personification of contemplation portrays
graphically the idea of the center as the goal of the mystic quest and the
transforming intent of the Victorine mandala. Contemplation is an artisan
who melts fragments of a vase so that the liquid can flow through a tube
into the central square. The broken vase is the fragmented state of human
desires and thoughts; the fire which melts is the fire of divine love;
pouring the liquid into the square signifies the reformation and restoration
of the imago Dei within man.76 In Hugh's mystical theology
the imago is the means where-by man in the perfection of Creation sensed God
as inwardly present. The Fall has destroyed this inward sense. Renewal of
this sense is the goal of discipline in contemplation.77
Considered from the aspect of this renewal, movement toward the center of
the mandala is also a return to the beginning, a return to the time of
perfection when man's person was whole and he possessed an immediate
awareness of Absolute Being.
As a symbol of Christ the central square represents
the Mediator between the divine and the human. It becomes a point of
transition from one mode of existence to another. The Incarnate Christ is
also the point of cosmic and temporal order, for he is symbolically the
center about which the seasons rotate and the central ordering point in
history.
In the life of the mystic, Christ is
the central axis of the mystic ascent. In his person and work he links the
world of space and time with the transcendent yet inner world of spiritual
reality. However, Christ is more than a passive link. He is an active agent
in the transformation of the initiate, as Hugh conceives the mystic quest.
Christ it is who awakens, chides, illumines, and feeds the contemplative in
the stages of awakening, purgation, illumination,
--------------------------
76 See A. myst., IX, PL 696D-697B, esp. Hugh's interpretation of the
iconography. "Contemplation, having liquefied it [the vase] transforms it by
the fire of divine love, reforming it in the image [in monetam] of the
divine likeness [divinae similittidinis]."
77 This is treated in "De gradibw ascensionum." The most important
passages concerning the imago Dei and the contemplative experience are A.
mor.. Ill, 6, PL 176:651D-652D, C.S.M.V., pp. 102 ft.; De sacramentis
christianae fidei, I, vi, 12-15, PL 176:270C-272C, trans. Deferrari, pp.
102-4; and Adnotationes elucidatoriae in pentateuchon, VII, PL 175:37BD. The
use of imago Dei in Hugh's theology needs further consideration from the
vantage point of the perspective suggested here. Like the Cistercians, Hugh
is creative in appropriating the ideas of imago Dei and amor Dei.
338
and union.78 In the drawing these relationships are worked
out in a complex allegory of Christ as Book and Tree of Life.79
Some of Hugh's perspective is caught in this passage which comes from his
interpretation of the column as symbolic of Christ: "He it is who rose from
earth and pierced the heavens, who came down to thedepths, yet did not leave
the heights, who is Himself both above and below, below in His compassion,
above that He may draw our longings thither, below that He may offer us His
help. Below He is among us, above He is above us. Below is what He took from
us, above is what He sets before us."80
A last point of comparison stems from observations made
by Carl Jung. Jung comments that almost without exception mandalas generated
spontaneously by patients in dreams and drawings represent order brought out
of chaos in the patient's life.81 Furthermore, mandalas
"signify nothing less than a psychic center of the personality not
identified with the ego."82
In light of these two points, we may note that Hugh's
drawing is presented as the creation of order in the face of chaos. This
theme occurs frequently in the opposition of the stable ark to the swirling,
tumbling waters of the Flood.83 Furthermore, Hugh's
theological anthropology finds chaos and disorder to be concommitants of
fallen human existence.84 The mystic path is then a way
ofreintegration which provides for a new or renewed centering of the
personality on Christ through recovery of the imago Dei. Centerlessness
marks the condition of fallen man; like Cain he is a wanderer, always
seeking, never finding fulfillment.85 In contrast, man
restored is marked by a return to the stability and order of the
contemplative center, Christ.
--------------------------
78 See A. mor., II, 9, PL 176:6410, C.S.M.V., p. 84.
79 For the iconography, see A. myst., VII, PL 176:692-695B. On Christ
as Tree and Book, see A. mor., II, 9-14, PL 176:640D-646B. See table 1 for
relation of stages, degrees, and Christ.
80 A. mor., S, col. 640D, p. 82.
81 See "The Symbolism of the Mandala" (n. 59 above), pp. 91-213;
also, "Concerning Mandala Symbolism,'1 in The Archetypes of the Collective
Unconscious, vol. 9, pt. 1, The Collected Works o/C. 0. Jung, Bollingen
Series, no. 20 (New York, 1952), pp. 355-84; "Mandalas," in ibid., pp.
385-90.
82 "The Symbolism of the Mandala," p. 101.
83 Hugh's interpretation of the Flood as signifying only chaos and
destruction broke with centuries of traditional exegesis which viewed the
Flood as foreshadowing the baptismal waters, i.e., as being creative and
destructive. On the Flood, see e.g., A. mor., IV, 12 and 16, PL 176:673A and
675B, C.S.M.V., pp. 138-39 and 143. The symbolism of the Flood is developed
with heightened sensitivity to the destructive dimension in De vanitate
mundi, II, PL 176:711 ff., C.S.M.V., pp. 171 £F.
84 A. mor., I, 2, and IV, 10, PL 176:617/618-619/620 and 670D-671B,
C.S.M.V., pp. 45 ff. and 134 ff.
85 Ibid., I, 2, col. 619/620, p. 46.
339
By approaching Hugh's drawing from the perspective of mandalic structures we
are able to appreciate the various levels at which the Victorine iconograph
must have functioned. As a cosmogram it possesses the potential to reveal to
the initiate the subtleties of the Victorine world view and the complex
matrix of the theology of the contemplative life which Hugh, and later
Richard of St. Victor, presented to the brethren of St. Victor. As an
instrument of initiation, the Victorine drawing has the capability to
transform the individual and effect an experiential creation of a new world
and a new point of stability which are internal and also transcendental. In
Hugh's use of the iconograph we find quite clearly the presentation of a
symbolic structure meant to be used as a focus for meditation.
Full appreciation of the Victorine drawing comes
when the significance of the Christocentricity of the drawing mandala is
grasped. Here is a major part of the importance of the drawing for the
development of Western mysticism. The Victorines brought structure and
systematization into the life of contemplative asceticism. This has been
seen up until now as the injection of a speculative dimension and as the
introduction of elements of the pseudo-Dionysian scheme of mystical ascent.
Without doubt these were developments of decisive importance in the program
of Victorine spirituality, for they had an influence through the later
Middle Ages. However, the Victorine mandala which we have found in the ark
treatises expresses vividly another aspect of Victorine mysticism which must
receive more consideration: Christocentricity and the key place of the imago
Dei in Victorine spirituality. Meditation centering upon Christ has been
counted as one of the distinctive marks of Franciscan spirituality, with due
allowance for Saint Bernard's earlier devotion to Jesus. However, this
present study of Hugh's mysticism would suggest that much of the
Christocentricity of Franciscan mysticism and the christocentric nature of
Bonaventure's theological vision have their antecedent formulation in the
work of the Victorines.86 The relationship between
Franciscan spirituality and the Victorines remains to be worked out. Both
schools were indebted to Augustine. Bonaventure recognized Hugh as the
greatest master and contemplative of the twelfth century. One needs now to
follow out these hints.
-----------------------------------
86 For a consideration of Bonaventure's symbolism, especially some
mandalic aspects, see Ewert Cousins, "Mandala Symbolism
in the Theology of Bonaventure," University of Toronto
Quarterly 40 (1971): 185-200.
340
Finally, we must take note of the relationship of
symbolic forms and initiation in the mystic life. In the
traditions of Eastern spirituality, patterns of
initiation are formulated in a fairly explicit manner.
They are explicit, that is, in the way that the
ineffable is made explicit: through symbolic structures,
and the symbolic role of words, sounds, and objects.
Mandalas are part of that web of symbols which also
includes mantras, yantras, and other forms of
communication and initiation. In the West, however, the
question of initiation in the mystic life was not
treated with such specificity in the medieval period. We
must look to a varied set of sources for the ways in
which young novices were inducted into the traditional
forms of meditation, asceticism, and progress through
the stages of mystic life. Sermons of course must have
played their role, as did collations, biblical lectio,
meditative reading of the fathers, treatises for
novices, and monastic customaries. Yet this is not all.
Hugh's drawing was intended as an initiatory device, as
well as an instructional presentation and/or an
iconographic tour de force. Here we find another
suggestion for continuing work in medieval spiritual
writings. It may well be that in their explication of
certain symbols and structures, medieval contemplatives
used the structures as symbolic devices for initiating
neophytes not only into a tradition of ascetic practice
but also into the experience of contemplative asceticism
and union. With Hugh of St. Victor we know that such was
the case.
Oberlin College
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