ALESSI Uma Incense Burner

UMA is a Tibetan word which can be translated as "in between"; it is also the name of one of the four principal philosophical schools of Tibetan Buddhism and describes the position between "to be" and "not to be", between the consciousness of Self and the openness to the Other. Incense (from the Latin incensum: to light, to set on fire) is a resin which, when burned, produces a very fragrant smoke. It is used in many primitive cultures, but also in many religions – from Catholicism to Shintoism to Buddhism, as the symbol of the purification of both man's internal energy (physical, but also mental and emotional) and that of the external environment. The shape of this object is obviously inspired by a strong symbolism: the EGG, which in many cultures is the symbol for both the microcosm and the Great Universe, of fertility and creativity, of the beginning of all things, of the relationship between a man and a woman. In turn the Plate symbolises the offering and its black colour, the Universe.