Science meets art--and dharma

摘要

A Nobel-Prize-winning chemist turns his attention, and his Raman microscope, to ancient Tibetan art. In his office, Richard Ernst is never alone. Yamantaka, a fierce, nine-headed embodiment of wisdom, hangs above Ernst's desk and watches him while he works. Ninety degrees to the left, Guhyasamaja ("Assembly of Secrets" or "Secret Union") is embraced by Sparshavajra in a metaphoric depiction of unity and duality. Ernst's companions are Tibetan scroll paintings known as thangkas, an ancient form of Buddhist art that follows strict rules yet bursts with color and creativity. He began to collect thangkas in 1968, when he and his wife decided to take the long way home to Switzerland after spending five years in California. "A brief visit to Nepal started my insatiable love for Asian art," he says. Fierce and horned with a wide, powerful stance, the azurite-colored Yamantaka stands starkly against a background of cinnabar, a bright red pigment abundant in Central and East Asian art. The placement of this painting above his desk is a fitting choice by Ernst, who won the 1991 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his contributions to the development of the methodology of high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy." Yamantaka is the conqueror of death as well as an embodiment of wisdom. For those who believe in reincarnation, Yamantaka helps in the process of being reborn. "If you want to be reborn or you want to become immortal, you have to take advantage of wisdom," he says. "In this way, Yamantaka could be symbolic for our endeavors as scientists. We want to achieve immortality by writing our papers, and for this we need endurance combined with wisdom."