| Buddhism is usually known for its gentle ways and | | | | for the press) that his self-immolation was not an act |
| belief in non-violence in order to solve problems, but | | | | of suicide, which would go against his Buddhist beliefs. |
| occasionally more dramatic displays happen, like Thich | | | | Instead, Duc viewed the burning as a wake up call, a |
| Quang Duc - the burning monk. | | | | way to call attention to his cause. His death has been |
| Who was Thich Quang Duc - the burning monk? Duc | | | | termed a "religious suicide" by Chinese Buddhism |
| was born in 1897 in Vietnam, and became a | | | | scholars, who state that it was religiously justified |
| Vietnamese Buddhist monk who lived in the Linh-Mu | | | | based on texts found dating back to the 5th and 10th |
| Pagoda in the town of Hue. He lived in a monastic | | | | centuries BCE. Others think the opposite, that this |
| community from the age of seven up until his death at | | | | suicide was not at all religiously driven and was instead |
| the age of 67. He practiced a very severe ascetic | | | | a political act. |
| lifestyle and meditation practice for years - and was | | | | Duc had burned himself in order to bring awareness to |
| considered a bodhisattva at the time of his death, an | | | | his cause, which was the belief that Vietnam was |
| enlightened one. | | | | suffocating Buddhist tradition. He wanted the ban on |
| Thich Quang Duc came into the public eye on June 11, | | | | flying the traditional Buddhist flag lifted, wanted |
| 1963, when he and two other monks drove to a busy | | | | Buddhism to have the same rights as Catholicism did, |
| intersection in Saigon, Vietnam. Duc sat in the middle of | | | | and wanted Buddhist monks to have the right to |
| the road in the traditional lotus position, and had the | | | | practice their religion, among other goals. Thich Quang |
| other monks pour gasoline over his body. He then | | | | Duc's self-immolation, along with the picture it created, |
| ignited a match, and set himself on fire. Duc burned to | | | | did have some impact on these goals, including the |
| death in a matter of minutes, and he was immortalized | | | | overthrowing of the Catholic Diem regime that was in |
| in a famous photograph taken by a reporter who was | | | | possession of South Vietnam. |
| in Vietnam in order to photograph the war. All those | | | | While burning to death may not seem the best way to |
| who saw this spectacle were taken by the fact that | | | | attain one's religious and even political goals, the |
| Duc did not make a sound while burning to death. | | | | experience of Thich Quang Duc - the burning monk |
| Thich Quang Duc was quick to point out (in letters left | | | | shows that extreme measures can have an effect. |