06/10/2022
𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗙𝗔𝗥 𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗦 𝗚𝗢?
On June 11, 1963, Thích Quảng Đức, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, burned himself to death. Thích Quảng Đức was opposing the South Vietnamese government's persecution of Buddhists, commanded by Ngô Đình Diệm.
President Ngô Đình Diệm's pro-Catholic policies enraged many Buddhists in South Vietnam. Ngô Đình Diệm'sy prohibited the flying of the Buddhist flag on Gautama Buddha's birthday. When Buddhists protested against the ban on the Buddhist flag, the police and army broke up the protest by shooting guns at and hurling grenades into the gathering, leaving nine dead.
On June 11, 1963, monks and nuns marched along a busy Saigon street, holding banners criticizing the Diệm government and its policies against Buddhists. Quảng Đức arrived in a vehicle. A monk placed a cushion on the road while another opened the trunk and grabbed a five-gallon gasoline can. As the marchers formed a circle around Quảng Đức, he sat comfortably on the cushion in the traditional Buddhist meditation lotus stance. Another monk poured the contents of the fuel canister over Quảng Đức's head. Before lighting a match and dumping it on himself, Quảng Đức showed a string of wooden prayer beads and repeated the phrases Nam mô A Di Đà Phật, meaning Homage to Amitābha Buddha. The flames devoured his garments and skin, and black smoke rose from his burning body. Quảng Đức's co**se was entirely immolated after about 10 minutes.
The Buddhist crisis concluded with a coup by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in November 1963 and the arrest and assassination of President Ngô Đình Diệm.