(Source: lucifelle)
I am going to a place where the men are like gods and the women are like men.
Thich Quang Duc’s Self-Immolation
The unprecedented media coverage of the Vietnam War brought the brutal realities of human conflict into the world’s living room for the first time, but few images failed to shock more than Thich Quang Duc’s suicide-protest. A devout Mahayana Buddhist monk, Thich Quang Duc spent most of his life in service and teaching, heading monasteries and rebuilding nearly 30 temples. Because of his esteemed position within the community, he was chosen to carry out the infamous mission of martyrdom on behalf of persecuted Vietnamese Buddhists. On June 11, 1963, the 76-year-old monk, seated in a full lotus position in the middle of a central Saigon intersection, publicly denounced the South Vietnamese government’s oppressive policies and called for religious equality. Then, to the horrified onlookers, Thich Quang Duc’s fellow monks poured gasoline over his body and he calmly set himself aflame. While many people still disagree about the tenor of Thich Quang Duc’s suicide, his deed was a decisive turning point in the Buddhist crisis in South Vietnam, which ultimately ushered in a regime change. For his selfless act Thich Quang Duc was deemed a bodhisattva, an enlightened being who delays nirvana to help those in need, and his intact heart became a holy relic.