Burning Monk Thích Quảng Đức

The Burning Monk Thích Quảng Đức The Protest for Equal Rights in Vietnam

One of the places that is a must see is the sight in which the Buddhist monks were protesting the persecution of their religion. This was one of the first viral photographs that went around the world.

The story goes….

The current ruler of Vietnam during 1963 was Ngô Đình Diệm made a policy that allowed the Catholics to have unequal rights over the other religions. Ngô Đình Diệm was secretly a roman catholic and allowed them to circumvent the laws and allowed unequal rights to the Catholics. Some of which allowed the Roman Catholics to be in more prominent governmental positions as well with faster advancements within the military. 70% to 90% of the population at the time were Buddhists. Ngô Đình Diệm once told a high ranking official that was a Buddhist descendent "Put your Catholic officers in sensitive places. They can be trusted." Ngô Đình Diệm also dedicated that the country to the Virgin Mary in 1959. Also part of the unequal religious rights included that no religious flags to be flown outside all the while the Roman Catholic flag (the white and gold) was regularly flown at public events in the south of Vietnam.

In the city of Huế on Vesak, the birthday of Gautama Buddha a recent band on flying the Buddhist flag all the while the Roman Catholic church was able fly the Vatican flag at a ceremony for the Archbishop  Ngo Dinh Thuc of Hue, Diem's elder brother. On Vesak a large group of Buddhist protestors flying the Buddhist flag marched on the government broadcasting station. Which lead to the death of nine peoples’ death.  Ngô Đình Diệm denounced the shooting stating that Viet Con for the deaths of the protestors. Buddhist protests increased for religious equality.

Thích Quảng Đức was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk that pleaded with Ngô Đình Diệm for religious equality informed his colleagues to inform the press that tomorrow morning at the corner of Phan Đình Phùng Boulevard (now Nguyễn Đình Chiểu Street) and Lê Văn Duyệt Street (now Cách Mạng Tháng Tám Street) something important was to happen. The press did not take this notice with much importance that only a few of them showed up one of which was Malcolm Browne, the Saigon bureau chief for the Associated Press. Starting not too far away at a nearby temple 350 monks made a precession down to the street corner, where Thích Quảng Đức got out of the car and sat on a pillow in the middle of the street. Then one of his colleagues retrieved 5 gallons of gasoline out of the trunk of the car and proceeded to empty the can over Thích Quảng Đức’s head. Thích Quảng Đức sat in the lotus position while preparing for his voyage to meet Buddha. While rotating prayer beads Thích QuảngĐức recited the words Nam mô A di đà Phật ("homage to Amitābha Buddha") before striking a match and dropping it on himself.

Thích Quảng Đức’s robes and flesh burned for over ten minutes till his charred body fell over. The cries and whaling of the on lookers of monks, nuns and the local public was the only thing that could be heard. Thích Quảng Đức did not move a muscle while the flames engulfed him his arms and legs freezing into the same position that they were in. The monks could not even move Thích Quảng Đức’s arms and legs to fit him into the casket after the ordeal was finished.

The pictures that were taken made the front page around the world and had a huge impact on the continuation of the religious equal rights in Vietnam. I have included the pictures that Malcolm Browne took on June 11, 1963.

Today at the same corner there is a beautiful park that is the tribute to Thích Quảng Đức. The gardens have lotus plants at the base that arises to the spectacular statue of Thích Quảng Đức that has a circular back drop that encircles the statue from the days of persecution. 

The June 11, 1963 Photographs taken by Malcom Browne:

Those were just some of the images during this event. Today a very nice Park emerges from one of the corners in which this happened. The park is adornded with a huge bronze statue of Thích Quảng Đức. Behind is a Bronze mural guilded with the many images that symbolize that period of time. I have included a few of the new park pictures. The park is surrounded by many lotus flowers on either side of the corners of the park that will bloom year round.

Many people come here to prey at the park in front of this beautiful satute, I have included a flat picture of the mural behind Thích Quảng Đức statue, Please keep in mind that this mural is formed in a circle around the Thích Quảng Đức satatue. I have combined multiple pictures to flatten the mural to one image that can be seen all together. The mural is just as impressive as the Thích Quảng Đức statue itself. 

If your visiting Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam this is a must see place that has plenty of history of and for the people that live here. 

A few days after I had taken the above pictures, I did not realize that they were having a celebration for him and added many flower arrangements for the celebration.