Thích Quảng Đức's self immolation
Thích Quảng Đức arrived at the intersection of Phan Dinh Phung Boulevard and Le Van Duyet Street in Saigon, as part of a procession that had begun at a nearby pagoda. Around 350 monks and nuns marched in two phalanxes, preceded by the Austin Westminster, carrying banners printed in both English and Vietnamese. They denounced the Diệm government and its policy towards Buddhists, demanding that it fulfill its promises of religious equality.
Thích Quảng Đức emerged from the car along with two other monks. One placed a cushion on the road while the second took a five-gallon container of petrol from the car. As the marchers formed a circle around him, Thích Quảng Đức calmly seated himself in the traditional Buddhist meditative lotus position on the cushion. His colleague emptied the contents of the gasoline container over Thích Quảng Đức's head while he rotated a string of wooden prayer beads and recited a homage to Amitabha Buddha. He then struck a match and dropped it on himself.
Photographer Malcolm Browne took a series of shots, one of which is shown above, another of which won the 1963 World Press Photo of the Year.
The news and images of Thích Quảng Đức's self-immolation spread around the world and was later regarded as a turning point in the Buddhist crisis and the critical point in the collapse of the Diệm regime. President John F. Kennedy, who saw the picture while reading the paper in bed the following morning later remarked that "no news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one." (He was of course, to feature in some famous photos and footage himself later that year!)
I guess that to many people around the world, the event made them think that if a 'good man' like Thích Quảng Đức was prepared to demonstrate against President Diem in this way, there must be something genuinely wrong with the government supported by the US government.
Ironically, President Diem's views about the Buddhists were not entirely without justification. The Viet Cong knew that Diem and his family were Catholic, and often used Buddhist monasteries as cover for their activities.
Thích Quảng Đức's self immolation
Thích Quảng Đức arrived at the intersection of Phan Dinh Phung Boulevard and Le Van Duyet Street in Saigon, as part of a procession that had begun at a nearby pagoda. Around 350 monks and nuns marched in two phalanxes, preceded by the Austin Westminster, carrying banners printed in both English and Vietnamese. They denounced the Diệm government and its policy towards Buddhists, demanding that it fulfill its promises of religious equality.
Thích Quảng Đức emerged from the car along with two other monks. One placed a cushion on the road while the second took a five-gallon container of petrol from the car. As the marchers formed a circle around him, Thích Quảng Đức calmly seated himself in the traditional Buddhist meditative lotus position on the cushion. His colleague emptied the contents of the gasoline container over Thích Quảng Đức's head while he rotated a string of wooden prayer beads and recited a homage to Amitabha Buddha. He then struck a match and dropped it on himself.
Photographer Malcolm Browne took a series of shots, one of which is shown above, another of which won the 1963 World Press Photo of the Year.
The news and images of Thích Quảng Đức's self-immolation spread around the world and was later regarded as a turning point in the Buddhist crisis and the critical point in the collapse of the Diệm regime. President John F. Kennedy, who saw the picture while reading the paper in bed the following morning later remarked that "no news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one." (He was of course, to feature in some famous photos and footage himself later that year!)
I guess that to many people around the world, the event made them think that if a 'good man' like Thích Quảng Đức was prepared to demonstrate against President Diem in this way, there must be something genuinely wrong with the government supported by the US government.
Ironically, President Diem's views about the Buddhists were not entirely without justification. The Viet Cong knew that Diem and his family were Catholic, and often used Buddhist monasteries as cover for their activities.