Thích Quảng Đức
Encyclopedia : T : TH : THC : Thích Quảng Đức
| Thích Quảng Đức | |
|---|---|
 Thích Quảng Ðức photographed during his self-immolation. According to David Halberstam, "As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound". | |
 Today, his car is parked at Huế's Thien Mu Pagoda. | |
| Vietnamese name | |
| Quốc Ngữ | Thích Quảng Ðức |
Thích Quảng Ðức [listen] , born Lâm Văn Tức in 1897, was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon intersection on June 11, 1963. His act of self-immolation, which was repeated by others, was witnessed by David Halberstam, a New York Times reporter, who wrote:
Thích Quảng Ðức was protesting against the way the administration of the President Ngô Đình Diệm was oppressing the Buddhist religion. More specifically, his act was intended as a symbolic attempt to represent the way in which all Vietnamese were killing themselves by fighting against each other.[[Citing sources citation needed]]
The act itself occured at the intersection of Phan Đình Phùng street and Lê Văn Duyệt street. (After 1975, the street names were changed to Nguyễn Đình Chiểu and Cách Mạng Tháng Tám.) His monastery was just outside of Huế in central Vietnam. The light blue Austin in which he drove to Saigon to perform the act can still be seen there (along with a picture showing his self-immolation, with his car in the background).
After his death, his body was cremated. During the cremation, his shrunken heart still remained intact.[[Citing sources citation needed]] It was henceforth considered holy and placed in the care of the Reserve Bank of Vietnam.
Madame Nhu, the first lady of Vietnam at the time, commented with regard to this that she would "clap hands at seeing another monk barbecue show". This supposedly resulted in her receiving the alias of "Dragon Lady".
The American rock music group Rage Against the Machine used the above photo of his act as the cover art for their 1992 self-titled debut album.
U.S. president John F. Kennedy was so moved by the incident that he had Quảng Đức's picture in the Oval Office.
References
- [Self-Immolation of Thích Quảng Ðức, Rollie Hicks]
- [Buddhist monastery dedicated to Thích Quảng Ðức]
- [More photographs, including images of his heart]
External links
- A [satellite image] of the Saigon intersection where Thích Quảng Đức performed his self-immolation. (Phan Đình Phùng street runs NE-SW and Lê Văn Duyệt street runs NW-SE.)
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.