The Monk who set himself on Fire

  

We all have seen people dripping in kerosene, matches in their hands, screaming that they would kill themselves if their demands aren’t met with. We all have witnessed instances like this since years either in movies or on the news. This is called ‘Self-Immolation.’ This article is about how this act of burning oneself has become an iconic act of rebellion worldwide.

The United States of America (USA) has always been a dominant country but of course - just as any country would- lost some. While a conventionally educated US citizen would disagree and point out things like, ‘It wasn’t our war, we were just helping. That’s what powerful friends do’ or ‘What we have achieved even though we lost the war is important’, there are four/five debatable losses.

But the one in the context is the Vietnam war(1955-1975). Back when North Vietnam and South Vietnam existed (Reunified in 1975), the Communists backed North Vietnam and the anti Communists backed South Vietnam kept fighting for their own reasons. More info can be found easily by googling, so I’m not going to divert from my main point here.

In 1955, the USA appointed Ngo Dinh Diem, a Vietnamese born yet devout Christian but French-educated, as the head of newly formed South Vietnam until any formal elections could be held. And when the elections were held, Ngo Dinh Diem kept his brother in charge of all the electorial sites and managed to win the elections with 98.2% vote share. Yeah, you read it right. All thanks to the corruption, terror, and peace preachings of Buddhists that didn’t allow them to revolt soon. Believe it or not, the USA, just like any other country wielding power and dreams of ruling the entire world, had other plans than just to fight communism, i.e., To spread their religion. At the time, the Catholic community were among the minorities in South Vietnam, while 80% of them were Buddhists. The new President starts massacring Buddhists, traumatizing the followers by depriving them of any government schemes etc.

All the while, the US heads, the then President John F Kennedy (JFK) knew what was going on here but turned a blind eye. Because, why not? Who’s going to worry about a country in Southeast Asia? What type of reporter would risk his life to spread the truth? Things kept getting ugly; the Buddhists started protesting in a peaceful manner even when they were being shot at, even when the grenades were being thrown at them. Non-violence! Their routine is to protest, run back when armed forces of their own country, backed by the supreme US attack. 

And just like in any other struggle, a hero got fed up, and another hero had helped our main hero in achieving his target. The main hero here is our monk: Thích Quảng Đức. The supporting hero: Malcolm Browne, a journalist and photographer. 

All the newspapers got calls informing that ‘Something is going to happen at an intersection in Saigon (the then capital of South Vietnam)’. No one cared, except for our Malcolm Browne who reached the spot with his camera. A familiar protest with a few hundreds of Buddhists started approaching the corner. Not many gave a fuck because they all got used to this by that time. Three monks got out from a car which was now surrounded by the Buddhists in a semicircle, just like in our movies, took out a canister, and a pillow. A comparatively older monk sat on the pillow.

Within seconds, the Canister is opened, and the liquid: poured upon this older monk. Even before people could realize what’s going on, he lit matches and set himself on fire. All the monks, passers, two or three journalists, everyone’s shaken, blank. But the most badass thing here is, even when his body is being burnt, even when his skin is being melted by the inexorable heat, Thích Quảng Đức didn’t scream, didn’t move. He sat still until his last breath. Our supporting hero returned to his senses quickly and took pictures of this ghastly event, and these got published, spread like the Coronavirus across the globe. 

Even the Americans started protesting against their own government saying No to war. The President commented, “No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one.” With pressure from every side, the American slowly deported their soldiers back, the South Vietnam President was deposed and ultimately assassinated in the same year.

This picture tells us about two things.

 

1. The Power of a single fucking Picture

Imagine if this happened 75 years back when there were simply no cameras, Would you have believed it? Would you have raised your voice if you just read about this incident without seeing the picture? Hell, no! Right? We all have cameras now; we have advanced technologies to know what’s going on in the remotest parts of the world. This is a privilege, but what are we getting now? Gossip? Taimur’s routine? The power of media, be it Social media or the conventional media is powerful, and time and again, it is being proved in one way or the other. But should we stop at that? Shouldn’t we banish the biased media? Shouldn’t we stop wasting our time and thoughts on who wore what at some celebrities second wife’s third daughter wedding party? You decide. How? Stop falling for those stupid click-baits and exciting thumbnails just to pass the time. Every click, every minute you spend on such news is toxic and we, together, can detox the whole system. Hopefully!

    2. Untouched self-power

Try to or just imagine trying to sit down for a while when you are ill or having body pains! Hard, right? Now, go back to the picture. Look at him! His skin’s burning, not a cigarette burn or matchstick burn but a third-degree burn. But, look, he hasn’t moved. He hasn’t even flinched for a second. What does that tell you? Isn’t it inspiring? Isn’t it talking to you?

Well, for years, for a number of persons, it did. For some, it reminded them of the horrible past that caused them trauma for years, which they thought was impossible to leave behind and reminded them that anything is possible. For some, it symbolized the fear that has been stunting them from growing and this picture told them to be more courageous.  

Still want to believe that our bodies are fragile, our control over our body is a myth? If so, please take a look at him again. It isn’t, man! It isn’t. 

I hope this shakes you up and acts as a vigorous reminder that, ‘We can do it.’