In 1963, Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức self burned to protest the persecution of Buddhists by the then Roman Catholic leader of the Republic of Vietnam.
In communication with Martin Luther King Jr, Thích Nhất Hạnh wrote the following about why self-burning is chosen as a method of a statement to oppressors:
“The self-burning of Vietnamese Buddhist monks in 1963 is somehow difficult for the Western Christian conscience to understand. The Press spoke then of suicide, but in the essence, it is not. It is not even a protest. …
To burn oneself by fire is to prove that what one is saying is of the utmost importance.”
“There is nothing more painful than burning oneself. To say something while experiencing this kind of pain is to say it with the utmost of courage, frankness, determination, and sincerity.
… the monk believes he is practicing the doctrine of highest compassion by sacrificing himself in order to call the attention of, and to seek help from, the people of the world.”
I am Buddhist, but one does not need to be to understand that Aaron Bushnell, in the capital of the U.S. Empire, rejecting the military arm of Empire he was in, was showing compassion to the people of the world. Self-burning and thus sacrificing one’s life to demand the world end suffering, was an act of ultimate compassion.
Life for the People.
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