mirandansa said:lrkun said:When faced with an undesirable issue, they hurt themselves, to be specific: The picture where you posted a buddhist burned himself.
The burning was a means of protest, not of escaping the issue. There were several such monks during the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam's Ngo Dinh Diem administration in the early 1960s. The self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc (the one featured on Rage Against The Machine's album cover) actually increased international pressure on Diem and led him to announce reforms. The promise was however not implemented, and he instead launched nationwide raids on Buddhist pagodas. Several monks (including the ones in the earlier pictures and video) followed Duc's protest and burned themselves to death. The regime was eventually toppled by a coup.
These monks did not care about themselves; they cared about others. They wanted the situation to be changed for the people of Vietnam, and they hoped that Diem would change his mind through reason and not violence. But Diem did not listen to them. Duc realised that more political pressure was needed, so he decided to raise international awareness on the issue (and, before his self-immolation, a spokesperson for the Buddhists informed the U.S. correspondents of the plan so that journalists would turn up).
Duc's body was re-cremated during the funeral with more than 4,000 people. Interestingly, his heart remained intact and did not burn. It was then placed in a glass chalice at Xa Loi Pagoda as a symbol of compassion:
I can respect this. It is somewhat akin to an extreme way of doing things, but the results are all that matter.
With respect to the heart, that is way to mystical for me. I don't enjoy seeing morbid stuff and human body parts. :lol: