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Buddhist Monk's self immolation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Qu%E1%BA%A3ng_%C4%90%E1%BB%A9c
I learned about this in school and never understood this. I know that he did it out of protest, and I know why he did it, I just never understood why he did it being a Buddhist. Would this act not affect his karma negatively? I know it was supposed to be more of a "sacrifice" but I see it as a type of suicide (which is definitely against Buddhist teachings). Can anyone shed some light?
I learned about this in school and never understood this. I know that he did it out of protest, and I know why he did it, I just never understood why he did it being a Buddhist. Would this act not affect his karma negatively? I know it was supposed to be more of a "sacrifice" but I see it as a type of suicide (which is definitely against Buddhist teachings). Can anyone shed some light?
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I wish I could find the reference....
But the fact that the monk actually never moved a single muscle while this was happening to him is just 'gobsmacking'....I flinch violently, if I touch a hot oven tray....!
In any case, his motivation is one of extreme dedication. But it's not an isolated incident.
There's only one person who can really answer that and he's dead.
-Robert Thurman, Inner Revolution
i don't really have much to say on the topic itself. i've wondered those same things. perhaps he thought of it as a way to sacrifice himself to save others. completely devoid of an ego. i don't know... the vietnam war was truly horrible. just think of my lai... i watched a special on the my lai massacre once that involved the soldiers who committed the acts going back to vietnam to ask for forgiveness. it was really quite inspiring and really brought through the horribleness of the war. people on both sides were hurt, and not just physically.
I think the very concept of someone whose whole life was dedicated to peace, compassion and meditation, dying in such a symbolic and dreadful way - was the point of the Impact....It was as anti-war a statement as a person in his position could possibly make.
"Everywhere Man yearns for Peace, yet prepares for war".
For 'peace-loving nations' we do seem to have some screwy ideas....
The control the monk had over his mind and body is amazing.
Through times in my life when I rejected all religions, mysteries and their organisations, Tri Quang Duc continued to challenge me and ask me questions:
"Is one life, even my own, more valuable than the horrors of the war?" And I thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and those others who went knowingly to their deaths which would be agonising.
"What do you imagine the bodhisatva vow really means? Is burning death really worse than the constant return to samsara?"
"Will you ever forget this?"
We shall never understand Tri Quang Duc's motives and I find Jack Kornfeld's reported comment (reference please) both unnecessary and disrespectful. What I do know is that his chosen method of death - and he was, as has been pointed out, not the only one - gives a clarion answer to those who say that Buddhists are disengaged.
Very good point. I, too, found that after I stop thinking about it in such a small perspective, that he has had quite an impact.
I believe there isn't really such a thing as "definitely against Buddhist teachings". There are no rules, no "thou shalt nots". Only intention matters, and egoless action that comes from understanding the Whole. So sometimes a monk might have to lie, steal, or perhaps even kill! - with right intention.
So we can't really question the act without first examining his intention. (Nor, I suppose, can we really question the impact it had, since it is still ongoing. It could inspire the awakening of a Buddha hundreds of years from now.)
China and other Sinicized countries had a law against "murder by oppression". That is, if someone commited suicide as protest against mistreatment, then the incriminated party would get into serious trouble with the authorities. This law used to be exploited by legions of dissatisfied housewives as a means of getting back at their husbands and in-laws, to the horror of European visitors. In the Vietnamese mind, self-immolation is a way of expressing the depth of one's righteous and passionate sincerity in opposing some oppressive, unfair and/or brutal authority.
Random tangent: I mean, where is the justice in families of suicides losing certain benefits when the man is already gone? Forcing people to go on enduring horrendous conditions by holding their family members hostage rather than addressing actual problems that cause the urge to "commit" suicide is a cruel and inhuman deterrent in my book.
???
Don't ask me.
haha
Burra
I was totally unaware of this. Thank you for sharing
If the laws were rooted in logic there would be a lot less of them.
The law is an old and crippled ass.
What's the punishment for the crime?
I don't think Indians ever managed to figure out that the purpose of law and order is not to control people and force them to behave in certain ways, but to ensure their own happiness.
Its really quite unfortunate.
HAHA
You would be mistaken.
Geez, you could even just google Lotus Sutra self immolation and you would find material linking the practice of self immolation to this chapter of the LS. Its common knowledge that the practice is "justified" and influenced by this part of the LS.
That chapter of the LS has been misinterrpreted along these lines quite often. There is a book coming out soon witrh an excellent chapter on this very subject.
I think the response (if I'm not mistaken) was directed more towards the fact that this is all speculation. Any reason we give will be a guess, because the only person who can definitively answer is dead.
It's possible that the particular monk in question misinterpreted the Lotus Sutra, I'm just saying that it's rather unlikely considering what we know of Chinese and Vietnamese culture.