Hue, Vietnam: Thien Mu Buddhist Monk Self-Immolation as Protest

The monk's heart.

January 4, 2011

At the Thien Mu temple, we were reminded of a 1963 story Ken and I vaguely remembered from high school history class. A Buddhist monk and leader of Thien Mu temple, named Thich Quang Duc drove the car above to Saigon, Vietnam to protest the Catholic Vietnamese regime led by the notoriously cruel and inept leader named Ngo. Ngo was trying to crush Buddhism in Vietnam, to the point that he not only discriminated against Buddhists but he killed Buddhist monks along with Buddhists.

After getting out of his blue car in Saigon, the monk Thich Quang Duc set himself on fire in a lotus position as a protest against Ngo regime brutality to Buddhists. He died and is a revered martyr by Vietnamese Buddhists, especially at this temple. They have a legend that he was completely burnt except for his heart, pictured above, representing his purity of heart, perhaps.

Seeing his car and reading his story gave us pause as parents, one of many on this trip. We had to first consider whether or not our kids were old enough to hear about a brutal, tortuous self-immolation. Then, we decided they were just barely ready to hear it and we explained it to the kids, emphasizing it as an act of protest against a brutal regime. The kids all asked lots of questions about the self-immolation and why anyone would burn themselves, but they didn't seem to be haunted by it...no nightmares or compulsive questioning about it later.

Actually, we've had to ask ourselves the question of whether or not to expose them to the brutal truth many times during our stay in Malaysia. And, I think that each time we've decided to be honest with them about societal suffering has not had bad consequences for them. I first faced and made this decision when I told them about my work with illegal refugee children here, and they played soccer at a soccer tournament with the refugee kids who "don't have a home, a country, and don't have enough money for soccer balls or to be on soccer teams." Then, we faced the same issue with begging Cambodian street children along with Cambodian limb-less mine victims aggressively begging for cash. I'm wondering if this time in Asia is not only toughening them up but also reaping the benefit of the kids leaving the protected Park Slope fold, to return with eyes wide open.