It is the 11th of June, 1963. A man steps into a busy intersection in Saigon. Wearing the robes of a Buddhist monk, Thích Quảng Đức emerges from the car he had been riding in. The car is part of a procession; a group of a few hundred monks and nuns marching in two columns walking around Saigon protesting the Diem government and its treatment of Buddhists.
Thích Quảng Đức, knowing it was his karma to be the vessel of this message sits, in the lotus position, upon the cushion that had been placed in the street. As a brother monk grabs the five gallon container of gasoline, Thích Quảng Đức takes his mala in hand and begins to meditate as he speaks these words:
Nam-mô A-di-đà Phật
or
I seek refuge in the Amitabha Buddha
The brother monk pours gasoline over Thích Quảng Đức’s head and body as he speaks.
When his last words have been spoken Thích Quảng Đức strikes a match and it falls toward his fuel soaked body. He is engulfed in flames and oily black smoke pours into the sky like water.
He remains silent and unmoving as his body burns. It burns to show the world what is going on in Vietnam, it burns because we all suffer.
Silent and unmoving he remains, as bodies fall prostrate before him.
A letter left behind compelled those bearing witness with powerful words:
Before closing my eyes and moving towards the vision of the Buddha, I respectfully plead to President Ngo Dinh Diem to take a mind of compassion towards the people of the nation and implement religious equality to maintain the strength of the homeland eternally. I call the venerables, reverends, members of the sangha and the lay Buddhists to organize in solidarity to make sacrifices to protect Buddhism.
Bồ Tát Thích Quảng Đức is a Bodhisattva.