Peace is a Fire: The Monk Who Set Himself Alight

There are some images that don’t simply record history—they change it.

On the morning of 11 June 1963, at a busy crossroads in Saigon, Thích Quảng Đức, a Buddhist monk, calmly sat down in the lotus position while fellow monks poured petrol over his robes. He struck a match and, as the flames engulfed him, he remained perfectly still.

The Associated Press photographer Malcolm Browne captured the moment; within hours the photograph had travelled around the world and in the years since has become one of the defining images of the 1960s: one that shocked governments, altered international opinion about Vietnam, inspired artists and activists and introduced many people to a very different understanding of Buddhism.

In this episode, I’m joined by Canadian-born US-based Professor James Shields, one of the leading scholars of Buddhist ethics and engaged Buddhism. We explore the story behind that extraordinary photograph, the long history of self-sacrifice in Buddhist tradition and how these dramatic acts have been understood over the centuries.

We branch out into the wider history of self-immolation as political protest and ask: if Buddhism generally rejects both violence and suicide, how does it distinguish between self-sacrifice and self-destruction? And what might it have to say about contemporary debates surrounding euthanasia and assisted dying?

It’s a conversation about protest, conscience and the extraordinary power of a single human act to change the course of history.

For more on James and his work To see our gallery of the top ten images that changed the Counterculture, go HERE Can you contribute to this crazy endeavour to build an archive of counterculture and underground stories? Help us keep this place ad- and sponsor-free and join our Patreon HERE You can join for free and receive regular articles, updates and news about our events Stephen

Photo: Malcolm Browne

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