31. The Burning Monk

World Press Photo of the Year - 1963

Thich Quang Duc – The Burning Monk of Vietnam

11^th June 1963, Vietnam : In Vietnam there is a small Buddhist uprising going on, protests against the Diem regime are now commonplace and have been so for one month. A small group of American journalists have gathered outside of the Cambodian Embassy in Saigon, the busy road intersections traffic produced a low roar which permeated the air, the Journalists had been told that the Buddhists would do something, but they didn’t know what. Suddenly they notice a fuss, a small car approaches, it is a pale blue Austin Westminster, it is being followed by 2 phalanxes of Buddhists, 350 Monks and Nuns in total. In the wind their banners wave, they are in English and Thai, denouncing the Diem government and its persecution of Buddhists and other religious groups. The car and procession stops. The event begins.

Thich Quang Duc and two other monks emerge from the car, the two other monks go the boot of the car and pull out a 5-gallon gasoline can and a cushion. The monk puts the cushion down in the centre of the road and the Buddhists form a circle around the site. Thich Quang Duc sits down in the Lotus position, and in this meditative position, his colleague emptied the whole 5 gallons of gasoline over him.