Self Control

..... a.k.a This Turned My World Upside Down.

WARNING : HORRIFIC PICTURES AT END OF POST. DUE TO THE EXTREME GRAPHIC NATURE OF THE PICTURES, DISCRETION IS ADVISED. THIS IS NOT A JOKE.

The following story, true in every sense, made me realize that there are some beings, who have achieved a higher level of control over themselves than I can ever hope to achieve. While it is impossible to emulate him, I hope that we can pay homage to his memory, by knowing, that some idea's are greater than us. And while a man may burn, ideas are immortal.

Thích Quảng Ðức (1897 - 1963) burnt himself to death, on 11th of June,1963. His act of self immolation, later repeated by many others,was in protest of the persecution of Buddhism by the South Vietnamese administration. The act occurred at the intersection of Phan Đình Phùng street and Lê Văn Duyệt street.

The image itself is more popularised by featuring on the cover of the self - titled album 'Rage Against The Machine'

Reports of eye witnesses state that, Thích Quảng Ðức got out of the car, assumed the traditional lotus position, and the two accompanying monks helped him pour gasoline over himself. He then lit the gasoline by striking a match, and burnt to death in a matter of minutes.

After his death, it transcended that his heart, though shrunken, was completely intact, a whole. It has since then been treated as a holy object, and currently lies in possession of the Bank Of Vietnam.

I end this post, quoting the words of eye witness David Halberstam, a New York Times reporter, who worte :

“

I was to see that sight again, but once was enough. Flames were coming from a human being; his body was slowly withering and shriveling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the smell of burning human flesh; human beings burn surprisingly quickly. Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think.... As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him.

”

PICTURES :