Burning monk fights fire with fire: Vietnam War

Why did BURNING MONK sit so still for self-immolation? The story of Thích Quảng Đức

 

We'll kill that g**k for imperial US corporations

(Buddha's Wisdom) May 1, 2026: 🔥 The photo the world has never forgotten during the imperial U.S. War on peaceful Buddhist Vietnam: The Burning Monk, Ven. Thich Quang Duc, became one of the most haunting images of the Vietnam War era.

• Buddhism in Vietnam
• [Worship of Amitabha Cosmic Buddha (Pure Land Rebirth Dharani) rather than following the enlightened advice of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni born Prince Siddhartha Gautama]
• Buddhism in Cambodia
• Buddhism in Laos
• Buddhism in Southeast Asia

On June 11, 1963, he sat down in a Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) intersection and didn't move. But behind the famous photograph is a deeper Buddhist story about:

• persecution,
• nonviolent protest,
• meditative stillness (samadhi), and
• the monk whose final act shook the Catholic Ngo Dinh Diem regime and forced the world to look at Vietnam differently.

We had to kill Buddhists to rule by force!

It was the visible shape of a lifetime of Pure Land Buddhist practice, pressed all the way to the edge. This is the untold story behind the most powerful photograph of the 20th century and what Buddhism actually teaches about the mind that met that morning.

🔍 DISCOVER:

• The real story behind Thich Quang Duc, the Burning Monk
• How Buddhist persecution in South Vietnam led to the 1963 Buddhist crisis
• How one photograph traveled from Saigon to Washington DC and changed global opinion...
• and why U.S. President John F. Kennedy stopped mid-sentence when he saw it at breakfast
• The heart relic that didn't burn...and what Vietnamese Buddhist tradition says it means
• How Rage Against the Machine, Czech copycat Jan Palach [like many Tibetan lamas under communist Chinese oppression], and Dependent Origination connect one Saigon intersection to six decades of history
• What Buddhism teaches about compassion, courage, and meeting suffering without hatred 🙏

Fight war [the state] not [its] wars

If this story moves viewers — subscribe. This channel exists to tell the stories Buddhism rarely gets credit for: historically grounded, honestly told [with a moving AI voice that only rarely mispronounces words], without the self-help packaging. New videos every week.

⚠️ CONTENT ADVISORY! This video discusses the dying [by suicide] of Thích Quảng Đức (June 11, 1963) as a historical and Buddhist educational subject. While no graphic footage is shown, the topic involves dying, political persecution, and religious violence. Viewer discretion is advised.

Who sells weapons to the world? War profiteers

This video is produced with deep respect for Thích Quảng Đức, the Vietnamese Buddhist community, and the historical record.

• War Is a Racket (just ask U.S. Gen. Butler)

📚 SOURCES AND FURTHER READING (affiliate links)

Primary Sources: — Thích Quảng Đức's final letter, June 10, 1963 (translated versions available via Vietnam Buddhist archives) — Malcolm Browne, Muddy Boots and Red Socks (1993) — firsthand account of June 11 1963 https://amzn.to/4980Unr — David Halberstam, The Making of a Quagmire (1965) — eyewitness testimony https://amzn.to/4cLJNKE Buddhist Texts: — The Dhammapada (especially Chapter 1 — the Yamaka Vagga) — Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra — foundational Pure Land text on Amitābha's vow — Larger and Smaller Pure Land Sutras — the practice of nianfo/nembutsu 

HISTORICAL AND SCHOLARLY

— Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire (1967) — written in direct response to the Buddhist crisis https://amzn.to/4cWRegz — Edward Miller, Misalliance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and the Fate of South Vietnam (2013) https://amzn.to/4eEY2ST — Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie (1988) — broader Vietnam War context https://amzn.to/424gBs3 — Mark Moyar, Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965 https://amzn.to/42EAx4T On the Relic: — Vietnamese Buddhist Federation records on the heart relic preservation and enshrinement (2025) Historical records on Xa Loi Pagoda, the Hue Vesak crisis, and Buddhist protests in South Vietnam Reporting and archival material on the Diem regime, Madame Nhu, and U.S. reactions to the Buddhist crisis Malcolm Browne’s Associated Press photographs and reporting from Saigon, 1963 This video references and discusses Malcolm Browne's 1963 Associated Press photographs, archival news footage, and other historical materials related to the events of June 11, 1963 in Saigon, South Vietnam.

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#Buddhism #ThichQuangDuc #TheBurningMonk #VietnamWar #BuddhistHistory #BuddhistMonk #VietnamBuddhism #Mindfulness #Meditation #Dhammapada #Compassion #DiemRegime #Saigon1963 #Bodhisattva #Mahayana #DependentOrigination #AmitabhaBuddha

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South Park season ends w/ rage bait

(Armchair Analysis)

(DemocracyNow.org)

Police car chases: Last Week Tonight

Lifestyle of Zack de la Rocha: RATM

Rage Against the Machine (RATM) is, or was, a band. And Afro-Latin singer and sincere vegetarian activist Zack de la Rocha may have been the main reason for their success. Morello fans may disagree.

Is karma real? Deeds cause results?

Karma (doing)? That's so dumb! Whatever I do, it'll never come back to me. I can get away.

Flying squirrel karma or phala? - Animal actions?

Previous video has squirrel who flies tiny plane. Real "flying squirrel" flies when tossed, then 😲

Born of the Fruits of Deeds

Teachings of Kamma, Rebirth, Saṃsāra

(Ud 3.1) Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove at the multimillionaire's monastery.

At that time a certain Buddhist monk was sitting close to the Buddha, legs crossed, with body straight.

As a result (vipaka) of past deeds (karma), he suffered painful, sharp, severe, and acute feelings, which he endured unbothered, mindfully with clear comprehension.

Narrating Karma and Rebirth

The Buddha saw him meditating mindfully enduring that pain. Then, understanding the situation, the Buddha expressed this inspired utterance:

“A monastic who has left behind all deeds (karma), shaking off the dust of past deeds, unselfish, unwavering, unaffected, has no need to complain.”

• Kamma Vipākaja Sutta (Ud 3.1)—Ven. Sujato (translation)
• Amazing video shorts: How to handle the cops (graphic)

Bhikkhu Bodhi, what is "karma"?

The Four Kinds of Karma with Bhikkhu Bodhi

(BAUS Chuang Yen Monastery) June 27, 2022: In this Dharma talk, Bhikkhu Bodhi discusses The Numerical Discourses (Anguttara Nikaya) AN 4.233-238, a series of sutras in which the historical Buddha explains the four kinds of karma (kamma, deed, action):

1. dark karma with dark result
2. bright karma with bright result
3. dark-and-bright karma with dark-and-bright result
4. karma that is neither dark nor bright with neither-dark-nor-bright result or the karma that leads to the ending of karma.

Bhikkhu Bodhi (BAUS, Carmel, New York, 6/18/22); Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Deftones: alt-nu metal US tour 2025

Peace and Freedom = nirvana (insightla.org)

A person gets so sick of politics and politicians, business bullsitters and oligarchs, war profiteers and phony anti-war figures that what can one do but follow the words of Berkeley student Mario Savio? He gets to the point, and anyone who cares about freedom and what America's ideals are said to be might agree. Hey, why not? It's March Forth Day.

Mario Savio "An End to History" at UC Berkeley, 1964

Deftones "7 Words" (live)

(pppaaatttrrriiikkk1) What's the alternative to metal? Nu metal (aka alt metal), at least it was back in the summer of 2003 when Deftones were live at Big Day Out or Big Day In in Sydney, Australia, down under where the fans go around the fur for their adrenaline. Fast forward to today, when the Deftones are in Los Angeles for a big show at the Forum, aka the Kia.

A call for civil disobedience when freedom is threatened

March Forth Day

March Forth Day (nationaltoday.com)

MARCH FORTH is an annual unofficial American holiday celebrated on March 4th to encourage everyone to work towards achieving their dreams. It aims to provide an opportunity for people to take calculated risks towards achieving their goals and developing themselves. It is a special day to take a stand against procrastination or the faux reasons that tend to creep into our heads and discourage us from even trying. The name was made up as a homophone of the day "March Fourth." It is also the shortened version of the full name — "March Forth and Do Something Day." More

• Mario Savio in Berkeley; Deftones; NationalToday.com; Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Spain erupts in riots over flood deaths

Exorcism? Election tantrums hit new low

Call the Exorcist! Election tantrums hit new low

(Lionhart Media) Nov. 12, 2024: Like, share, and subscribe for more, and thanks for watching! More meltdowns: • These people are not well! (Latest election tantrums)🔥Dating coaching: calendly.com/lionrhart/full-c...🔥 Become a member to get access to perks: @lionhartm🔥 Donate to support the channel: paypal.com/donate/?hosted...

What do Euros think of Ameros? (TDS)

Leslie Jones can’t believe what Europeans think of Americans | The Daily Show

Young Buddhists at first European Buddhists' Convention, Berlin, Germany (Hannah Prinzler)

.

Artificially-flavored fecal contamination patties

(The Daily Show) Sept. 27, 2024: Fresh off a summer vacation at the Paris Olympics, Daily Show Correspondent Leslie Jones returns to offer a fresh perspective on why Europeans think so poorly of Americans and our poop-eating, loud, violent gun culture. Between the chemical food additives in our artificial "natural flavors"

• [all "natural flavors" are artificial mimics of things occurring in nature and only have to be labelled accurately as "artificial flavors" if the flavor they are mimicking does not exist in nature, in either case all added "flavors" are synthetic and many of them are very dangerous neurotoxins]

I'm a sa lang now with herbal ingredients + stuff

to public breakdowns on planes, fast food restaurants, and on social media, as well as our rampant gun violence, and whale decapitations by insane politicians and detonations by foolish ones, Jones concludes about Americans: "We are f**ked up." #DailyShow #LeslieJones #Europe

• Leslie Jones, The Daily Show - YouTube, 9/27/24; Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The #1 party school in the USA is UC...

Should we study tonight? - Why?! There's a great party we can go to instead! Woo!!!

Benny "Stud" Hill approaches a couple of birds
on the beach but is startled by clicking camera.

Why do we need to party? We do not. But college kids, that's a different story. "There's a time and a place for everything," and that place is college. Campus life is built around it. It's practically what the U.S. university system is all about -- socialization and normalization of heavy drinking to get by, to socialize, to speak up, to let loose and drop the stifling inhibitions beaten into us.

Lost Connections (Johann Hari)

Whatever the case, party status is a big consideration for most college students selecting a college, though most will just follow someone to the other person's choice of school, so terrified are we to be alone or set off on an uncharted course. This party obsession has terrible side-effects, but they seem par for the course. Welcome to adulthood. Welcome to the workplace on the first day of your life sentence.

Why do we crave "partying"? It is the only relief we have ever known to the disease of craving (tanha). It is at best a temporary fix that too often slides into habituation, obsession, and even addiction. This "partying" may be defined as self-soothing through one or all of the senses:

• tongue and tastes,
• eye and pleasing sights,
• body and pleasurable sensations,
• nose and scents,
• ear and engaging sounds,
• mind and fantasies.

It seems to mean getting high and tight, but it is more than drunkenness, prescription pill popping, smoking, and dabbling in fentanyl laced street drugs. Sex is partying. Dancing is partying. Getting out of our heads surrounded by fellow distraction-mates, aka fast "friends," is partying. Sunday night rolls around, Monday looms, what to do? Climb on and off the carousel?

"If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are a PEACE, you are living in the present"

- Lao Tzu (Taoism)

Queen of the party: Hawk Tuah Girl Haliey

Which University of California campus is it?

Students on UCSB campus mill about like stoned beach zombies (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

.

The fictional lives of coeds (HBO)

Southern California - This California university, home of many Nobel laureates, tops the 2025 party school list. Is it Chico State? It's always Chico State. No. San Diego? It must be San Diego! No. Spartan Trojans of USC? Bubbly Bruins of UCLA? Shroomin saps of Santa Cruz? Are they dropping acid at UC Berkeley? Meth at Stanford?

(LA Times) A California university that’s home to Nobel laureates has also gained the distinction of being the top party school in the United States, according to a recent Niche ranking.

UC Santa Barbara [home of incels and that shooter] takes the top spot on a list of party schools in the U.S. for 2025, released by Niche, an education research and ranking site.

• Expect applications to skyrocket as the top 10% of California students eligible to access the UC system -- by their hard work, historical exclusion, natural academic or sports talents, or willingness to do endless homework and participate in boring school activities -- being sick and tired of living like goody-two-shoes, finally have a chance to break free and underage-drink to excess to deal with social awkwardness, clinical anxiety, and trying to finally be part of the app-based campus hookup culture they've heard so much about.

White privilege is off the charts as is our fragility

To calculate the rankings, Niche — which uses a database of nearly 500,000 student college reviews — factored in:

• student surveys on the party scene,
• access to bars,
• athletics grade,
• Greek (sorority/fraternity) life grade, and
• access to restaurants.

Yes, we always wanted to learn to party!

Reviews from current and former students [confessing about their and their peers' drug use] describe the university as “combining academic rigor with a laid-back coastal lifestyle” and praised the “vibrant student community.”

More than half a dozen Nobel Prize winners in economics, physics, and chemistry — including David Card, Alan J. Heeger, Herbert Kroemer, and Shuji Nakamura — have taught at UC Santa Barbara over the years.

“I used to be an over-the-top party guy but living in Santa Barbara/Isla Vista helped me form new healthy outdoor habits while learning out how to be more responsible,” one student wrote.

We'll worry about consequences later. Party time!

“There are so many activities you can partake in around town and on campus that is not partying... It is literally heaven on earth for an 18–21-year-old as long as you don’t overdo it.”

But one person, who described him/herself as the parent of an alum, rated the university only two stars, complaining that students “party all day.”

• Declining or advancing? In 2015 The Princeton Review ranked it third on its list of top party schools

Spring Break Rager

Chasing the Scream: Truth...

“College kids party, but UCSB is out of control,” the person wrote. One of the best-known party events is “Deltopia,” an unsanctioned spring break party that unfolds in April.

The party, made popular among UC Santa Barbara students who live in Isla Vista near the campus, was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic but resumed in 2022, resulting in multiple arrests and citations during the weekend-long event.

In 2014, more than 20,000 people were estimated to have attended Deltopia, which devolved into a riot resulting in dozens of injuries and more than 100 arrests.

Cruise ships ply coast of the three Californias

The UC Santa Barbara student association at the time issued a statement saying that “The ‘wild party’ stereotype and image exists because we, the students, allow it to exist.”

This year and last year, Santa Barbara County officials closed the beaches in Isla Vista in anticipation of Deltopia. Last year more than 150 people were issued citations, while 23 people were arrested. More

Personality/intelligence intertwine? Everything we know is wrong? Depression from moving?

• Audio Video Recorde (nestfinesse.com)
• Women's classic solid colour built in bra tank top
• Los Angeles Times Staff Writer Brittny Mejia, Aug. 24, 2024; Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Jimmy Dore Show: US War, TikTok

Mike MacRae, Kurt Metzger, Jimmy Dore; Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Call: Hollywood actor Al Pacino explains his Oscar night debacle, presenting at the Academy Awards

Look at the 1,000 foreign military bases the US has around the world. Jimmy Dore tells American general, “The U.S. is the world’s biggest terrorist!” This is just as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. told us. "My country is the greatest purveyor of war in the world." The purpose of war today is protecting commerce, and the only real freedom our capitalist system/government is out to protect is "free trade."

Egypt is furious at murderous Israel (video)

We would never tolerate such treatment of our people yet we leave Muslims to suffer.

• VIDEO: 'Kick out Israeli envoy'- Egyptian MPs' fiery anti-Israel speeches go viral - Israel's War (MSN)

For all its rich history and cultural treasures, Egypt is made weak by Israel

Sheldon joins IDF (Slayer: Praise of Death)

Slayer; Drowning Pool "Bodies"; Emma Vigeland (Majority Report w/ Sam Seder, 11/11/23); Soldier Pfc. Sandoval and Refusenik Sheldon S., Referee Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

But I'm a refusenik.

What's the Jewish IDF really like? Let's ask former soldiers: Breaking the Silence

Guts, glory: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

It's time to get dark and start the hazing among the boys. Israel's "war" against a Palestinian resistance of "freedom fighters" has been going on far too long. Our US military veteran Sandy bullies our peacenik Jewish Shelly. Note: No one was harmed in the making of this article. Will he go become a killer?

Sheldon, do your "duty." It's time to kill. (Or it's time to die and you're next).

It's time to live in praise of death. Be a man, [pregnant female dog]! Kill those [blanks]! Show no mercy!!! Take Slayer recordings with you as you bug out to the "holy" land to make a blood libel bond with the "Chosen People" and help steal territory for a homeland. Even the Ultra-Orthodox Jews (not Neturei Karta?) have changed their tune and are joining Israel's ethnic cleansing (or is it a genocide decades in the making?) to wipe those black Arabs off the glorious white European state of Israel map!

Declassified documents reveal dark truths

(The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder) Nov. 5, 2023: Jewish Prof. of History Ilan Pappe at the University of Exeter and director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies, cohosts joins Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland to discuss Israel's genocide in Palestine.

No, Sheldon! Stand for justice and equality!

NO way! I'm not killing anyone for a government, especially not any corrupt government in league with hypocrisy and some sinister force (CIA, NSA, NSC, Mossad...) Not all Jews are this way. There are Jews for Peace. Most Israelis hate Bibi Netanyahu. They voted him out. He's a bad leader and corrupt. He wants a police state for his European (AshkeNAZI, Ashkenaz being the Jews' name for Germany) settler colonial project. The CIA groomed him. Spies inform him. Israel won't stop until it kills all enemies and steals their land. They're not doing it for God. They change the Bible (New Testament), find a way to interpret the Torah (Old Testament) for their own ends.

• Israel’s assault on Gaza adds to uncertainty of fragile hostage talks
• IDF: euphemism (Israel Defense Forces) for Zionist militants

Be a man! Kill, kill, kill...!

Jewish police brutally attack Jews in Jerusalem (Mea Shearim) who are Ultra-Orthodox and therefore on the side of Palestine

(The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder) Nov. 11, 2023: The Majority Report takes calls and show video of criminal police state cop policing and brutally assaulting Ultra-Orthodox Jewish demonstrators who stand with Palestine, Gaza, the West Bank, and all the refugee camps outside in neighboring countries. Palestinians have a right of return, and the Ultra-Orthodox are not denying them that; they are welcoming them back. The state of Israel is denying them that, and the racist [usually but not exclusively Ashkenazi] national police are antisemitic against religious Jews (Semites) and Palestinians (Semites). But we in the U.S. never hear or have that made clear by the U.S. mainstream media.

There's a Jewish Voice for Peace

No. I will let them live. There will be no killing by me. Like the Buddha taught, "Though others do these things [kill, steal, cheat, lie, get so high it occasions heedlessness], I won't."

I'll join the Air Force to bring death from above.

If foolish young American-born Jews want to be criminal Zionists who join the Jewish killing spree in Gaza and the West Bank, this slow genocide, this ethnic cleansing, this beheading of babies with missiles on that side believing babies were beheaded on this side with knives (because IDF military propagandists lie blood libel lies), that's their karma, their crimes, what they will regret. Not me, and NOT IN MY NAME, not in any 

compassionate Jew's name.

Slayer "Fight Till Death" from Show No Mercy (album version)

They said fight till death, but I'm still alive.

You're a [blank]! Be a man! Man up, even girls join the Israeli military and kill people and police-state the [blanks] of the Palestinians every day of their lives!

Those are NAZI crimes, and no Jew in his or her right mind would behave in this way, no matter how we have been hurt and harmed. Let the American War Machine do it if it wants to, but not normal people with normal hearts. They're sick, poisoned by Mara and demonic yakshas.

• Suicide rates soar for returning soldiers
• American Veterans for Peace
• Jewish Voice for Peace (jvp.org)
• CODE PINK: Women for Peace

Breaking the Silence: A joint statement [to condemn Hamas]

(Valeria Cabrera) I support your position on defending all lives [Palestinian and Israeli, Arab and Ashkenazi, Muslims and Jews] and admire the creation of this platform [Breaking the Silence]. One thing that I do not understand is this sentence: "We call for negotiations and all possible action to be taken to bring about the release of the hostages – while prioritizing the civilians held by Hamas." In what sense [should] the civilians held by Hamas be prioritized? Over whom? Hamas proposed an exchange of hostages, asking Israel to release the Palestinians held in Israeli prisons (particularly women and children), and Israel refused.

Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name" w/ Chris Cornell and Audioslave

• "Killing in the Name" What was Zack de la Rocha thinking when he cussed this song out, a song against police brutality in the United States, just as Israel trains our national police forces from what they learned and developed brutalizing Palestinians they illegally occupy in Palestine.