Thich Quang Duc (Vietnamese: [thic kwa:NG dik] ( listen); 1897--11 June 1963, born Lam Van Tuc), was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963. Quang Duc was protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government led by Ngo Dinh Diem. Photographs of his self-immolation were circulated widely across the world and brought attention to the policies of the Diem government. John F. Kennedy said in reference to a photograph of Duc on fire, "No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one."
Biography
Accounts of the life of Quang Duc are derived from information disseminated by Buddhist organizations. He was born in the village of Hoi Khanh, in Van Ninh District of Khanh Hoa Province in central Vietnam as Lam Van Tuc, one of seven children of Lam Huu Ung and his wife, Nguyen Thi Nuong. At the age of seven, he left to study Buddhism under Hoa thuong Thich Hoang Tham, who was his maternal uncle and spiritual master. Thich Hoang Tham raised him as a son and Lam Van Tuc changed his name to Nguyen Van Khiet. At age 15, he took the samanera (novice) vows and was ordained as a monk at age 20 under the dharma name Thich Quang Duc. The Vietnamese name Thich (Shi ) is from "Thich Ca" or "Thich Gia" (Shi Jia ), means "of the Shakya clan." After ordination, he traveled to a mountain near Ninh Hoa, vowing to live the life of a solitary Buddhism-practicing hermit for three years. He returned in later life to open the Thien Loc pagoda at his mountain retreat.  After his self-imposed isolation ended, he began to travel around central Vietnam expounding the dharma. After two years, he went into retreat at the Sac Tu Thien An pagoda near Nha Trang. In 1932, he was appointed an inspector for the Buddhist Association in Ninh Hoa before becoming the inspector of monks in his home province of Khanh Hoa. During this period in central Vietnam, he was responsible for the construction of 14 temples. In 1934, he moved to southern Vietnam and traveled throughout the provinces spreading Buddhist teachings. During his time in southern Vietnam, he also spent two years in Cambodia studying the Theravada Buddhist tradition.  After his return from Cambodia, he oversaw the construction of a further 17 new temples during his time in the south. The last of the 31 new temples that he was responsible for constructing was the Quan The Am pagoda in the Phu Nhuan District of Gia Dinh Province on the outskirts of Saigon. The street on which the temple stands was later renamed Quang Duc Street in 1975. After the temple-building phase, Duc was appointed to serve as the Chairman of the Panel on Ceremonial Rites of the Congregation of Vietnamese Monks, and as abbot of the Phuoc Hoa pagoda, which was the initial location of the Association for Buddhist Studies of Vietnam (ABSV). When the office of the ABSV was relocated to the Xa Loi Pagoda, the main pagoda of Saigon, Duc resigned.
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At the age of seven, he left to study Buddhism under Hoa thuong Thich Hoang Tham, who was his maternal uncle and spiritual master.
At the age of seven, he left to study Buddhism under Hoa thuong Thich Hoang Tham, who was his maternal uncle and spiritual master.