Thich Quang Duc
For those of us of a certain age, we may not know his name, but we know what he did on this day.
Thich is a title, an honorific, used by all Vietnamese monks and nuns, meaning that they are part of the Shakya (Shakyamuni Buddha) clan. Today most associate it with another Buddhist Monk, Thich Nhat Hanh.
There is video of what happened this day in 1963 at a busy crossroads in Saigon. I will neither embed nor link to it.
On this day Thich Quang Duc sat quietly as fellow monk poured gasoline over him, as a crowd held back by a ring of Buddhist clergy, and although there were police present, they could not intervene He set himself on fire and sat calmly as he was immolated. If you see the video, you will see one polliceman, himself a Buddhist, prostrate himself before the fireball that was consuming Thich Quang Duc.
Later his body was re-cremated, but his heart remained intact. To devout Buddhists this was a sign that he was